tatoland | FIREWORKS

FILE New / command N As with Photoshop and now, Illustrator CS and CS2, you need to specify the size and background color of your file. Open / command O Use this command to open a file you've already created. You can open just about any file you've created, from eps, jpg, gif, to plain old Photoshop. Open Recent Lists up to the last 10 documents that were worked on. Reconstitute Table This command is used to open existing HTML files that use tables to create the layout. It opens each table in the HTML document in a new window for editing. Acquire If you've got a scanner hooked up to your machine, you can select it here: select your source first (you have to have the scanner software in your Photoshop plug-ins folder) then select "twain acquire" from the same submenu. You can also download images from your digital camera using the Camera Acquire and Select options. Close / command W Closes the active window, but does not quit the application. Save / command S The default file format for Fireworks documents is PNG. Saving your document as a png file will allow you to edit it, but to use it in a Dreamweaver file you must also export it. Save As / command + shift S This allows you to save your document with a different name and/or a different location. Revert Choosing this reverses any changes you have made to the active file so that it is as it was when first opened/saved. Import / command R This allows you to place existing images onto your Fireworks canvas. Select the file you'd like to import, then click on the canvas to place the image. Import bitmapped or vector files. Export / command + shift R Here is where you export your files so they can be used in a Dreamweaver document. See the section on EXPORTING for details. Image Preview / command + shift X This window allows you to see how your file will look once you've exported it. You can select different file formats from the Optimize panel to compare file size and appearance. Send to E-mail If you’re sending a jpeg or gif file to someone via email, you can use this feature to compress/export the file and send it off. It opens your email program and automatically attaches the image. Update HTML This updates an exported file's coding after it's been edited. Export Wizard Use this feature when you’re unsure of how to export your file: a series of dialog boxes walks you through the process. At the end, you can export your file using the recommended format. It’s also a great way to create the smallest file size possible for your images or buttons. Batch Process When you are dealing with multiple images that will all be exported in the same file format, you can use “batch process” to have them all exported at once. Use batch processing to scale several files at once, or replace one color with another, and so on. A real time-saver! You can save your preferences as a script to use another time. Preview in Browser First you have to choose which web browser you want to use and assign it as either the primary browser or secondary browser. Once that's done, you can choose it from here, or press Option F12 (for your primary) or Command F12 (for the secondary) browser. The web application will open and you can see what your file will look like—and how well it "works" on the web. NOTE: There are some things that you can't preview from within Fireworks, so this is a handy feature. Page Setup Use this to select the paper size and orientation if you need to print your file. Print / command P Prints the active window. HTML Setup This is a series of tabs that sort of function as export preferences, allowing you to specify which html software you'll be using (like Dreamweaver) and naming conventions. Definitely check this out before you export anything!
EDIT Undo / command Z This takes you one step backwards in the development of your image/file. Using this command several times takes you backwards one step at a time. Do something again / command Y This will do again the last thing you just did: i.e. if you moved something 20 pixels to the right, selecting another object and using command Y will move that object 20 pixels to the right, too. Insert Here’s where you add a new button or symbol, slices, hotspots, an empty bitmap sub-layer, layer, and/or frame. You can add frames and bitmap sub-layers in the Layers panel as well. And, you can create hotspots and slices using the tools. New Button Use this command to make buttons, which can be programmed to make things happen. New Symbol / command F8 Create a symbol when you want to use it over and over again—the same as in Flash. Any changes you make to the original symbol will change all the instances of it in your document. Hotspot / command shift U This will draw a hotspot around the selected object(s). If more than one object is select, you will be prompted to choose whether to insert multiple hotspots, or a single one that covers all the selected objects. Slice / shift option U Works the same as the Insert > hotspot command, only it creates slices. Empty Bitmap This adds an empty sub-layer where you can use the bitmap drawing tools to create an image. Bitmap via Copy & Bitmap via Cut Select a portion of a bitmapped sub-layer and choose one of these to create a new sub-layer that contains only that portion