Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
Julie - Might be worth checking the find and replace tool, you can actually find a specific typeface and size and replace it with a different typeface, style and size. It's still not perfect but it does the job! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
I've been testing a few different prototyping tools including Fireworks CS4. There are a couple of online tutorials at Adobe - the one I remember was with David Hogue from Fluid (dude, where's my hop up!?). It seems like the real power comes with the ability to simulate rich interactions. Clickable .PDF's can be made with Omnigraffle. I recently gave Protoshare and Axure a test drive. The ability to quickly simulate mouse events was *very* easy in Axure, easier than Fireworks. Fireworks definitely allows more flexibility in drawing, but tool switching and general navigation slowed things down. I'm interested to catch this presentation when it is posted. Cheers, Chris Christopher Rivard http://www.chrisrivard.com/ http://twitter.com/clearwired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
And for those that couldn't make it live, here's the archived presentation: http://experts.na3.acrobat.com/p13197444/ It definitely is a bit rambling and almost entirely lacking in bullet points, like a proper Tufte acolyte :) but I'd definitely love any questions or feedback, since the audience skewed (understandably) towards technical questions about Fireworks more than it did about overall UX issues. Al Abut -- interaction designer, crimefighter http://alabut.com http://twitter.com/alabut -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
We'll be broadcasting my presentation on prototyping at Adobe tonight via Acrobat Connect and the url is: http://experts.na3.acrobat.com/febfotb/ I hope this thing'll be captured for later playback but just in case it isn't, we're kicking things off around 6:45pm PST if you want to watch live. I'll also try to post more material online later. Al Abut -- interaction designer, crimefighter http://alabut.com http://twitter.com/alabut -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
Some great links in this thread - thanks to all!! I was unaware of balsamiq - looks like a great tool. I use fw and have for several years - even before adobe started touting it as a prototyping tool. Its great for more hifi wireframes etc, but I favor indesign (and freehand before) for lofi wireframing and initial concepting. I'm very interested to learn how others are using the program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
Hi Al, Fireworks strength as prototyping tool is its ability to save as PNG in layers. This feature is great especially if your review process goes through many iterations. It works great if you are presenting using HTML using hotspots and javascript. You can easily edit your graphic source files without having to redo your entire presentation script. Great articles on doing wireframes in FW: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/cooper_prototyping.html?devcon=f4 http://tv.adobe.com/#vi f1498v1659 http://tv.adobe.com/#vi f1498v1661 http://tv.adobe.com/#vi f1498v1660 http://tv.adobe.com/#vi f1498v1658 Peter Chung Sr. IA/UI Designer, Wells Fargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
Is there any chance that you would be able to share some of this presentation for someone non-local? I'm based in London but am very interested to hear about any new Fireworks techniques. Cheers, Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
I'm becoming more and more interested in prototyping in FW, and would love the basic questions to be answered: - Why would I use FW at all? I've got other tools (and plenty of paper!), so why would I consider the switch? - Is there any way to get started quickly or to bootstrap the process? Then, I'd love to see some of your examples, but only after you've sold me on the whys and hows. Like Amanda, I'm not in the Bay Area but would love to see what you come up with. Any way you could spread the talk more widely? Josh On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Amanda Jahn ya...@yahnyinlondon.com wrote: Is there any chance that you would be able to share some of this presentation for someone non-local? I'm based in London but am very interested to hear about any new Fireworks techniques. Cheers, Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
The issues I have (and I've expressed them in several of my own blog posts including http://www.dexodesign.com/2008/11/07/review-16-user-interface-prototyping-tools/) are: 1) There is a lot of overlap even within Adobe products -- Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, the new Catalyst, Flash... I can probably do the same thing 10 different ways with different permutations of these products 2) Fireworks - why? (read: I *want* to like it and understand it better... help me...) 3) Why is it so difficult to open Fireworks out of the box and prototype a hierarchical tree? And like others, would love to see a copy of your presentation if available. Best regards, Russ Russell Wilson Vice President of Product Design, NetQoS Blog: http://www.dexodesign.com On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Josh Evnin jev...@gmail.com wrote: I'm becoming more and more interested in prototyping in FW, and would love the basic questions to be answered: - Why would I use FW at all? I've got other tools (and plenty of paper!), so why would I consider the switch? - Is there any way to get started quickly or to bootstrap the process? Then, I'd love to see some of your examples, but only after you've sold me on the whys and hows. Like Amanda, I'm not in the Bay Area but would love to see what you come up with. Any way you could spread the talk more widely? Josh On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Amanda Jahn ya...@yahnyinlondon.com wrote: Is there any chance that you would be able to share some of this presentation for someone non-local? I'm based in London but am very interested to hear about any new Fireworks techniques. Cheers, Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
I'd definitely like to capture the presentation, whether live with something like ustream, qik or etc, or post-event with video or narrated slides. Given the interest, I'll post more info closer to the event - I think there might be an Adobe Connect setup going on too. As for why Fireworks?, that seems to be a common question and I'm glad I asked the list in advance, since I'll have a few non-FW friends coming and preparing some info about that will do them good too. One thing I've realized is the reason for the disconnect between FW and a lot of designers, at least those that found out about it recently rather than way back when it was a Macromedia product: FW is not really a prototyping tool, that's just Adobe's (fairly recent) marketing to set it aside from the rest of their product line up. Which explains why it comes across as so hard to pick up if you're used to a dedicated tool like omnigraffle or balsamiq - those tools are made to 1) be really easy to pick up so you can start designing right away and 2) focused on very rough layouts as visual deliverables, they're not Photoshop competitors. What *is* FW good for then? I actually like it more for making the final visual polish and design, since I hate Photoshop and Illustrator so much. Both of those tools were made primarily for non-web design purposes and it shows in their overall complexity. PS will always be for photographers first, designers second, and maybe video effects artists third, and Illy is mainly for artists and drawing. Yes you *can* use it for web stuff, it's just not made solely for that, plus jumping between the two apps is a pain, whereas FW is completely focused on making web layouts and you only need one app for making both vector and raster art. So my choice of using FW for prototyping is most definitely not a statement about it being a great prototyping tool overall, just that it works great for me personally because I can go all the way from wireframes to final design within the same app. That's going to be one of the main things I was going to demo - recycling art assets from the wireframes to the final visual mockups. - - Al Abut - - interaction designer, crimefighter http://alabut.com http://twitter.com/alabut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
I believe it would be very helpful if you could include some advice on Fireworks' utility for different prototyping stages in design process, such as say wireframes, mid-fidelity prototype with certain interactive features, and fully-interactive prototype? In addition, if you could compare Fireworks against other tools available for these phases, even better! and yes, I am going to be there for your presentation =) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
