Adobe Success Story

He's a one-man production team. Web Developer Alan Musselman is single-handedly responsible for all user-interface design, graphics creation, HTML and Flash production, and content maintenance for estorefixture.com, an online automated sourcing site, where things change everyday.

Recently, Musselman used a beta version of Macromedia Fireworks MX to create and modify hundreds of graphics, optimize the site and streamline his development and maintenance process. Musselman is also using Macromedia Flash MX and a beta version of Dreamweaver MX.

"By upgrading from Fireworks 4 to Fireworks MX, I've already cut my development time in half. In addition to a slew of new and improved features, the new UI has given me the ability to customize panels to suit my needs. This by far has to be one of the biggest benefits of upgrading to Fireworks MX."

The Macromedia MX workspace allows Musselman to design in a familiar, integrated workspace consistent with Macromedia Flash MX and Dreamweaver MX. Dockable panels can be grouped together and collapsed or expanded as needed, providing a smooth, highly configurable workflow. "The new UI is amazing. Already, my workflow has greatly improved."

Packed with New Features

In addition to the new user interface, Fireworks MX offers many new powerful features, including the Property Inspector. As in Dreamweaver MX and Macromedia Flash MX, the Property Inspector shows context-sensitive settings for tools and objects, reducing the need to move between multiple panels.

From the Property Inspector, you can name slices, change object properties—such as stroke, fill, and live effects—as well as change canvas and image size and color. You can also edit text onscreen with the integrated text editor.

Fireworks MX now offers Quick Export button that exports to a variety of file formats and HTML styles and allows you to launch other Macromedia applications with a single click.

Musselman used to spend a lot of time slicing images. Not anymore. With Fireworks MX, he can define and optimize slice table layouts by dragging slice guides. Fireworks MX automatically resizes attached slices, adding and deleting slices as needed. "Slice guides are great, more intuitive, and provide me with a lot more control."

Additionally, Musselman can create and execute complex commands to extend and automate Fireworks MX. The new Fireworks MX JavaScript Extensibility API lets you add SWF interfaces to Fireworks MX command interfaces developed in Macromedia Flash MX with Components and ActionScript.

Macromedia MX Integration

Using Macromedia Flash MX, Dreamweaver MX, and Fireworks MX, Musselman's workflow has improved even more. "The UIs are so similar, it's like working in one application." And production integration has improved as well.

"One of the most helpful benefits is the slick integration between Fireworks MX and Flash MX, especially the ability to copy and paste transparent PNG files into a Flash movie. This new feature cut down the process of transferring a transparent PNG file into Flash MX by four to five steps, saving me a great deal of time.

"Now I just create the object in Fireworks MX, copy and paste it into Macromedia Flash MX and Flash retains all the values perfectly. It's a huge time saver. I can see developers going crazy over that," exclaims Musselman.

The ability to roundtrip among Macromedia Flash MX, Fireworks MX, and Dreamweaver MX has been a huge time-saver for Musselman as well. "The three programs remind me of the players making up the offensive line on a football team. Each is strong on its own, but they are even more powerful when they work together as a unit."

Superfast Results

Musselman creates all original artwork and comps with Macromedia Fireworks. "I like being able to show interactivity - rollovers - and provide working comps to my internal clients. If there are changes, it's easy to update. This helps minimize the review process, and keeps everyone involved on the same level."

Additionally, the new Preview tab, a feature unique to Fireworks MX, allows Musselman to quickly view graphics exactly as they will appear in a browser without leaving the Fireworks MX workspace. Graphics remain completely editable even in 2-up or 4-up mode. When you modify a graphic in the original window, all panels update in real-time.

"The ability to preview documents inside Fireworks MX saves me precious time. I used to have to export to a folder, create basic HTML, and then preview the document. Now, I can preview rollovers instantly by either using the preview tab or by hitting F12 to preview in a web browser. This new feature has made the development process much more efficient, and has saved me a significant amount of time, which allows us to push the site out faster."

Already Musselman's production process is faster and more efficient—and that's important to him and estorefixture.com. "I want to deliver super-fast results to my internal clients, and Fireworks MX allows me to do just that."

Return on Investment for estorefixture.com
· Integration of Macromedia products enables a single web developer to manage the entire front-end of the website.

Benefits for Developers
· Development time cut by 50% with Fireworks MX.
· New UI enables designers to customize panels and optimize workspace
· Slice guides make file optimization more efficient and speed development time by 40%
· Review process streamlined. Graphics can be taken from concept to implementation, all within Fireworks.
· Production process is faster and more efficient with the ability to preview documents inside of Fireworks.

Benefits for End Users
· Macromedia Flash enabled user interface helps customers quickly find the information that they need.

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