of the image that was selected. Selecting “via cut” removes that portion of the image from the original. Layer Add a new layer to the layer panel. Frame Add an additional frame to your document. Libraries Fireworks ships with several libraries for buttons, animations, “themes” (graphic symbols and buttons that go together), and bullets. Use the import option to open a particular file within a library. Find / command F Use this to not only replace words, but to change several files at once in terms of fonts, colors, and urls. It will also locate any “un-safe” colors (colors that won’t display properly on the web). Cut / command X Eliminates the selected area/object within your document. Copy / command C This places a copy of the selected area/object into your clipboard, so you can paste it elsewhere in your document. Copy as Vectors Since Fireworks is vector-based, you can copy drawn shapes as vector images to paste into other vector-based programs, like Flash and Illustrator. Conversely, you can copy vector shapes in Illustrator, and paste them into Fireworks. Copy HTML Code / option command C This "copies" the HTML code attached to your document so you can paste it into a Dreamweaver document's code inspector. Paste / command V Places whatever is in your clipboard onto your canvas. Clear / delete key This eliminates the selected area without placing it into your clipboard. Paste as Mask A mask acts like a matte, disappearing the portions of your image that extend beyond the mask's shape. You must first select and copy (or cut) the mask shape, then select the object you want the mask to affect before choosing this command. Click on the mask icon in the layers panel to select it (it will have a yellow border) and use the hollow arrow (subselection tool) to adjust the mask’s shape. Paste Inside / command shift V You can paste anything you’ve cut or copied into another shape. Use any of the shape tools, or vector drawing tools to create a shape. In essence, this is the same as creating a mask. Paste Attributes / option command shift V If you want to apply the same fills, strokes, effects, or text attributes applied to one object onto another, copy the first object, then select the second object and choose “paste attributes.” Duplicate / command D Creates a copy of the selected area or object and places it slightly to the diagonal of the original. Clone / command shift D Creates a copy of the selected area or object and places it directly on top of the original. Crop Selected Bitmap If you're working on a bitmapped image, use the marquee tool to select a portion of it. This command will crop the image to fit the selected portion while leaving other elements in place on the canvas. Crop Document If the image in your document doesn't go from top to bottom and side to side, this command will crop the canvas, eliminating any extraneous white space around the image. If your image is larger than your canvas, this will enlarge the canvas so the entire image is visible.
VIEW Zoom In / command = Creates a close-up view of your document. You can also use the space bar and command keys to toggle to the magnifying glass, and click and drag around the portion of your document you want to zoom in on. There’s also a zoom/view pop-up menu at the lower right of your document window; click and drag to the view size you want. Zoom Out / command - Sets your perspective of the document farther away, so everything appears smaller. You can use the space bar, command, and option keys to toggle to the zoom tool out as well. Magnification Choose how close or far your perspective is from this list of presets. Fit Selection / command option 0 This zooms in so the selected area is as large as possible. Fit All / command 0 (zero) If nothing is selected, this will enlarge or reduce your file to fit in the active window. Full Display / command K This is similar to Illustrator's preview and artwork modes. Select Full display to see everything in your document in full color. Deselecting it, or pressing command K again, disappears any bitmapped portions of the file and shows just the edges of vector objects. Windows Gamma Use this command to see what your image will look like on a Windows machine (and vice versa); color appear a bit darker on a PC than on a Mac. Hide Selection / command L This hides any selected images; you can also hide object by clicking the eye icon in the layers palette. Show All / command shift L Any hidden objects will pop back into view. Rulers / command option R Show or hide your vertical and horizontal rulers. Rulers are always in pixel units. Grid You can show , hide and/or edit the grid you want to use for accurate positioning of objects. Guides Show, lock, snap to, or edit the guides you can drag from the horizontal and vertical rulers. Slice Guides / option command shift ; (semicolon) Slice guides are the red vertical and horizontal lines Fireworks places at the edges of a slice. If you don't want to see them, uncheck Slice Guides. Slice Overlay When previewing an image prior to exporting it, you can use this command to hide or show the slices in the 2-up or 4-up preview mode. Hide Edges / F9 This disappears the control points and edges of selected objects—not a good idea, since it's hard to see what you're doing.
