Customize Adobe Fireworks Interface

521

Fireworks Zone

131

5022

17-06-2009

Description

This article covers the configuring of the Fireworks interface by moving and manipulating document windows and panels.

Requirement

Fireworks CS4 and higher

Article

1. The Fireworks Interface

The Fireworks interface is composed of 6 different areas:

1. Menu bar or Application bar
2. Tool bar
3. Tools panel or tool box
4. Workspace
5. Panels area or Panel Dock
6. Properties area

We have 5 mobile areas which can be undocked/docked, dragged (and even resized for the canvas) and can be described as floating. The Menu bar is the only one to be a fixed element. All the areas form what is known as the Fireworks interface or UI (User Interface).



Figure 1: Fireworks Interface

1- The menu bar

This is the place you can find all the Fireworks menus

2- Tool bar

It contains very common commands such as New, Save, Open, Save, Import, Export, Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste.

3- Tool box

It contains all the vector and bitmap tools

4- Worspace

It contains the documents opened in Fireworks with the tabs.

5- Panels area

It contains the all the panels and panel groups.

6- Properties area

It contains the properties inspector and the symbol properties.

2. Customizing Adobe Fireworks interface

In this video you can see the main UI´s mobile elements which can be moved around to customize your interface and create new layouts.

A dock is a collection of panels or panel groups displayed together, generally in a vertical orientation. You dock and undock panels by moving them into and out of a dock.

3. How to use the Tabs and customize the Workspace

In Adobe Fireworks CS4, each documents has a tab. You can rearrange the order of tabbed Document windows, by dragging a window´s tab to a new location in the group.

The new UI is a customizable workspace, you can organize, split the screen into 2 or 4 views by following the blue vertical highlights. To undock a document window from a group of windows, drag the window´s tab out of the group and when you release the left click it becomes a floating window.