Fireworks MX Magic [With CDROM]

Gives step-by-step, easy to follow instructions to use intermediate and advanced techniques to create or modify graphics. This book would be very hard for someone with little or no Fireworks experience to follow, as it assumes one knows where all the menu items and commands are located. But for those who are ready to dig a little deeper into the features and functions of Fireworks, this is a great tool. If you're looking for a beginner's book, try Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 Training from the Source. It's excellent for those who have little or no knowledge of Fireworks.

This expensive book on Fireworks MX has a little over 200 pages covering 15 projects. It is assumed that you are a beginner wanting to move to the next level. The projects address important problems you will encounter on a daily basis and explain solutions in a simple step by step fashion. To give a preview of what to expect when you work through this book - you will learn how to create flashy buttons, understand the concepts behind large-scale link management, building the ultimate navigational bar, creating perfect pop-up menus, etc. There are a few advanced topics like using Fireworks extensions and collaborative workflow. All in all, this is an excellent book deriving its value from the project based approach (one project per chapter) written and reviewed by experts in the industry. The entire book is in black and white so the only color you will see is the little yellowish orange on the cover. The book doesn't sit like a normal book on a bookshelf because of its unique dimensions (8x10 instead of 10x8). I personally didn't care too much for this format but it isn't bothersome either. The project files are on the accompanying CD-ROM. The book uses a two column format throughout whereby the text is aligned with the associated images. This provides faster understanding of the topic being discussed.I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapters on how to build a very cool navigational bar and how to design a dynamic interface using rollovers etc. The chapter on flashy buttons was fun also. Beginners will not be confused by the writing style which is very direct and simple. I didn't find anything magical about this book as hinted in the title but it is a very practical book and useful to almost any Fireworks designer.Considering the tremendous background that the authors possess, they could have provided more tips and covered another 10-15 projects for the price of the book. But other than that, this is an excellent book on the path to becoming an Intermediate user if you don't mind the price. Enjoy!

If your looking for the basics on getting started there are many others that will do the job. This book step right into the heart of Fireworks and bends and stretches the tool we know as Fireworks. Excellent projects and if you don't have a need for the project, there are so many great tips and tricks buried in these books, that alone is worth the price.Excellent desk book to keep around.

If you're looking to really jazz up a web site, incoporate Fireworks with Dreamweaver or Flash, or simply to use Fireworks as a standalone software product, this book is for you. Granted, beginners will have a harder time understanding all the concepts, but you can get Fireworks 4 Expert Edge (by the same authors) if you need some help with the basics. The included CD provides all the tutorials listed in the book, and you can modify and/or copy any needed elements. The 15 lessons will provide you hours of instruction from some of the most brilliant minds in web design. What are you waiting for?

FIREWORKS MX MAGICAUTHOR: Lisa LopuckPUBLISHER: New RidersREVIEWED BY: Barbara RhoadesVector images. Do you know how to change them, add or subtract something from them? The first chapter in Fireworks MX Magic will teach you how. How about bitmaps? Can you take one bitmap and change it into something else? Chapter two will help you do it.Ever have a small picture that you would LOVE to use for a background but when you try all you see are many small pictures. There is a chapter on creating seamless tiles. Then there are ways to make buttons so they are interactive and animated by importing URLs and hot spots. You can also learn to animate by using a timeline.Create great navigation bars with hot spots and have them be connected. Why connected? That way when you make a change to one of the navigation bars, all will change to match. And don't forget, you can learn how to export to Dreamweaver, do batch processing, use project logs with the find and replace to update web sites. And finally, Fireworks extensions as Java script snippets are accessed in the Command menu of Fireworks. Don't know how? Check out this book.Do you use Fireworks for your graphic needs? Do you REALLY use it or just the main tools? Get Fireworks MX Magic and learn how to use all of the tools in Fireworks.