SELECT Select All / command A Selects the entire canvas. Deselect / shift + command A Disappears the dancing ants or control points so nothing is selected. Superselect / command right arrow If one portion of a group is selected, this command selects the entire group (or use your solid arrow). Subselect / command left arrow If a group is selected, this will select each portion of the group as an individual object (or use your hollow arrow). Select Similar When using the magic want to select pixels of a certain color in a bitmap image, select similar will place dancing ants around any other area within that image that within the same color range. Select Inverse / command shift I Use this command to select the exact opposite of what’s currently surrounded by dancing ants (i.e. selects the background if the foreground object is selected, and vice versa). Feather This softens the edge of a selection so that it fades into the background color. Expand Marquee This enlarges your selection by the specified number of pixels. Contract Marquee This makes your selected smaller by the specified number of pixels Border Marquee This creates dancing ants that create a border around the original selection. Smooth Marquee This blends the edges of a selection so that it’s smoother, sort of like softening a harsh shape. Convert Marquee to Path If you've spent some time selecting a portion of a bitmap (or just using the lasso tool) you can convert your selection into an object with this command. Save Bitmap Selection Use this to restore your dancing ants to use for another purpose: you can save multiple selections. Unfortunately, there is no Channels palette (as we know it from Photoshop); name your selections something that makes sense. Restore Bitmap Selection This loads a saved selection so you can use it again. Delete Bitmap Selection When you no longer need a saved selection, choose it from the list to delete it.
MODIFY Canvas Canvas Size: This changes the size of your document and will either add white space around the existing image, or crop your image, depending on if the new canvas size is bigger or smaller than the original. Image Size: This changes (enlarges or reduces) the actual document size. Both canvas and image will change to fit the new size. Canvas Color: Change the background color of your document with this command. Very handy. Trim Canvas / command + option T This is the same as the "crop document" command under the Edit menu. It eliminates any extraneous empty space at the edges of your document. Fit Canvas / command + option F This will enlarge or reduce the size of your canvas to include all elements. Rotate Canvas Choose from 90 degree, -90 degree and 180 degree rotation options. Animation This dialog box allows you to specify where you want the selected symbol to move to, whether it will get bigger or smaller as it moves, and whether you want it to get transparent as it moves. My advice—don't go here unless you absolutely have to. Symbol You can tween instances of a symbol, break it apart, or edit it with this command. Pop-up Menu Create, edit, or delete a pop-up menu. See the selection on BUTTONS for more information. Mask Create a mask that hides portions of an image. If you've got a mask in your document, you can temporarily hide/show it, or delete it from this menu. See the section on MASKS for more information. Selective JPEG This allows you to select portions of an image and save each at different quality levels, so important areas may be saved at a higher quality, and background images at a less memory-intense quality. Lock Selection / command option L Use this command to prevent the selected element(s) from being moved or altered. You can also lock objects using the Layers panel. Flatten Selection / command shift option Z This is rather handy. Too bad the keyboard shortcut isn't (short). However, select a vector object and use this command to change it to a bitmapped image. Merge Down / command E Select any vector sub-layers you want to merge. Make sure there is a bitmap sub-layer below them (it can be empty). The “merge down” command will combine the selected vector objects into the bitmap layer. Flatten Layers This will take all the layers in your document and merge them into one. The sub-layers for other layers are just transferred to the bottom layer and remain intact. Transform Scale, rotate, flip, skew, distort and otherwise manipulate a selected area/object. Arrange This moves the selected object in front of or behind other objects on the same layer by moving its sub-layer up or down. Align Select several objects, then use this command to line them up, center them, or distribute them evenly. You can have the align panel open on your desktop by choosing to view it from the Window menu. Convert Path to Marquee If you have a vector element selected, this will turn it into dancing ants. Combine Paths Join / command J Select two control points (at the end of a stroke) and this will put a line between them to connect them. Or, select two objects and use this command to "group" them. Overlapping areas become transparent. Split / command + shift J This only works on joined objects (see above). Union This is like the “unite” pathfinder in Illustrator; it combines two objects into one. Intersect Selecting two or more objects and choosing this leaves only the areas common to all and deletes the rest. Punch This creates the equivalent of a compound path; the upper object creates a hole in the bottom-most object. Crop This uses the shape of the top object to delete any portions of lower objects that extend beyond its boundaries. Alter Path You have some options here that are similar to the path options in Illustrator, like turning a stroke into a shape, or offestting path, but Illustrator does these better. Group / command G Use the “group” command to treat selected objects as one item. The various color and stroke attributes will remain unchanged). Grouped objects are all placed on the same sub-layer. Ungroup / command + shift G Select a group and use this command to separate it into its original components. The objects are places on individual sub-layers.
