Fireworks Working Area Overview

Work Area Overview

The first time you open a document in adobe®fireworks®, the workspace includes the tools panel, the property inspector, the menu, and some other panels. The tools panel is located on the left side of the screen, divided into multiple categories and labeled with labels, including bitmaps, vectors, and Web tool groups. The property inspector appears at the bottom of the document by default, and it initially displays the properties of the document. Then, when you work in a document, it will display the properties of the newly selected tool or the currently selected object instead. The panel is initially parked in groups along the right side of the screen. The document window appears in the center of the program.

The Start Page

When you start fireworks without opening the document, the Fireworks Start page appears in the work environment. The start page gives you quick access to Fireworks

Tutorials, recent files, and fireworks Exchange (where you can add some of the new capabilities to some of the fireworks features). To disable the start

page, click Do not show this dialog box when the Start page opens.

About the Fireworks panel

A panel is a floating control that can help you edit the elements of a selected object or document. Panels enable you to work with States, layers, components, color swatches, and so on. Every

Panels are all dragged, so you can group the panels in a custom arrangement.

The Optimize panel allows you to manage settings that control the size and type of files and use a palette of files or slices.

The Layers panel organizes the document structure and includes options for creating, deleting, and processing layers.

The Common library panel displays the contents of the Common Library folder, which contains symbols. You can easily drag instances of these components from the document Library panel to your document.

The pages panel displays the pages in the current file and contains options for manipulating the page.

The status panel displays the status in the current file and includes options for creating animations.

The history panel lists the most recently used commands so that you can quickly undo and redo them. Alternatively, you can select multiple actions and then save and re-use them as commands.

The Auto Shapes panel contains automatic shapes that are not displayed in the Tools panel.

The styles panel can be used to store and reuse combinations of object attributes or to select a common style.

The document library panel contains graphic symbols, button symbols, and animation symbols that are already in the current Fireworks document. You can easily drag instances of these components from the document Library panel to your document. You can make global changes to all instances by simply modifying the component.

The URLs panel can be used to create libraries that contain commonly used URLs.

The Color mixer panel allows you to create new colors to add to the color palette of the current document or to the selected object.

The swatches panel manages the color palette for the current document.

The Info panel provides information about the size of the selected object and the exact coordinates of the pointer as it moves across the canvas.

The behaviors panel manages behavior that determines the response of hotspots and slices to mouse movements.

The find panel can be used to find and replace elements, such as text, URLs, fonts, and colors, in one or more documents.

The alignment panel contains controls for aligning and distributing objects on the canvas.

The Auto Shape Properties panel allows you to change the properties of an automatic shape after it has been inserted into a document.

The Palette Panel (Window > Other) enables you to create and Exchange palettes, export custom ACT color swatches, learn about various color schemes, and get common controls for choosing colors.

Image editing (Window > Other) organizes common tools and options for bitmap editing into a single panel.

The Paths Panel (Window > Other) is used to quickly access many path-related commands.

Special characters (Window > other) display special characters that you can use in a text block.

Component Properties manage customizable properties of graphical symbols.

Work Area Overview

You can use a variety of elements, such as panels, columns, and Windows, to create and work with documents and files. Any arrangement of these elements is called a workspace. The workspaces of different applications in adobe®creative suite®5 have the same appearance, so you can easily switch between applications. You can also adjust individual applications to suit the way you work by selecting from multiple preset workspaces or by creating your own workspaces. Although the default workspace layouts in different products are different, you are basically treating the elements in the same way.

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Default Illustrator Workspace

A. tabbed document window B. Application bar C. Workspace switcher D. Panel title bar E. Control Panel F. Tools panel G. "Collapse as Icon" button H. Four panel groups parked vertically

• The application bar at the top contains workspace switches, menus (Windows only), and other application controls. In the MAC operating system, for some products, you can use the Window menu to show or hide the application bar.

• The tools panel contains tools for creating and editing images, artwork, page elements, and so on. The related tools are grouped.

• Control Panel displays the options for the currently selected tool. In Illustrator, the Control Panel displays the options for the currently selected object. (In Adobe photoshop®, the control panel is called the Options bar.) In Adobe Flash®, Adobe dreamweaver®, and Adobe fireworks®, the control panel is called the property inspector, which contains the properties of the currently selected element.

• The document window displays the file you are working on. You can set the document window as a tabbed window, and in some cases you can group and dock.

• Panels can help you monitor and modify your work. For example, the timeline in Flash, the brushes panel in Illustrator, the layers panel in Adobe photoshop®, and the CSS styles panel in Dreamweaver. Panels can be grouped, stacked, or parked.

• Application Frames Group All the workspace elements into a single integrated window that allows the application to be a single unit. When you move an application frame or any of its elements, or resize it, all of its elements respond to each other without overlapping. The Panel does not disappear when you switch applications or accidentally click outside the application. If you use two or more applications, you can put individual applications on the screen or on multiple monitors.

If you are using a Mac and prefer a traditional, free-form user interface, you can close the application frame. For example, in Adobe illustrator®, select Window > Application frame to turn it on or off. (in Flash, the application frame is permanently open to the Mac, and the Dreamweaver for Mac does not use the application frame.) )

Hide or Show all panels

• (Illustrator, Adobe incopy®, Adobe indesign®, Photoshop, Fireworks) to hide or display all panels (including the Tools Panel and Control Panel), press Tab.

• (Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, Photoshop) to hide or display all panels (except the Tools Panel and Control Panel), press Shift+tab.

If you select Auto Show hidden panel in the interface preferences, you can temporarily display the hidden panel. In Illustrator, it is always open. Move the pointer to the edge of the application window (Windows®) or the display edge (Mac os®), and then hover the pointer over the ribbon that appears.

• (Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks) to hide or display all panels, press F4.

Display Panel Options

❖ Click the Panel menu icon located in the upper-right corner of the panel. Even when you minimize the panel, you can also open the Panel menu.

In Photoshop, you can change the font size of text in the control Panel, panels, and tooltips. Please choose a size from the user interface font Size menu in the interface preferences.

(Illustrator) Adjust panel brightness

❖ in the user interface preferences, move the Brightness slider. This control affects all panels, including the control Panel.

Reconfigure tool panel

You can display the tools in the Tools panel in one column or in two columns. (In Fireworks and Flash, this feature is not available in the Tools panel.) In InDesign and InCopy, you can also switch one-column display to two-column (or single-line) display by setting options in the interface preferences.

❖ Click the double arrow at the top of the tools panel.