Fireworks 8-Bit Export Issues

Question

Hello,
I've been a loyal Fireworks user since 2003. I'm at the point now where if Adobe ever discontinues it, I'd probably quit the industry before I'd go back to designing Websites in Photoshop .
I've had this issue for a few years now and was never able find a satisfactory solution. I was hoping someone may have an answer or at least offer a good explanation as to why things have to be this way. I am currently using CS3.
Here's the issue -- when exporting a graphic as either GIF or PNG-8, significant banding and other artifacts occur no matter what the quality or export settings are. This is NOT the normal banding associated with the limitations of 8-Bit graphics (yes I am aware of the difference between GIFs and JPGs). This is Fireworks seeming to not detect enough colors. Even when I set the colors to 256 (and click "rebuild"), Fireworks will only include 113 colors, for example, and I will get the artifacts. There is no way for me to manually include all 256 colors (short of manually adding them 1 by 1, I guess, but I didn't try that because that seems like a ridiculous waste of time).
Moreover, the exact same graphic exported from Photoshop using identical settings yields a much higher quality graphic.
I've uploaded two screenshots for comparison:
A graphic ready to export in Fireworks as a GIF: DOWNLOAD/VIEW
Note the significant and noticeable banding. Also note only 230 colors are being included in the color table even though 256 colors are chosen from the export settings.
The EXACT SAME graphic ready for export in Photoshop: DOWNLOAD/VIEW
Note in spite of the identical settings, the Photoshop version is much smoother. Also note Photoshop is using all 256 available colors.
So is there anything I can do about this? Some way to force it to fill the color table? Dithering isn't really something I want to do.
I realize under normal circumstances these graphics are more suited for being JPGs. But there are times where I NEED something like transparency and JPG is not an option. More importantly, I would like to use Fireworks' ability to export PNG-8's with alpha transparency (so it looks cecent in IE6 without hacks and IE-specific code) but this issue keeps me from doing so.
Thanks!
B

Answer 1

I'm not sure what makes me more sad/angry...
That it's (yet another) Fireworks bug (although the term bug may be arguable, it's a bug to me). Here we are on version 10 some of the most basic functions just flat out don't work right. I'm very worried Adobe is going to neglect and discontinue this product -- it has such a ridiculous amount of potential, yet I could sit here right now and list 100 bugs/annoyances that have been around forever and still aren't fixed. I read over that CS4 update released the other day, and aside from the text engine fix, all I could think was "this isn't NEARLY enough"...
That the Fireworks team is aware of it. To me this means if it's not already fixed, then I shouldn't hold my breath.
That you are suggesting -- best case scenario -- we will have to wait for CS5. And Adobe will actually expect us to pay for a fix.
Maybe they could just integrate Photoshop's export engine. Although given how they did integrating Photoshop's text engine, I'm afraid to ask.
Completely off topic, but while we are on the subject of bugs/limitations, you know that issue where appying a layer mode (like overlay) to an object, then grouping it, then either grouping it again or converting it to a symbol wipes out the layer mode completely? How many times a day do you run into that one? For me, it is completely crippling to my workflow, and renders the symbol library completely uselss to me. And yeah pretty sure the team knows about that one too.
Also, have you checked out http://adobegripes.tumblr.com/ yet? If you have any experience with Adobe products, it is LITTERALLY coffee-through-the-nose funny at times.
B