Editorial Review

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Reviews (2)

What a bargain - 3 for 1!
I already had Fireworks, and then I bought the Flash and Freehand bundle. I am used to Illustrator, and this book really helped me tie all the programs together. The projects are easy to do, but challenging enough to keep up your interest. They also build up your skill level so you increase your capabilities as you work in the programs. Nice Surprise
I must say I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I actually learned a ton more than expected which is unusual for a book not meant to teach all 3 programs. It is certainly at an intermediate level as stated which is also a refreshing surprise.Read more

Subjects:  1. Authoring programs    2. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Graphics - Flash    5. Computer Graphics - General    6. Computer graphics    7. Computers    8. Computers - Desktop Publishing    9. Interactive & Multimedia    10. Internet - Web Site Design    11. Microcomputer Graphics    12. Multi-Media Hardware & Software    13. Web sites    14. Computer graphics software    15. Multimedia   

Reviews (3)

Another great one!!
Fireworks made easy!!!

Good Concept to Get Started Fast
Macromedia is clearly devoted to the web page production business. Fireworks is their graphics package that is ideally suited for producing the kinds of images you want on web sites. It is also smoothly integrated into the rest of their packages such as Dreamweaver, which is hands down the preferred web authoring package available at the professional level.
callipygia600.com
Having bought Studio MX 2004 because I wanted the easiest way to integrate graphics with DreamWeaver, I struggled and struggled to use Fireworks.I use Photoshop, but read how great Fireworks was and wanted to try it.I found that it's HELP is terrible, and not very useful to new users.Then I found Sandee Cohen's book, and all is now clear.This is a great book, walking the user systematically through how to use Fireworks, and emphasizing the ease and simplicity of keystroke shortcuts.Very highly recommended. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Internet - General    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Multi-Media Hardware & Software    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    11. Multimedia   

Reviews (10)

Great beginners book
Step-by-step, easy to follow instructios, with clear pictures and diagrams to indicate where to find the tools they want you to use. The projects in this book teach the basics in ways that users will be able to put to immediate use for their own projects. I found it especially useful since I have no training at all with any graphics programs, this book really helped me understand what tools were available and how to use them in effective ways.
A value for money purchase
This book starts from the very basics in a clear and well set out format making it one of the value for money books on my shelf.

Good Reference Book
I have been through this book and its companion book for Freehand MX and have the same comment for this one that I had for the Freehand MX version. Almost Great! Thorough enough to be used as a reference but the actual examples need some editing. There was a lack of consistency to simple things like "select both items" being sometimes written and sometimes left to the reader to figure out. Overall, a good book for a beginner who will refer to it often for a reference. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Dreamweaver (Computer file)    9. Fireworks (Computer file)    10. Interactive & Multimedia    11. Internet - General    12. Microcomputer Graphics    13. Web site development    14. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    15. Multimedia   

Reviews (2)

This is a great resource
The authors do a great job introducing Fireworks MX 2004 to new users.They take readers on a thorough tour of the features and tools sets available in Fireworks.Experienced readers can also learn from this book as it talks about more advanced topics and even highlights the Fireworks Exchange by Macromedia which is one of the most powerful assets available to Fireworks users.If you want to learn Fireworks MX 2004, this is the book for you.

What a great resource to insert creative ideas to websites
This book really helped me out with learning how to implement creative thoughts/ideas into a working navigation system. When read, it sounds like the authors are right there walking you through each and every step you need to understand and master FireworksMX 2004. As you read through the book, you'll find a lot of helpful tips that are in each section. I almost liked reading the tips rather than focusing on the main sections. Be sure to work through the tutorials, I picked up a lot of tidbits that I didnt think were possible.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. Computers / General   

Reviews (6)

I really like this book....
I'm only about a 1/4 through this book and I have to say I've learned a lot of valuable information.It's an easy read and it's not as time consuming because it's not taking you through every minute detail peice by peice.She's giving you real-life information that is useful in making a basic beginners website.Highly recommended.

Pretty Basic Except Where I Needed the Basics
This book contains a number of tricks and tips to make a more animated and inviting web site. Adoption of the techniques described will definitely lead to a more professional appearance of the finished product. In that respect, it is quite a useful volume, especially for a neophyte like myself.
Great for adding special features...
This book is really great if you'd like to add a few special features like photo albums, pop-up frames, etc.It explains how to configure them in plain english, and gives examples to practice. You can jump to any chapter immediately to get the info you need without having to spend time reading the entire book. Definitely worth the money! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Authoring programs    2. Computer - Internet    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computer Networks    5. Computers    6. Design    7. Desktop Publishing    8. Dreamweaver (Computer file)    9. Fireworks (Computer file)    10. Internet - General    11. Internet - Web Site Design    12. Internet - World Wide Web    13. Web sites    14. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    15. Databases & data structures    16. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Reviews (4)

You gotta be dumb not to buy this book
This book is brilliantly written, regardless of the level of your expertise. Doug has a sense of humor and a gentle way of explaining things that makes the book perfectly appropriate to novices. On the other hand, all the material the experts need is there and Doug makes it fun to read about it. You could have more pretty pictures, but the book would sell for at least twice the price.

