Fireworks 4 Expert Edge

Tired of other books that just repeated what was in the user manual, I gave this book a try. Wow, is it different! Instead of covering each of the tools one by one, it shows you how to use tools together to get real work done. It also has a heavy emphasis on collaboration with others, including some clever strategies I hadn't thought of. Two chapters on working with vectors and working with bitmaps will help artsy users be more creative. The latter half of the book really gets into topics that aren't covered well in some of the other, more beginner-oriented books: doing whole page designs in Fireworks, working with Fireworks HTML, integrating with Dreamweaver, and a great chapter on working with Fireworks and Flash. There is an entire chapter on working with commands--a topic I never thought I would attempt, but the book had me creating commands in a matter of minutes.As for the online training, I am not sure when it came back online, but it is online now. Honestly, the book's approach is so unique, I would have rated it with 5 stars even without the training, but it IS available, contrary to some of the other book reviews. The multimedia lessons just add more value to an already great book.

I've got shelves and shelves of books on designing, coding and creating websites but few of them go into methods and techniques to shorten up your development time.

I am very happy to have "Fireworks 4 Expert Edge" in my graphic/web design library. I agree with Michael S. Boardley's review when he alludes to the fact that this book is better suited to those with intermediate to advanced skills in using Fireworks and Dreamweaver together. I enjoyed "Building a CD Illustration" which melds several Fireworks techniques into a single lesson. The results were pretty cool. The chapters on Flash integration, Dreamweaver integration, and automating Fireworks are also very insightful. For those concerned that the companion web site was shut down and the online tutorials are now unavailable, you can find the downloadable chapter files at the URL that is mentioned numerous times throughout the book. The authors of the book are also working to get the online tutorials up and running on the previously mentioned URL. All-in-all, this is a very worthwhile book to own.

Fireworks 4 Expert Edge is one of the best books I have read this year. I typically devote my web development time to coding database-driven web pages, and as such I have not developed much expertise in the area of graphical design. Thanks to this book, I am developing my skills in that area now.I am about half-way through Expert Edge, and feel I have learned quite a bit about designing web sites with Fireworks. The book picks up wonderfully where the Fireworks tutorials leave off.The included online tutorials are wonderful as well. They really helped me to gain practical insight into what I was reading and solidify my learning.

This book is written by experts on Fireworks for web designers who have experience with Fireworks. It is not a book for beginners to Fireworks. There are plenty of other books on the market for beginners. Go through the basic tutorials on Fireworks first. However, if you want to use Fireworks to its greatest potential, you will want this book on your reference shelf. Peppered with lots of examples, you will learn how to turn an everyday web page into something spectacular. You will learn about optimizing your graphics to minimize download time, how to create commands to save you design time on repetitive tasks, as well as integrating with Dreamweaver, and much more. Furthermore, the book has many examples of Fireworks in the real world. Along with the detailed tutorials, you can not go wrong with this book. Well worth the investment if you want to design incredible sites.