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April 17, 2007
Designing Flex in Fireworks (Including Style Explorer as Fireworks Extension)
I've been using an internal beta of Fireworks CS3 for several weeks now to wireframe Flex projects, and let me just say... Fireworks CS3 rocks. Particularly with the new Flex components library that comes with Fireworks CS3, and the pages feature that allows me to specify which layers are shared across which pages, the time it takes me to develop wireframes has literally been cut in half, leaving me more time to actually focus on designing the best user-experience.
I wrote up an article with one possible workflow using the Fireworks to design, style and skin a Flex application. You can read the article here at the Fireworks Developer Network.
What's more, with Fireworks CS3 including a AS3 engine, I've packaged the Flex Style Explorer as a Fireworks Extension that will run directly in Fireworks. You can download and install the MXP here.
Fireworks CS3 is required.
Posted by Peter Baird at April 17, 2007 07:55 AM
Comments
Hi Peter,
That sounds very interesting. I always love Fireworks to do quick job, since I'm not a designer I can't invest my time in design, but fireworks always work very great for me, so I'm interested in this FW/Flex marriage.
It would be great if you post some captivate demo or video to show what you are talking about and people could have a clear idea of the upcomings advances in some seconds.
Just and idea.
Thanks for pointing into this! :)
Posted by: Carlos Rovira at April 21, 2007 02:54 AM
Hey Peter--
Fireworks rules. I've worked on a project or two in the past while using your wireframes. I must say it opened my eyes wide with how powerful Fireworks is.
--Tom O'Keefe
--I'll post your article on my blog if you don't mind.
Posted by: Tom Okeefe at May 14, 2007 05:24 PM
Hey Tom,
Good you hear from you. Hope you're doing well. I'm a convert to Fireworks also... Photoshop still for editting/enhancing photos, but Fireworks for User Interface Design.
Posted by: Peter Baird at May 15, 2007 02:08 PM
Thank for your post. I begin to use this extension and its help me a lot.
Posted by: Greendog at August 29, 2007 08:05 PM
Thanks for the insight...Sheesh i was using PS CS3 and completely forgot about Fireworks, until i found this post!!
Posted by: Ahad Bokhari at June 11, 2008 10:33 AM