TEXT This menu is fairly self explanatory. You can make most of the modifications available from this menu in the Properties panel. Font A list of the currently available fonts. Size Choose from specific point sizes, or choose "other" to type in your own size. Style Bold, italic, and underline are your only choices. Align Aside from flush left, right, centered and justified, you have some interesting options, like stretch. I'd be cautious about messing around too much with type, however. Editor This brings up a dialog box where you can modify or create text. Attach to Path / command shift Y Select text and a path, then choose this to have the text flow along the line you drew. Detach from Path Releases the text and puts it back in its original format. Orientation Once text has been attached to a path, you can use this command to change its appearance. Reverse Direction Places the text upside-down and backwards. Convert to Paths / command shift P This makes each character into an object. Once you've done this, however, you can't edit the text. Check Spelling / shift F7 Use it! Spelling Setup Choose dictionaries, create your own personal list, and select from several options in this dialog box to affect the way “check spelling” works.
COMMANDS Managed Saved Commands You can use the History panel to create saved commands. This menu item lets you rename or delete saved commands. Manage Extensions You can download extensions from Adobe. This lets you turn them on or off. Run Script This command is used to execute a JavaScript. Create a jav script using Microsoft Word or other text processing software, or you may be able to download some from the Macromedia site. Batch Commands This is a list of prerecorded commands that can be applied to any selected objects within a document. Creative Change your document, or selected objects into grayscale or sepia tone, or add a frame (literally) around your document, among others. Pretty cheesey. Data-Driven Graphics Wizard This is about using XML to change data in your document. Document This allows you to hide layers, so you can work on one part without distraction, as well as distribute objects to frames and a few other things. It might be handy in certain situations. Reset Warning Dialogs This is interesting. Many times when you are trying to make something happen in Fireworks, you'll get a warning dialog box telling you what's about to happen, or what can't happen. You can usually click on a box in these dialog boxes to say "don't show me this again." This command will make all the warnings pop up again if you previously clicked the "don't show" option. Resize Selected Objects Use your selection tool (the solid arrow) to do what this does. Web Select a folder that contains images you want to use in several documents, select blank alt tags (very handy) or set all alt tags. It's important to have an alt tag connected to each part of your file. Name the important ones using the properties panel, and give the others names using this command.
FILTERS These work like filters in Photoshop. In fact, you can point Fireworks to your Photoshop filters/plugins using the "folders" pane in the Preferences dialog box. The first four work on selected areas. The rest (below the line) are those from Photoshop.
WINDOW Duplicate Window / command option N A new window creates a duplicate window of the one you're working on. You can use the "save as" command to save the duplicate as a separate file. Hide Panels / F4 (or Tab) Hides any open panels. Press F4 or Tab again to have them reappear. Minimize Window This is the same as clicking on the “-” dot at the top left of your document window; it puts the window in your dock. Get it back to work on it by clicking on its icon in the dock. Bring All to Front With OS X, when you’re switching from one program to another, there are times when some open document windows will remain stacked behind other software, rather than behind the current program’s current window. This puts all Fireworks documents in front of any other software that’s running. Use the list underneath these commands to open the various floating panels available to use in Fireworks. Cascade This arranges all open windows in a downward diagonal format so you can see the top and left edges of each. Tile Horizontal The stretches windows wider, and arranges them stacked below one another. Tile Vertical This stretches windows taller, and arranges them side by side. Under this command will be a list of all open documents.
HELP When you need to find out how something works, or how to do something, check here. I've found that more often than not, I can't find what I want, but it never hurts to try. Trial and error is a good way to learn!