Adobe Fireworks (formerly Macromedia Fireworks) was a
bitmap
In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array or bitmap index.
As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a particular bitmapping application: t ...
and
vector graphics editor
A vector graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to compose and edit vector graphics images interactively on a computer and save them in one of many popular vector graphics formats, such as EPS, PDF, WMF, SVG, or VML.
Vector ...
, which Adobe acquired in 2005. Fireworks was made for
web designer
Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...
s for rapidly creating website prototypes and application interfaces. Its features included slices, which are segments of an image that are converted to HTML elements, and the ability to add hotspots, which are segments of an image that are converted to hyperlinks. It was designed to integrate with other Adobe products such as
Adobe Dreamweaver and
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...
. It was available as either a standalone product or bundled with
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Creative Suite (CS) is a discontinued software suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications developed by Adobe Systems.
The last of the Creative Suite versions, Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6), was launched at a re ...
. Older versions were bundled with
Macromedia Studio. Adobe discontinued Fireworks in 2013, citing the increasing overlap in functionality with its other products such as
Adobe Photoshop,
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...
, and
Adobe Edge
Adobe Edge is a suite of web development tools developed by Adobe that enhances the capabilities of their other applications, such as Dreamweaver. The first application in the suite was released in August 2011 as a multimedia authoring tool design ...
.
User interface
Fireworks'
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
is consistent with the rest of Adobe Creative Suite, similar to that of
Adobe Photoshop. On
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, it is possible to display the application in
multiple document interface
A multiple-document interface (MDI) is a graphical user interface in which multiple windows reside under a single parent window. Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex nested hierarchies ...
mode or the standard viewing mode where all toolbars float freely on the screen.
Features
Hierarchical layers
All the layers can be accessed from the Layers panel. Layers may be wider or taller than the image itself. However, the final image is produced by hiding those areas that exit the image boundary.
Smart guides
Fireworks support ''guides'', horizontal or vertical lines that act like a real-world ruler to help drawing, content placement and image composition. A user may place one or more guides on the image at any time and use it as a visual aid. For instance a guide is useful when a piece of text must be placed in line with another graphical item. Additionally, the user may enable the ''snap'' feature of the Fireworks, which causes objects (pieces of image, text or layers) drag to the vicinity of a guide to snap to it.
The ''smart guides'' however, are not placed by users. They are areas of the image that may interest the user such as the image boundaries, middle of the image or general boundaries of another object. When a user drags an object, Fireworks tries to guess what the user intends to do with the object and draws temporary visual and placement aids. This feature was added with the release of CS4.
Symbols
Reusable elements can be designated as ''symbols'' and placed at multiple pages or on the same page. When the master symbol is edited, Fireworks propagates the change to all instances of that symbol.
9-slice scaling
This feature ensures that rounded rectangles maintain their roundness when transformed depending on where the guides are placed. CS4 has this feature exposed as a tool. With this feature introduced in the CS3 version, its usage was limited to symbols.
Image optimization
Fireworks were created specifically for web production. Since not every user may be in possession of a fast Internet connection, it is in the best interest of the web developers to optimize the size of their digital contents. In terms of image compression, Fireworks has a better compression rate than Photoshop with
JPEG,
PNG and
GIF images.
Adobe Creative Suite integration
Fireworks understands the
Adobe Photoshop and
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...
file formats (
.psd
and
.ai
files) as well as
Encapsulated PostScript format (
.eps
files).
Export
Fireworks can export images to multiple file formats including PNG, JPEG, GIF, Animated GIF,
TIFF
Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word process ...
,
SWF,
BMP,
WBMP and
PDF. It can also export to SVG (with the help of a free Export extension
[.]) and FXG 2.0. Fireworks can export to HTML by converting slices to HTML elements.
States
Previously known as ''frames'', ''states'' are used for animation purposes. They are also used for defining behaviors in cases of symbol buttons like Up, Down, Over (changing the visual style of buttons on click, release, and hover with the mouse).
Version history
* 1998: Macromedia Fireworks
* 1999: Macromedia Fireworks 2
* 2000: Macromedia Fireworks 3
* 2001: Macromedia Fireworks 4
* 2002: Macromedia Fireworks MX (v6.0)
* 2003: Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 (v7.0)
* 2005: Macromedia Fireworks 8
* 2007: Adobe Fireworks CS3 (v9.0)
* 2008: Adobe Fireworks CS4 (v10.0)
* 2010: Adobe Fireworks CS5 (v11.0)
* 2011: Adobe Fireworks CS5.1 (v11.1)
* 2012: Adobe Fireworks CS6 (v12.0)
See also
*
Criticism of Creative Cloud
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Adobe Systems
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
C++ software
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
Macintosh graphics software
MacOS graphics software
Raster graphics editors
Vector graphics editors
Windows graphics-related software
1998 software