Still no real competition for Fireworks Aug 26. 0914
With the recent announcement that Adobe will not be providing support for Creative Suite 3 (CS3) in Snow Leopard and my waning belief in Adobe’s ability to resurrect Fireworks my interest in alternatives has again be piqued. Back when I wrote my open letter to developers asking for someone to step forward and provide us web designers with a current and solid alternative to Fireworks I looked at Pixelmator, Acorn and Gimp (DrawIt is also worth checking out).
Unfortunately right now none of these packages offer the blend of bitmap and vector tools which Fireworks has always excelled at but a little extra time spent with Pixelmator in particular has me confident that someone, somewhere is not far from providing us with a usable alternative. With the addition of some basic vector tools and the ability to draw and export web slices we’d be pretty much there.
The most recent blog post on the Pixelmator website relating to the upcoming 1.5 release inspires further confidence, the ‘Spider’ codename can only be a reference to web features right? However Saulius from Pixelmator is quick to point out that 1.5 will not include vector tools…
…please don’t expect vector tools in Spider…
Here’s hoping the Pixelmator team keep up the excellent work, if they maintain the development pace they’ve set thus far (4 full point releases in two years) then we might see a release with Vector tools before Fireworks CS5 rears it’s head.
An open letter to software developers RE Adobe Fireworks Feb 16. 0968
Dear software developer.
This is an open letter which I am writing as a one time advocate of Adobe Fireworks. Fireworks is still, some 10 years after it’s conception, the only package out there which provides web designers with the tools they need to design for the web. At it’s core, a balanced blend of vector and bitmap tools, live effects and slicing with optimized export.
However over the years Adobe have lost their way with this product and it’s become bloated by marketing driven features.
Designers carry on using Fireworks only because there is no decent alternative. The latest release – Fireworks CS4 includes a poorly implemented version of the Adobe Type Engine which has brought with it a bug that quite literally effects all users. The bug is as of today (some 5 months after initial release) still not fixed yet it manifests itself in just about every layout a designer works on.
Personally I have lost faith in Adobe to deliver on the promise that Fireworks has as a product. They have been distracted by ‘rapid prototyping’ and integration with development tools like ‘Flex’ – nice to have features that have drawn focus away from the now neglected core function of the software.
We don’t want another new UI, XHTML and CSS export, a JavaScript pop-up menu generator or a new type engine. We just want a product that is 100% focused on allowing us to put down on the canvas what we are imagining in our heads and then slice up and export that for use in a hand coded layout. That’s it.
Right now there seems to be a huge void in the marketplace which developers are not filling. It’s my belief that if someone takes up the gauntlet and comes out with a product that fulfills the basic requirements of a web designer, they will steal a huge slice of business from Adobe.
If not then I’m resigned to hoping that Adobe wakes up and takes notice, puts the effort where it’s needed and waits until the software is really finished before unleashing it on it’s customers.
Kind regards
Nathan Pitman
Update: It seems Adobe are working on an updater for Fireworks CS4 to rectify the text shifting bug.
Update: Adobe have released an updater, however there’s still a glaring hole in the market for some competition in this space. Come on app devs, someone step up and take on the challenge – I and many others want to give you our hard earned cash.
Dear Adobe Fireworks, it’s not you, it’s me. Feb 03. 098
When we first met it was love at first sight, your combination of vector and bitmap tools, your web layer and slices… I just couldn’t resist.
For years we’ve worked hand in hand, side by side… you even changed your name and to begin with everything seemed ok, but then I started to feel like you weren’t really there for me anymore.
You started spending a lot of time changing your look, diluting your true self with ‘marketing features’ and half hearted improvements, hiding your real character and charm behind ‘rapid prototyping’ and ‘improved css export’.
That’s not who I fell in love with and I just can’t live with it anymore, I need to get out there and find someone who really understands my needs. I’m sorry but it’s over.
Update: An open letter to software developers RE Adobe Fireworks
Fireworks not dead (yet) Feb 17. 060
Very exciting news for Fireworks fans, Adobe have made an official statement in the Adobe forums which suggests we’ll see another version yet.
Fireworks continues to be an important product to the combined Macromedia/Adobe portfolio and is actively under product development for a yet-to-be announced product release. I’m incredibly excited to lead that front as the Product Manager.
If you’re interested in participating in the beta cycle then add your name to the list. :)
Creating Advanced Custom Fireworks Panels Nov 17. 051
Trevor McCauley has written a fantastic little (actually it’s 10 pages) tutorial on creating advanced custom Fireworks Panels using Flash.
It’s well worth a read, includes tutorial and sample files and covers;
- Advanced panel development
- Interface design
- Exchange of information between a custom panel and Fireworks
- Taking advantage of Fireworks events
Nice work Trevor. :)