You gotta be dumb to buy this series
I'm sure there are some people who could learn something from this book. Unfortunately compared to what's out there, this book is a real waste of time and money. EASY TO READ-GREAT CONTENT
This book saved my life! I had a big freelance gig at a major interactive agency. I needed to learn Fireworks in 2 days. I picked this book up because it looked like it cut through all the irrelevant issues I didn't need to know about. I was right thank God. Thanks to this book I helped creat a major website in Fireworks. Great program too! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Design    7. Fireworks (Computer file)    8. Fireworks (Computer program)    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Web sites    12. Computer graphics software    13. Internet   

Reviews (3)

Best if used in conjunction with another book.
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. Warmed over Help Files
Personally, I'm offended when an author doesn't do anything other than re-write the Help files and then sell the result as if it's original work. This book is in that category and you would be better off to keep your money and spend time with the Help files instead of looking for something in this book. The author and publisher should be ashamed for passing this book off as a complete reference when it is apparent that very little original work went into it.

Great Buy
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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Networks    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Design    9. Fireworks (Computer file)    10. Fireworks (Computer program)    11. Internet - Web Site Design    12. Microcomputer Graphics    13. Web sites    14. Computer graphics software    15. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    16. Systems analysis & design    17. Web browsers   

Reviews (6)

Excellent Tutorial
This is an excellent book for learning how to use Fireworks...it has very good projects and it even has things to do on your own when you are finished the lesson.I have learned alot about Fireworks MX from this book and I highly recommend it.

Very good at what it says it will do
I am amazed by the number of individuals who purchase computer books expecting one thing when the author clearly states the purpose is for something else. The classic case is when an author writes a book with the express purpose of learning a program and a reviewer states they are disappointed because the book not in depth, is sequential in nature, or is difficult to jump around in.
A beginner's book made as cryptic as possible.
Macromedia's Fireworks MX is a terrific tool to do graphics and much more for the Web. But to find a book that helps you learn this great tool is a difficult job if you are a BEGINNER. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Dreamweaver (Computer file)    8. Electronic Publishing    9. Fireworks (Computer file)    10. Interactive & Multimedia    11. Internet - General    12. Microcomputer Graphics    13. Web site development    14. Web sites    15. Computers / Electronic Publishing   

Reviews (9)

Dreamweaver MX / Fireworks MX Savvy
If you are new to FireWorks MX and DreamWeaver MX, DON'T waste your time with this book. There are too many errors, inaccuracies and incomplete process steps. Plus, the CD does not have all of the sample files mentioned in the Hands On portion of the lessons. okay, but errors abound.
1st few chapter chapters showed promise.Laid out easy to understand.Fireworks chapters are obviously written by someone else and leave alot to be disired.Not very intuitive examples, make you struggle though it, that and missing files from cd dont help.Typo's through out book, and chapter 30 has a bullet point on the first page of the chapter about the topics to be covered on Finding or Preparing a Host Server, but the topic isn't covered in the chapter.Copy Editors sure fell down on the job in this book.

Verbose, uninspiring tome
When I purchased this book I had high hopes for it, as most of the customer reviews had given it a high rating. But, this is probably the most uninspiring web design book I've ever come across.Read more

Subjects:  1. Authoring programs    2. Computer Books: Web Publishing    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Data Processing - General    7. Design    8. Desktop Publishing    9. Dreamweaver (Computer file)    10. Fireworks (Computer file)    11. Internet - Web Site Design    12. Microcomputer Graphics    13. Web publishing    14. Web sites    15. Computer graphics software    16. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    17. Publishing on the Internet   

Reviews (15)

Great help
I first bought Creating a Web Page in Dreamweaver 8. It sucked, bad. Probably the worst book I ever bouhght. Then, I found this book, really made a lot of sense. Great for beginners, and it is real in depth as well. I would recomend it, and might even buy a second copy for myself.
Nice Pics .... but that's about it.
This book is severely lacking.The book uses a lot of pictures and poor descriptions in an attempt to teach you how to use dreamweaver functions.The result is that you get an idea of how to do certain functions but never get the feeling of how to effectively put them together.The book is in limbo between catering to beginners and being a mere reference book for someone trying to remember 'how to create an input form'.Had this book provided a simple web project that the readers could complete while teaching us the program; then everyone (readers and author) might have been able to stay on the 'same page'.

