Adobe CS3 update, 2:

This would have been posted sooner, but I’ve been busy.  Working and learning.  I should explain.  Adobe gives you a ‘free gift’ with a Creative Suite purchase.  I chose the discount on the “Classroom in a Book” series, figuring it would be the most cost-effective of gifts (as long as I order all the books I want at the same time; it’s a one-time only discount).  In the meantime, I went ahead and signed up with Lynda.com (video instruction) on the monthly plan, to get myself back in the saddle as swiftly as possible.  I’m even sticking out the most basic of software function explanations (something I disdain), but such patience is paying off. I’ll rate Lynda.com another time.

Normally I comp websites in Photoshop.  Taking a cue from the CS materials, I decided to try Fireworks for a recent set of websites.  FW has turned into a very nice mix of Illustrator (vector) and Photoshop (bitmap) features, with the already-there web-centric capabilities.  To refresh your memory, I left FW at version 1.0, and I’m surprised to find much of my knowledge is still applicable. In crossing from one Adobe program to another, though, it can get confusing.  Keyboard commands and the layers palette functionality, in specific.  FW has always felt clunky to me ... now it feels like a turbocharged Studebaker pickup truck.  Lotsa power, needs aesthetics.  I’m confident Adobe will introduce more of their trademark elegance to the interface in the next couple of upgrades.

I’m happy to say that in actual use, FW saved me time. Those wonderful vector features, the ease of editing gradients, interop, interop, interop.  Getting vector text and artwork from my partner, and being able to maintain layers, edit colors, edit text ... great.  I imported complex AI hand-drawn icons with layers, changed colors of elements, resized, grouped, named, layered, done.  So nice. Each time I didn’t have to dump out of FW to do edits made me happier and happier.  I came up with some dynamite designs much faster than normal, with even more current design sensibility. Most importantly - it made my clients ecstatic.  You still want PS and AI for truly discursive creation - but as a gatherer of editable graphic skeins for web output, FW is pretty darned nice. 

The next challenge is taking the FW comps to CMS (likely my preferred Expression Engine) and CSS.  FW outputs as CSS, but I believe it’s all left-just, absolute positioning (basing on my 1.0 knowledge).  I hope to find a simple way to fluidize and/or center elements. Expression Engine will let me create static template files, which I can then set up to access from Dreamweaver.  I’m looking at standardizing on this scenario ... FW > DW > EE.  In theory, this could make changes very swift.  I’ve been busy setting up some of my favorite CSS and XHTML boilerplates, EE code snippets in DW in anticipation.

One request to Adobe for a FW update: “Save Page as PDF” in the FW pulldown menu, at print resolution for quick and easy printing of good-looking comps.  I like to present color comps on boards to clients, so they can chew over design elements without needing a ‘net hookup.  New Mexico still doesn’t have the fastest of broadband, and wifi cafes can be jammed and slow.  I know web graphics are 72dpi, and print resolutions have nothing to do with what the client will get on the web ... however, in my experience they perceive print quality on the ‘net, nevertheless.  Showing them printed 72dpi type is always asking for trouble ("Is it really going to look that mushy?").  I thought saving as Illustrator format might allow me to cheat to high rez, but some of the graphics didn’t translate well.  So ... “Please, sir, can I have some PDF?”

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