Fireworks 3 Bible [With CDROM]

With my background being primarily in database and application development, reading the Fireworks 3 Bible was somewhat of a sidestep for me. For quite a while I have been writing ASP pages to serve as front ends to my databases-- all the rollovers and DHTML I used was hand-coded. Though fun, writing such things out manually is anything but speedy. Enter Fireworks! Not only is Fireworks speeding up my development, the work I produce is of a decidedly higher order.The Fireworks 3 Bible is the only serious work out there on Fireworks. Luckily it's a good tech manual. I have hardly any background in graphic design, so I sat down and read this book cover to cover (if you know Photoshop/Illustrator you should be able to skim and pick up just the details you need). It was great to get an overview of vector graphic and image editing-- I feel as if I could pick up other Macromedia/Adobe products and fudge my way through basic designs.I would recommend this book to any web developer. My approach to web development has been completely altered.

There is no doubt at all that Lowery not only has the indepth knowledge about the subject but the fact that the fluent,lucid and fantastic manner in which he explains the complete Fireworks subject in nothing short of amazing. Very few computer gurus can teach what they know, I mean teach well, and without doubt Lowery is one of them. If you are knew to fireworks,or at the intermidiate level,this is the book which after reading, you can afford to add the word "GURU" in your title. If you are looking to pick up Fireworks fast,have no time to waste through fat books, EVEN THEN,do NOT miss out this brilliant book.Skimming through section 1 of this book should be enough to help you working efficiently with Fireworks menu and toolbars.I mentioned this point cause I myself was under tremendous pressure from my manager to pick up the Fireworks stuff for the projects,and initialy had opted for the "Firworks fast and easy web development book" so I could immediately pick up the tool.Wrong Choice.I gave up reading that book within 30 minutes of opening the first page.This book guides you thro the steps involved in familiarizing with the Fireworks basics and then moves on to the deeper and extensive stuff which you can do with Fireworks. The first 136 pages are slow and you may feel like throwing away the book.DONT.The real fun starts after the 136 pages provided you have read well upto that part. after 136 pages its nothing short of a high speed Bond movie chase. Each chapters/articles are carefully detailed with enough of juices to drink which would last a lifetime. Basic chapters like "managing color"(in my opinion a very fundamental principle to learn and pick to avoid making amess of your website),'choosing strokes',"composing text" and many more - form the Second section of "Mastering tools".This section is a beginner's delight. The author then moves on to more advanced sections like "acheiving effects" , programming with fireworks(if you need it), and many more.This is the kind of book you pick up to learn a new subject and then make place for it near your desktop for a lifetime refrence and guidance.

After waiting what seemed like ages for this book, I can say it is definetly worth the wait! Together with the Dreamweaver Bible, what more does one need to design killer web sites? Nothing! Lowery does it again!

Hi,Ok, I wanted to create my own personal web site featuring my college work in the field of engineering. I had heard of Photoshop, but a friend told me of FireWorks from Macromedia. I downloaded the trial version and followed the small tutorial that comes with the program. After a few hours of using FireWorks I could not believe how easy it was to use. I figured the program had to be more powerful, that is when I said hello to Fireworks Bible 3. The book takes you step by step and it is extremely easy to create killer web-ready images! The book also teaches you how to use Fireworks with your scanner. The book, and the software are extremely powerful and extremely affordable. I highly recommend this book if you are thinking, thought, or will think about creating a web page. Five Stars without question.