30 Tutorials That Will Teach You Fireworks is a collection of tuts with tol learn something new. I would like to mention that you will find a couple of Fireworks Zone’s tutorials. Read more.

According to Mark Niemann Ross’s Adobe blog on September 23rd 2008, Adobe will announce the SHIP DATE for CS4. Adobe is NOT announcing that they are shipping CS4 on September 23rd – understand the difference?

You CAN talk about the scheduled announcement on Sept 23, and you can invite people to sign up for the webcasts at http://adobe.istreamplanet.com/
But you CANNOT talk about features, editions, system requirements, pricing etc.

Purchase a set of checker textures as an MXP extension and as styles. Read more.

Specky boy has compiled an extensive list of over 100 Fireworks extensions to show that Fireworks has also a great numbers of plug-ins as in Photoshop. Thanks for taking the time to put this list together.

In total, I would say, that you can find over 200 Fireworks extensions on the web. Go to Fireworks Zone Extensions section to find more extensions.

Purchase a set of vector shields for Fireworks and Illustrator. Read more.

Last part of this 5-page tutorial (the longest in Fireworks Zone history) which teaches how to make a web 2.0 shield from scratch.

Shields are great design elements that can be used on almost any project. They can be used to put words or symbols inside. Or they can be used as decorative elements. You will find them helpful in your designs.

It covers techniques/tips such as making a vector symmetrical, gradients, masking, shapes, punching, filters, effects, typography, starbust, commands, etc.

I adapted for Fireworks a tutorial made orginally for Illustrator in Vectortuts and the result is worth the efforts. The source PNG can be downloaded. Read the tutorial.

This old Kleanthis command is still the best to duplicate a mirror-image clone in 4 directions with vector points on top of each other. Read and download.

A brief but concise definition of the masking technique valid for all graphics app. Read more.

Part 3: we start decorating the Shield with gradients creating a 3D effect with the Offset Points tool. Read more.

Kumar Vivek is showing us in this article that Fireworks is the perfect tool to design user interfaces of handheld devices. Read more.

Here are 2 basic tips to get a perfect circle out of an ellipse and to get a circle from the center.

Read the tutorial

Fireworks Zone is off from 14 to 17th August 2008. Back to you soon!

Part 2: After building a shield from a triangle, we create half-shields to get a nice and symmetrical shape. In part 2, we duplicate the half-shields like a mirror image and finally merge them.

Developer Center’s latest article showcases Cooper, a consulting firm, which has based the whole design process upon Fireworks for interactive and visual interface design which means wireframing, prototyping and visual design. And even for documentation Fireworks works seamlessly with InDesign.

For Cooper Fireworks has many benefits: using only one tool and one file that it is passed back and forth in the design team to reduce production time.

This article is definitely worth reading because it shows the whole process of site building and how Fireworks fits: Designing interactive products with Fireworks

While visiting Vector Tuts the shield tutorial for Illustrator struck me and I took up the challenge to re-write it for Fireworks. And it works!

Today is the start of a mini series of tutorials (a tutorial split in small parts) which will show you how to create step by step a slick shield design using Fireworks CS3.

Part 1: Getting a triangle and shield with the Pen Tool .

With the new Drag and Drop feature in Firefox 3 you can drag images from webpages to Fireworks which is a great time saver. This is the first time Firefox has an impact on Fireworks. Read more.

Adobe TV was introduced beginning of April 2008, read press release. Adobe TV is designed to educate, inspire, and entertain the creative community, it is immediately available online from the Adobe Web site at http://tv.adobe.com , or as a network with multiple shows in the new Adobe® Media Player 1.0 software.

In Adobe TV you can learn from the pros by watching videos and following along. It’s not quite as structured and comprehensive as Lynda, but it’s free. This a perfect site to visit between projects and refresh your knowledge and your skills.

As a special feature you can embed the videos in 3 sizes in your website and a link page is provided.

Related videos:

• Exploring the Developer Center with Alan Musselman
• The Cooper case with Nick Myers
• Rapid Prototyping with Danielle Beaumont
• Disc Glolf with Alan Musselman

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta announced

Please Alan cut your beard!

Made of Win is a German blogging site offering 6 excellent Fireworks tutorials.

My favorite is how to use the new Blend Paths feature. Speaking of Blend Paths, read Aaron Beall’s tutorial for a good start.

Even though it is in German you should get no difficulty to understand. Read the tutorials.

Enjoy!

Digital Web Magazine posted an enlightening article where they gathered a team of 8 great designers, fans of both Photoshop and Fireworks, comparing and weighing pros and cons of Photoshop and Fireworks.

Each designer is giving his point of view and tips from their hand-on experience as designer, UI designer, etc. But the most striking is that Fireworks supporters are growing but at the end of day all depends how well you feel confortable with your app. Read More

A new set of 31 patterns in black and white and in GIF format. Please note that Patterns can be used as Textures if dropped in the Textures folder. Download.