Really Helpful!
This book was really helpful in helping me make make my website. Each page has great detail, and very simple to understand and follow. I definitely reccomend this book for all Dreamweaver users and whoever wants to create a website. Loved it! thanx ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Animation    3. Computer Books: Web Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Design    7. Dreamweaver (Computer file)    8. Fireworks (Computer file)    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Web sites    12. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    13. Internet   

Reviews (1)

Learn, learn, learn
This is a *textbook*, and it's much easier to understand than the existing tutorials.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer graphics    5. Computer programs    6. Computers    7. Computers - Other Applications    8. Design    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Web sites    11. Computer Software Packages    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Desktop publishing software   

Reviews (9)

Fireworks MX Zero to Hero: slightly sloppy
We're using this book for a Regional Occupational Program web design course. I rate it lower than the average of the other reviews because, while it is thorough in its presentation of Fireworks' many features, the writing isn't quite as tight or precise as our other books. This increases the frustration level inherent in learning new software. Every Fireworks User Should Own This Book
This book is definitely a book that I shall keep for reference.The tutorials are written in a manner to keep you thinking.Information on Fireworks is in an easy to read format. For the hands on individual, you will find tutorials that will challenge all levels of expertise.Will revisit the tutorials in this book the next time I plan a web page using Fireworks.Happy Computing...

Excellent Book By Joyce Evans
It is a book beyond the imagination.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Design    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Web sites    10. Computer graphics software    11. Internet   

Editorial Review

Many digital designers, even fans of Macromedia Dreamweaver, use AdobePhotoshop/ImageReady and Illustrator for image creation and manipulation, andconstantly go back and forth between applications. In this latest Bible,Dreamweaver power user Joseph Lowery proved to himself that MacromediaFireworks, which handles both vector and bitmap art, is an effective replacementfor those applications, increasing both productivity and creativity.Read more

Reviews (12)

Good Book for learning fireworks.
The book is good for learning how to do most if not all of the fireworks basics. It also covers a few advanced topics, but not in enough depth. Nice!But could have been a little better!
This was a fairly good book.But, I found myself getting lost and confused several times while reading.I have never used Fireworks 3, and I have not used any other sort of graphics design program before.So I am new to graphics design.I found the book to be very helpful but confusing in a couple of chapters.I did have a few problems with the book.The first couple of chapters throw all the menus and tool options at you right off the bat.It kinda blew my mind, and I almost had a melt down!One last thing I didn't like about the book is the constant pointers to using Fireworks with Macintosh.I am ofcourse a Windows user, so I found the constant references to Mac pointless.I will remain a Windows user until the day I die, so I could of done without the references to Mac in the book.Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.Moreover, I would recomend this book to anyone who wants to learn a quick and easy graphics design program such as Fireworks!

Not quite as good as it could be
I recognize that this is probably the most comprehensive book on Fireworks3, but I am a little disappointed in it.There is lots of goodinformation.It is sometimes overwhelming.There are examples in the bookthat you just can't follow along with.They give you the completedexercise but why not give you the starting graphics, give you directionsand let you create the finished product yourself.I was also disappointedin several chapters on the CD ROM that didn't seem to have the correctfiles as the chapters in the book.So I decided to go to their web site tosee if they had corrections.When I went to the site identified in thebook, it was the site for the Fireworks 2 book.The book is an invaluableresource and should be in anyone's collection if they are working withFireworks 3, but, in my opinion, this is not a 5 star book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Desktop Publishing    2. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Fireworks (Computer file)    8. Fireworks (Computer program)    9. Internet - Web Site Design    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Desktop publishing software    14. Image processing    15. Internet   

Reviews (4)

short task descriptions
The book follows in the footsteps of the other QuickStart books. Fireworks is a nice graphics drawing package. This functionality lends itself easily to a QuickStart approach. The inherent visual nature of Fireworks means that every page can have graphics demonstrating some aspect. (Don't try this with an algorithms book.)
Wonderful Book
Dear Amazon, Great book if you already know what you're doing
If you have already been using software to produce graphics then this book is for you.It would be a very useful reference to someone who knows what they want to do, but just doesn't know how to do it in Fireworks.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Design    7. Electronic Publishing    8. Fireworks (Computer file)    9. Fireworks (Computer program)    10. Interactive & Multimedia    11. Microcomputer Graphics    12. Multi-Media Hardware & Software    13. Programming Languages - General    14. Web sites    15. Computer graphics software    16. Computers / Electronic Publishing    17. Internet    18. Multimedia   

