Why Fireworks?

Question

I am learning Photoshop for the web and was moving to Dreamweaver tutorials.
I do not understand why one needs Fireworks. Why do you need to build a prototype of a site, if you can move directly from PShop to Dreamwaver?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Jim, Pixlor: Okay, I see what you mean about people expecting Fireworks to convert the site well and why Adobe calls it prototyping. In that case Photoshop and Fireworks can both prototype so Adobe should stop making confusing claims. Fireworks is an excellent design software first - anything else that it additionally offers are bonuses.
Pendue: Dreamweaver doesn't really "do the rest", you still need to learn HTML and CSS to create professional websites - Dreamweaver does help (like a lot of other website development software) but you need to help yourself by learning to code websites a little - its not that tough and is amazingly interesting :-) I can see that you were searching for reasons why Fireworks can be used and when. Well there are several reasons one of which I was trying to highlight and it got lost in the whole scenario about prototyping. Fireworks is a vector based design software that was made for web design because it renders as for the web. It also rivals illustrator when it comes to graphic design and is better when it comes to designing graphics and vectors for the web because of its pixel perfect vector control. Its not great for photo manipulation and comes nothing close to what Photoshop has in the special effects department. But there are some pretty good reasons to use it in tandem with Photoshop.
A)  Fireworks is easy to use and not as complicated as Photoshop. Hard to admit but I've tried using Photoshop in the past 6 years occasionally to design a complete website but every-time I'm stumped by why its so difficult to work with. To name a few:
Vectors are not vectors but masked layers. Duh?! Beats me why Adobe never used the drawing capabilities of Illustrator in Photoshop?
You can't click and select a visible item. You need to click its layer, super weird. Especially when you have a couple of hundred layers - boy are u lost. Comparatively Fireworks can not only select any visible item on clicking but you can even select items hidden behind other items using the "Select Behind Tool". In PS you never know what is selected but in FW the selection can be visibly discerned.
Gradients are difficult to manipulate in PS. In Fireworks they are easy to use and you can visually manipulate them easily with the Gradient handles that appear.
Some simple filters that are non-destructive in FW are destructive in PS. For example Convert to Alpha.
Neither stroke nor fill can be given without popping a panel. Shouldn't it be visible and changeable with an eye-dropper by instinct.
Undo steps (Ctrl-z) is just 2. Super weird. You need to use history panel constantly.
Subselection and moving of grouped items not possible without ungrouping and selecting layer.
In short: Photoshop requires too many steps for too many tasks.
B) Vector shapes and manipulation are too basic - check out the autoshapes in Fireworks - they make your job so easy. Especially the ease with which you can change properties like roundness, sides, corner type, etc. whenever you want. And in PS you can't do any sort of multiple vectors manipulation. In FW you just need to click and drag with the sub-selection tool to select any number of points belonging to any number of vectors in the area selected. Its a must to try out the Path Panel features and the advanced autoshapes in the Shapes panel to see its unique features (sorry too many to discuss). The reason I have put the vector capability as a separate point is because a huge part of website design involves drawing shapes which should preferably be vectors. The more you learn website design the more you'll get the hang of creating amazing high-impact designs built with dozens of subtle tiny effects - that's what Web 2.0 design is all about - subtlety and elegance.
C) Control over your elements is amazing in Fireworks - You have everything at your fingertips the dimensions, the positions, effects, color, stroke, you name it: mostly everything is right there for you to see in the properties panel. If you seek pixel perfection FW is the perfect tool. Finally: Slicing, optimizing and exporting your images is extremely easy (easier than PS if I dare say).
Hope this helps.
- Anita
Important note to the other expert designers - I hope I haven't been too critical of Photoshop - I know most designers use Photoshop with élan. I really would love to love Photoshop but I find it so difficult to get along with ;-) and so I use it only for creating photo effects and jazzy backgrounds. I guess rapidly designing in Fireworks for 11 years has made me a bit impatient with PS. I tried reading dozens of tutorials in futility and I've never been good at using or remembering shortcuts.  If I've made errors in the points above please point them out.