Fireworks (R) MX: The Complete Reference

This book is indeed a complete reference on Fireworks MX, there is no doubt about it. Can you learn how to use Fireworks MX by using this book? Only if you spend a lot of time and read the book cover to cover. I didn't like the idea of reading a 650 page book in that fashion so I look around and found a companion book 'Fireworks MX' by Carr et al. This other book is focused on providing practical exercises so you can learn faster. I ended up learning by using these books side by side. I used the Complete Reference for understanding the theory and what NOT to do while I used the book by Carr for understanding the practical aspects of HOW to use Fireworks MX. One example of how useful the Complete Reference is - I was creating an animated banner so I went to Chapter 19: Creating Animated Banners. I then learned two important facts that helped me save a lot of time in the long run. First, I learned that I have to be careful about managing the file size when I am working with animated banners (there was a lot of useful information on how to do this) and second, I learned how to create Fireworks MX templates for animated banners! These templates can be used over and over to create a variety of animated banners saving you a lot of time. After reading this chapter, I felt very confident of the design and implementation aspects of creating animated banners. But when it was time to actually create the animated banner, I couldn't find any step by step instructions on how to do it! This is where I switched over to the other book and followed the step by step instructions found in Chapter 8: Animation Techniques.Bottom line - it is an unfortunate fact that there aren't that many good books on using Fireworks MX so you are stuck picking 2-3 books and working with them. The Complete Reference is a good book for the theory and some valuable design tips but you need another book that is focused on the practical aspects.

This book is very compreshensive and easy to understand. It's well indexed which is important for a reference book so you can find specific topics easily. The various topics are covered in an easy to understand language and not overly technical. This is a lot of book for the money.