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Computers / Interactive Media    8. Multimedia   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. General    5. Computers / General    6. Internet languages    7. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Reviews (2)

Fast and Easy Isn't an Exaggeration
The book is good for me because it's like I'm actually in a class and being instructed by an instructor. Yes, this is basic. But it is just what I need to learn "the basics" of Fireworks in a logical and useful manner. Maybe the screenshots are small (as noted by the previous reviewer) - but if you follow along (using the downloadable chapter material from the website link that is still valid), then the small illustrations aren't as much an issue since you're looking at a much larger hands-on version (which is what you want to do anyway to pick up the concepts and retain them longer). This book is proving to be the perfect stepping stone into other Fireworks publications that go into greater detail. That's because I'm able to build a logical and easy-to-remember foundation for the tools and concepts in Fireworks MX. If you're a beginner or just getting started with Fireworks MX, you'll be able to cover the "basics" quickly. There are only 300 pages of "tutoring" and with the downloadable material, large print size, generous screenshots, and helpful "tips", you'll be confidently using Fireworks in about 4-15 hours (depending on your comprehension speed and technique). I would highly recommend this book and then follow it up with "Special Edition Using Macromedia Fireworks MX" by Jeffrey Bardzell (ISBN: 0789727269).

Good book but you need a microscope for the examples
I found the book follows a good logical progression for learning the basics of Dreamweaver MX and Web design in general. However, there are many screen shots through the book for following the examples of which you literally meed a microscope - I have good eyesight and could not make out most of the microscopic text. This is a BIG disappointment, otherwise a great book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Internet General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. Computer graphics software    7. Computers / Programming Languages / General    8. Publishing on the Internet   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Desktop Publishing    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Computers / Interactive Media    8. Image processing    9. Internet    10. Multimedia   

Reviews (2)

Save your money!
This is a terrible book. First, there is no color and the illustrations are poorly printed, muddy halftones that give very little impression of what the finished graphic might look like.The learning approach is very modular, attempting to do what the VisualQuickstart books do but getting lost in badly designed tint-boxes on the sides of pages that have too much boldface type and badly reproduced icons. You can learn much more from the Macromedia tutorials that come with Fireworks 8.
A quick guide for beginner and intermediate levls of users
This book covers most topics which Fireworks users need to know. Topics are presented in a nice flow. Readers can quickly pick up techniques described in the book (in less than a week). This book should be very useful for beginners and some helps for intermediate users. If you were looking for a workflow book using fireworks and other website designing software like Dreamweaver, this one is not the one. I personally do not like to quality of figures inside. Many of them are not well printed, designed, and meaningful. It worths a four stars because it costs under 20 dollars. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. Computer Software Packages    7. Computers / Interactive Media   

Reviews (3)

Seriously "Must Have" For the Fireworks User
Just about every time I need a technical manual, especially software based, I head for the 'Bible' series. I've yet to be disappointed. I'm sure every web developer knows that Macromedia is "the" software to use. I know enough about Fireworks to get by without this book, but it helped me to learn a few new things about this version (MX) and it also acts as a wonderful reference tool that I've marked with those little post-it flags in the places I need to regularly reference.

Where's the editor?
This book has a personality crisis because it doesn't know who its audience is. It is far too long and in-depth to be a book for beginners, yet it is too wordy and "cute" to be a particularly useful reference book. I am about halfway through it and I am now skipping over every bit of prose and just reading the tips and figures because I am tired of reading things like, "Until Fireworks, you could never do X!" when "X" is something that we've been able to do in Photoshop (or Corel Draw or Illustrator or whatnot) for years. Fireworks seems to do a nice job of pulling together the main features and functions of a lot of different established programs, but it didn't actually invent these things. All in all, the book does seem to be complete if you are willing to slog through it, but the examples could have been a lot better. The color insert was pretty useless, and a few of the images actually made me cringe - the publisher really should have shelled out a few extra bucks for a professional graphic designer.
Definitely not for the beginner
If you're new to web design, but are eager to get started with hands-on learning, find another text.This book is intended for the Fireworks scientist who enjoys extremely wordy and granular discussions of specific topics.The author obviously loves writing, because to learn anything with this book, you'll need to do a lot of reading.There are no tutorials,very little practical advice, and the author expects you to already be proficient with computer-graphics terms.He'll extemporate ad-nauseum on a particular subject, and hidden at the end of the last paragraph will be directions on how to access the setting he's discussing.He explains everything, and ties nothing together into a cohesive lesson. At the end of this book you'll ask yourself "okay, how do I use all of these tools to create something?".The author might respond, "hey pal, that's up to you". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Design    7. Fireworks (Computer file)    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Reference - General    10. Web sites    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Programming languages