My beloved Adobe Fireworks!
It has been a few years since Adobe announced the sunset of Fireworks (formerly Macromedia Fireworks.) I am hopeful that they will come to their senses and continue with the product that I love. However, that is looking less and less likely as time goes by.
I am happy to say that Adobe will still let you download and run Fireworks from the Creative Cloud. Simply launch Adobe CC and click to see “PREVIOUS VERSIONS” of Apps. Adobe Fireworks CS6 is there!
What I do and how Fireworks helps me
I am a programmer / website manager / graphics designer / product photographer. I use Fireworks to edit photos and create banners for my websites. I use it as a quick layout and design tool for presenting rough draft ideas to new clients. I even use Fireworks to create interesting backgrounds, logos, and product titles that will be used in product labels. These layered .png files are much lighter and easier to work with when I don’t need the complex, extra features of Photoshop. (My computer is on the old side and really struggles to run Photoshop.)
This is my Plea!
This article is my plea to Adobe to keep Fireworks available for as long as possible. Or better yet, keep it updated with whatever changes are necessary to keep it running on modern machines. If you insist on discontinuing one of the best graphics programs ever, here are some of the things that I LOVE about Fireworks that I hope you will continue in any replacement programs:
Feature-Rich Adobe Fireworks brings together some of my favorite, and most-used features of Illustrator, Photoshop, and even Microsoft Paint! Adjust colors, remove the background from photos of basic shaped items, quickly draw shapes and borders, editable text with fun fonts. The perfect tool to quickly throw together a layout suggestion for new clients, a picture for my blog, or even for my daughter to brainstorm how she will place things on the poster for a school project.
Intuitive Adobe Fireworks has nowhere near the power of Photoshop or Illustrator. I still have to use these programs often. But the smaller selection of things that you can do from Fireworks actually makes it easier to learn. And it still covers a large portion of my needs. (I use Illustrator daily, but I have been able to cut Photoshop use down to maybe twice a month.)
Fireworks are Fun! Perhaps my biggest argument for keeping Fireworks updated rather than replacing it – I like the name. Fireworks are a fun way to add even more excitement to an event.
