Upgrade time- Is Fireworks CS3 necessary?
visualrush (26 pencils) | Tue, 2007-06-05 15:50I am a print & web professional who regularly uses a combination of Photoshop, Imageready & Dreamweaver to put together mockups & full websites. I also use Illustrator & Indesign for other print & graphics needs... I am getting ready to upgrade to CS3 but am stuck as there is not one package that has everything I need. (except the master.. but that is overkill)
Of the new CS3 "Editions" , the Web Premium or Design Premium seem to be what I need. BUT the Web Edition lacks Indesign, and the Design Edition lacks Fireworks. I know I need Indesign, but am not sure if FIreworks is necessary.
I use Imageready to slice up my graphics, but rarely use it to add code or anything so I imagine I COULD use photoshop to do the same thing - it is just easier to name individual files in Imageready and I think th efiles compress smaller and clearer than using "Save for Web" out of Photoshop.
Is Fireworks CS3 necessary? It sounds like it has a lot of features I would not use - but without Imageready, I may find Photoshop lacking some of the advanced features for web graphics that Fireworks is supposed to bring to the table.
Anyone have real world experiences upgrading to CS3 and using/not using Fireworks? I am leaning toward Design Premium and adding Fireworks later If I need it.
Any thoughts or advice would really be appreciated.
Thanks!
(( visualrush ))
Commenting on this Forum topic is closed.
Fireworks CS3
It seems as an integral process of more web comping. with a lot of neeto things for dreamweaver, flash, and even flex.
but what I want to know is how much of it is comping- and can you take a PSD->Fireworks comp->to Dreamweaver-> Live HTML coding.
Chris Brophy
Iklectek Designs
Chris Brophy
Iklectek Designs
twitter
... so I am not sure how much of the comping features I will use. (though it sounds interesting to play with). That would be interesting though if the comp could be taken to Dreamweaver with minimal editing to finish out the full site.
I ordered a 30 day demo disc from Adobe of the entire Design Premium suite so I can see if not having fireworks will be an issue.
I have read that you cannot do animated gifs in the new photoshop without Fireworks.. so maybe I just need to keep an old version around anyway.
(( visualrush ))
Photoshop CS3 now has animation built in like it did in the past for Imageready.
So yes you can still do animated GIFs
Thanks for verifying that feature. Now as long as it isnt too bad when you are slicing, dicing & saving off web graphics, Fireworks might not be a necessary buy at this time. I am most concerned about the ability to rename slices using a pallate and optimize them individually (like Imageready used to do)... Anytime I tried to rename slices in PS, it was a pain as you had to double-click on the slice and bring up a naming window (like you used to have to do for the layers palate in older versions). My fingers are crossed that they integrated Imageready and do not expect people to simply accept the Fireworks "replacement" as the way to go.
I just noticed how Adobe released GoLive 9.. with similar specs & description to Dreamweaver (and the same price). It seems the confusion continues. I never could get into using GoLive (or Fireworks for that matter) so I know I will not need it, but I can see it really confusing to anyone trying to choosewhich program to buy individually. I guess it is good Adobe isn't leaving GoLive users in the lurch.. but decide already and simplify your offerings Adobe!
(( visualrush ))
It's no longer part of CS, it was dropped in favour Fireworks.
I don't know if it's just me, but I tried to install other CS3 stand alone apps after installing Design Premium and I kept getting error messages.
I haven't fully looked in to this yet but it's something to bear in mind.
Choose carefully.
Of course what I really want is the Master Collection *drools*.
www.jamnittygritty.com
Mostly all features that belonged to ImageReady are now in Photoshop CS3 Except the ability to create rollovers, for that you will need fireworks.
In my opinion: professionaly it is not ideal to use that feature in fireworks. It is better to create rollover effects using CSS.
Interesting- this is good news... I stopped using Imageready for rollovers a while back and normally just export 2 separate graphics for rollovers and used CSS or Dreamweaver to generate the rollover code for me. This is good news as it means I may not need Fireworks at all. I now have a 30 day Demo of the Design Premium waiting to install whenever my new MBP arroves (hopefully in the next 2 days). That way I can know for sure how it will work before I order the expensive beast.
On the older/newer version issue- I have heard that too- if you want both CS2/CS1 and CS3 to run on the same machine that you have to either leave the older version on the machine, or install them FIRST, else they will not install after the new version (I think that was from a Photoshop User article.). I am leery of this as anytime I have upgraded in the past it seems to have rendered my old versions of PS useless (new new version just starts up instead) I plan on keeping my older powerbook intact with the CS1 suite and older MAcromedia suite for a while just in case I have troubles and need to go back to it for workflo reasons- Though I imagine once I feel the speed of the new machine, one will have a hard time getting me to use the older machine for much unless necessary.
Thanks everyone for your replies.. I will post back after I have run some tests.
(( visualrush ))
The good news about FireworksCS3 is, it's still the best tool for designing Web graphics and for rapid site prototyping. But like nearly every other Adobe product in the Creative Suite 3 series, it just doesn't offer enough new features to justify the high cost of upgrading.
Sneaky... very sneaky.
*Troll Alert*!!
The Construct Agency
Building Creative Brands for People