Fireworks vs. ImageReady

Question

Need a little help in transitioning from ImageReady to Fireworks.
In ImageReady I would have a PSD image from PS CS2 with all my states preset via multiple layers with effects.  Three layers (normal, over, down) each with its own effects.  I would pop over into ImageReady and generate my rollover states and then export it as an html page.  Then load it into my design in GoLive.
In Fireworks (yuk!) I have a PSD file created in PS CS4 done the same way as before.  And boy was it fun figuring out the differences for assigning states to a layer. <grin>  I export the html file and all I get is a small file with no rollover states other than the raw "normal" image.  Even then it took a while to figure out to export a png file instead of a gif file.
And I thought it especially nice, having spent my hard earned dollars for Creative Suite 4, to read in the Fireworks CS4 generated html button file that it is actually Fireworks CS3 with a "purty" picture and a FW CS4 splash screen.  When will Adobe ever learn.  Probably after the bigwigs screw their employees and us into the bargain!  ImageReady is a more intuitive program and worked better.  But then of course Dreamweaver does not accept a html file created in ImageReady.
And don't buy their Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book.  Of course it did not go into creating a button ported over from Photoshop.  That made real sense.  About as much sense as their online training for creating buttons with rollover states.  Morons!
In the Windows version of FW CS4 what ever happened to the good 'ol tried and true "ctrl+F4" to close a file?  Any program I've used over the years "ctrl+W" was generally used to write a file to disk!  So much for integration across the suite.  And did I forget to mention that you can no longer pop directly over into the web graphics program from Photoshop.  In PS CS2 it was right there in the File menu.  Again, Morons!
So in closing — how do I create a three state button and export it as a html file from Fireworks CS4 using png files?
Thank you in advance for the assistance.

Answer 1

Morning Lorraine & Jim,
You are both correct in most regards.  The one overriding concern, and this is the way I have done it for years, is to preserve the editability.  Jim mentioned this in his opening paragraph:
Fireworks does not support adjustment layers. However, if you do not need to return to Photoshop with the design, you can import the file and flatten the adjustment layers, thus maintaining the "appearance" of the adjustment, but not the editability.
Preserving editability is why I design my buttons in Photoshop and create the Internet images and code in ImageReady.  As Jim indicated the Photoshop Live Filters in Fireworks are not robust.  I should quantify this and say they suck!  There implemention is a subset of the blur, noise, adjust color, other and sharpen tools of Photoshop.  For that matter there are freeware programs out there that do these functions better.  I chose not to use them.
Meanwhile what I have been referring to is Photoshop's Layer Styles which is something totally different.  And, as Jim was kind enough to indicate, is far superior to Fireworks' Filters options.
Things have gotten a lot more complicated for those accustomed to having used ImageReady for all these years.  What in ImageReady was created with a couple of clicks and an Optimize command has been replaced with a hidden plethora of obscure commands.  This is obviously a moot point if you wish to be limited by using the "symbols" and styles in Fireworks.  If you still desire to use the editability of creating a PSD or TIF in Photoshop and then creating your rollovers in Fireworks you need to learn these commands.
However, if you are satisfied with the results, and I call them glaring for want of a better term, then go ahead and forget Photoshop.  Create your buttons and rollover effects in Fireworks.  I detest the term "symbol" in Fireworks as it clashes with the usage of symbol in Photoshop.
Following are the steps needed in Fireworks for creating a button ported over from Photoshop.
Create your button in PS and assign the Layer Style for your appearance.  Name this layer normal.
For ease of use name each subsequent layer over, down, etc.  Create a Layer Style for each different from the preceeding one.
Save the file with some illustrative name, i.e. infobutton.psd.
Open this file in Fireworks Duplicate the State as many times as needed naming each state the same as your layers.
Select each state and turn on or off visibility of the same named layer.  Turn off the layers not needed.
In the Layers panel click on the "Slice" layer and add a slice to the Web Layer.
Add a Behavior to it. Use the Swap Image and select your "over / State 2" state.  Make sure that the Preload Images and Restore image onMouseOut are selected.  Check that the behavior has defaulted to onMouseOver.
Create another Swap Image behavior deselecting the onMouseOut radio button.  Change the Events drop down to onClick.
Follow the procedures for Export in the html page. (Unfortunately this does not make a html file usable by Dreamweaver in all cases—additional steps are needed.)
Make darn sure that in the Export | Options | HTML style dropdown window that you have Dreamweaver HTML / XHTML selected.  For some unknown mysterious reason Dreamweaver will not accept a Fireworks generated html / xhtml file if that file is saved as a generic html / xhtml file.  This demonstrates the not too nice interaction of Dreamweaver and Fireworks.  Dreamweaver should read any html file.  You really need to see this in operation to understand the ramifications.
As I said there is some integration between the two programs.  Not much, but enough that they are at least image editing programs of differing behavior and interoperability.  The inconsistencies can be tolerated with workarounds, I hate that term, and some forethought.  The days of ImageReady are long gone if you want to use Dreamweaver as your HTML coding program.  To use Fireworks in the same fashion as you once did with a Photoshop and ImageReady workflow entails additional at times confusing steps.
If however your desire is to create all of your graphical site develpment in Fireworks it is indeed a powerful program if a bit obtuse from other similar programs.  Fireworks is trying to do too many things similar to Photoshop, i.e. with it's Filters selectors, that are drastically toned down subsets of the originals.
Why would I have slices in Photoshop if they are not recognized natively in Fireworks?  Photoshop automatically has a Slice 1 for each and every file with the ability to add additional slices as needed.  This Slice 1 not recognized in Fireworks.  Create an additional slice (Slice 2) in Photoshop and save the file.  Open the psd file in Fireworks and only the second slice is recognized.  This easily demonstrates inconsistencies between the two programs.
Lorraine was kind enough to offer her assistance.  As she indicated there are "some" options.  However they do not include the creation of PNG files. as shown in her screen capture.  That being said she has two additional options that do not appear in my FW CS4.  I am referring to the RL-image and RL-thumb selectors.  It is likely something I missed.
Yes, she was very accurate in stating that Fireworks defaults to saving the image files generated along with the associative html file.  Whatever the prior image format was is what all succeeding ones will be.  A caveat however is that in the File | Export Image | Options | Document Setup the example file naming still shows the GIF image format as what the images will saved as.  Another, in my honest opinion, inconsistency.
I hope this may be helpful to others migrating from ImageReady to Fireworks and appreciate the assistance of all those who have participated.  It has been an interesting learning concern that should not have been required.  Perhaps a tutorial demonstrating just how to port over a PSD button file created in Photoshop to Fireworks would have answered all my questions.  At least for those of us more accustomed to ImageReady who have now migrated by force to Fireworks.
Respectfully submitted.