Fireworks MX Zero to Hero

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful pace for learning
Review: Although I use Fireworks for some time, I always do the most neccesary things, I figured out myself. But now I want to create some more advanced and more creative pictures. After buying this book, I have learned a lot and as mentioned on the book's backcover, in a very fast speed. Now it is to me to get the right inspiration to make my own pictures for publishing. Take a look at ...

Rating:
Summary: Fireworks to light up your web sites
Review: As the title suggests, this is mainly aimed at newcomers to Fireworks MX, but even as someone who has used this graphics program since v3, I found the "Zero" section taught me a lot about functions I never knew were there. The "Hero" section (written by veteran tutorial writer Joyce Evans) then puts everything to work with some simple, but stunning techniques. In contrast to Fireworks MX Magic (New Riders), which Joyce also contributed a couple of chapters to, the emphasis here is not on big, set-piece projects, but on techniques you are likely to use over and over again - creating highlights, metallic buttons, tabbed menu buttons, enhancing and retouching photographs.
Why only 4 stars? The book's in black and white, with only a small section in colour, which really doesn't do justice to the contents. Still, it's very reasonably priced, and good value for money.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I purchased this book.
It is a very good book written by Joyce J Evans.
I am willing to buy any book written by her without opening the book at the bookstore.
Great Author.

Rating:
Summary: Fireworks MX - From Zero to 5 Stars!...
Review: If you are new to Fireworks or a seasoned veteran, this book is a must have. It starts you off slowly with an introduction to web graphics in general and then introduces you to the Fireworks MX interface. Then you get to work with the tools of the trade and create some simple content to help reinforce the points you learned. See the tools in action!!

The book is very well paced, moving you along very quickly. I am an intermediate user and found out so many things that I never knew. Then on to the "Hero" section of the book where you work with vectors to create a simple tabbed folder, making decorative ornaments and my favourite chapter - "Spectacular Text Effects". 3D text, metal text, filling text with an image are just a few of the great text effects highlighted. From here you move on to colour enhancements andretouching photos. And then you also get to create some interface - with metallic buttons and pop up menus, hotspots, disjointed rollovers and much more. Simply amazing tutorials!!

The final 2 chapters cover the "Super Hero" status with topics including using extensions with Fireworks MX, automation tools, creating your own extensions, and finally integrating Fireworks MX with Dreamweaver MX. This was a real eye opener for me. Some great information here for a productive work flow using these two programs.

The techniques taught in this book are simple yet remarkably stunning!! Lots of really worthwhile tips covering all aspects of web images using Fireworks. There is a colour section in the book with samples of some of the projects built along the way. All of the excercise files can be downloaded from the Friends of Ed website. All in all, a terrific book full of great tips, techniques and excercises. Joyce's writing style is a joy to read and follow. A great addition to anyone's reference book arsenal!!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book By Joyce Evans
Review: It is a book beyond the imagination.
I successfully created a web site:

[website] after reading the book
of Joyce Evans.
I buy all her books without even opening any of her book at the book store because I know of the style she writes anybody can understand including dumb person like me !
A Brilliant Author and a great web designer.
I look forward for her new arrivals.

Bob Singh

Rating:
Summary: Doing some web designing? This will keep your work shining!
Review: This book is about a program, Fireworks MX, that assists in web design. It is incredibly comprehensive and stays on topic to give maximum help. In creating a site myself, this book brought to my attention many tactics I was totally unaware of. It helped make what would have been an ordinary site, into an outstanding project. I highly reccommend this book if you want to learn to take web design to a whole new level. This book can glorify a project of your's, that might otherwise have been overlooked. It's easy to follow and is interesting in it's step by step process.

Rating:
Summary: Every Fireworks User Should Own This Book
Review: This book is definitely a book that I shall keep for reference. The tutorials are written in a manner to keep you thinking. Information on Fireworks is in an easy to read format. For the hands on individual, you will find tutorials that will challenge all levels of expertise. Will revisit the tutorials in this book the next time I plan a web page using Fireworks. Happy Computing...

Rating:
Summary: Fireworks MX Zero to Hero: slightly sloppy
Review: We're using this book for a Regional Occupational Program web design course. I rate it lower than the average of the other reviews because, while it is thorough in its presentation of Fireworks' many features, the writing isn't quite as tight or precise as our other books. This increases the frustration level inherent in learning new software.

This shows in the text, which has grammatical and punctuation errors on virtually every page (I may be more fussy than most because I write documentation for a living), and in the tutorials, which may leave out a critical step, setting or condition. That may make the process confusing, or make finishing the exercise impossible without backing up to figure out what we SHOULD be doing to get what the book shows, which adds minutes or hours to the learning process.

One tutorial, for example, starts with a downloaded Fireworks file that isn't set up the way the book shows it. After a few steps you have to restructure the file to continue. The final tutorial has inconsistencies between the book illustrations and the downloaded tutorial file, and between illustrations on different pages.

Our teacher publishes an errata sheet for the class so we don't spend too much time mired in confusion; and a Friends of Ed rep informs me he is passing on our feedback to their editorial team. This is not as helpful to owners as Lynda.com's Web-published errata sheets (a great marketing tactic that not only maintains the book's value and affirms the publisher's commitment to quality but gives customers a reason to visit their site), but it holds promise that the next version will be cleaner and more straightforward to learn from.

So if you buy this tome to learn to use Fireworks, be prepared to get a good introduction to Fireworks' many features. But if you plan to learn by doing the tutorials (the only way), be prepared for occasions when what happens isn't what the book says should happen, and you'll have to back up to sort things out.