W00t! Happy to say I've been accepted as a speaker at the upcoming D2W Conference in Kansas City. I'll be talking about using Adobe Fireworks to wireframe and prototype mobile applications and web sites. It will be my first conference of the year, and I'm very excited to hook up with friends and make new ones. D2W is a designer/developer mobile workflow conference, it's goal being to improve communication and share workflow ideas between designers and application developers. 

Now in it’s second year, it’s definitely gaining in popularity and has attracted a great range of presenters, including yours truly.

Early Bird Pricing in Effect

If you book the conference before April 1, 2011, you’ll receive a $95 Early Bird discount on conference registration.That’s right, until April 1, the conference fee is only $200! After April 1, the registration fee increases to $295 (still a great deal), so you’re saving practically 30% by confirming by the end of March.

And if you’re looking for more in-depth sessions, D2W has them as well:

• Introduction to Adobe Fireworks CS5 with Dave Hogue
• InDesign to iPad Workshop with Pariah Burke
• Creating a Portfolio With WordPress with Justin Seeley
• COOP Hands On with John Farrar

These hands-on sessions will run on Thursday July 14 as a pre-cursor to the conference, which begins on Friday. What a great way to whet the digital appetite!

So if you’re a digital professional and you’re hankering for a fantastic way to network and learn at the same time, reserve yourself a spot at D2W this July.

I attended an excellent web cast last night, held by Dave Hogue. Dave is a user experience and interaction designer and uses Fireworks for building wireframes and prototypes every day in his position as Director of Information Design at Fluid Inc. in San Francisco.

In the web cast, Dave demonstrated several of the techniques he uses to keep his Fireworks files trim and organized, and shared many tips with us on how to streamline our own workflow process. This 30 minute web cast was recorded and is time well spent if you are learning about or working in the interactive design field. Be sure to check it out.

What a great time of year it is! Some time off from work, a chance to enjoy the company of family and friends and - hey - FREE access to the entire CMX database of articles for the rest of 2010! Wow!

Before my head hits the pillow this Christmas Eve, I wanted to give you all another gift.

I do a bit of writing, other than tutorials, from time to time. This story came to me a few years ago. I couldn't get it out of my head. I could actually see it all in my head as I was writing. It's my version of the Christmas Angel.

 I'm very fond of it and I hope you will be, too.

A Midnight Clear (pdf file)

I'm very happy to announce that my latest book, Fireworks CS5 Classroom in a Book is now available!

This revised edition builds on my first Classroom in a Book (CiaB), and covers new topics such as wireframing, working with Device Central, and exporting to Flash Catalyst.

Based on user feedback, I've also included more information on the relationship between Fireworks and Photoshop. The CiaB's are not intended to dig deep into other software. The focus needs to remain on the main product, but I did find more information about integration between the two programs. There are even a few improvements to integration since CS4.

I had an excellent Tech Editor; our very own Sheri German made sure this was the best book it could be and was an invaluable resource and friendly ear for me.

And as in the last book, I wrote too much, so there are two bonus chapters included on the disc that comes with the book, along with all the exercise files, so you can work right along with me in each lesson.

If you're new to Fireworks, I don't think you can go wrong by picking up a copy. And what do you know? Here's a handy link: Amazon.com

If you do pick it up, please let me know what you think of the book. I'm always looking for suggestions on how to improve it.

If you were able to watch the CS5 Launch event today, you might have wondered what happened to Fireworks.

You weren't alone.

I'm very happy to say though, that Fireworks CS5 is alive and well - and AWESOME! Fast, stable and easier to use than ever, the Fireworks team did an amazing job fixing bugs (900+) and addressing legacy issues.

Over the next couple weeks, I'll be releasing a series of videos showing you some of the new features and enhancements, starting with a summary of my top features, which will be out early this week.

I'm also relieved I can finally say, I've been writing the new Fireworks CS5 Classroom in a Book. It's been fun - and challenging - and I think this version is even better than my first go-round for the CS4 Classroom in a Book.

So even though Adobe didn't say anything in the launch, I can safely say that you will be very happy with the CS5 version of Fireworks.

For a quick heads up, check out Bruce Bowman's article on the Fireworks Developers Center.

Well, it may not be fresh news anymore, but in case you've been living off the grid for the last day, Adobe has announced the launch of Creative Suite 5 for Monday, April 12 at 9:00 am PST.

You can register to be part of the launch by going to this url. You can watch some sneak peek videos there, too. They'll even mark your calendar for you!

Personally, I'm pretty excited to learn what Adobe has in store for us. I use Adobe products daily for business and personal use and it will be cool to see what new goodies they have - and frankly - what they've fixed.

I think Adobe heard loud and clear the dissatisfaction  of their customers with the CS4 release and I think they will have worked hard to address those issues in CS5.

So browse on over to http://cs5launch.adobe.com/ and sign up for the big launch event on April 12. See ya there!

Well, it' been a long time coming, but I'm very happy to hear that the Adobe  Fireworks team is working on a Fireworks CS4 patch to fix the Snow Leopard crash on quit bug, as well as other high priority crash and data loss bugs that they're aware of.

Adobe is expecting to release the update in the second quarter of 2010.

In the meantime, on the Fireworks Team blog, Bruce Bowman is asking all Fireworks users to submit bugs they want addressed, via the Feature Request and Bug Form. The FW team is paying close attention to the bugs filed here. It's very important though, to be as detailed as possible when reporting a bug, so the team can track it down. If you think you've hit on a bug, try to reproduce it and record the steps you took in order to do so. It's also helpful to know what other software was running at the time, and what your hardware configuration is.

I hope this comes as good news for many.

Yes that's right. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is now available for public beta testing at Adobe Labs.

And it's very cool.

For those of you who don't know, Lightroom is literally a digital photo darkroom.  Where Photoshop has many workflows - digital imaging, creative design and pre-press - Lightroom has a truly singular workflow: digital photography.

It combines many features of Bridge, Camera RAW, and digital image correction/enhancement in a very slick package. It also offers multiple output workflows: slideshow (with music, even), print (single images and packages) and web (photo galleries and direct to flickr upload).

If any of this has piqued your interest, be sure to drop by Adobe Labs for the beta, and to watch some excellent Lightroom 3 videos by Julieanne Kost

Finally, the video training product many of us here at CMX have used on the Windows platform is now available on the Mac! 

Camtasia lets you easily create engaging presentations, demos, software tutorials and even marketing videos. If it's on your screen, you can recrod it in action!

I've used Camtasia for Windows for many years and love it. Now that I've recently switched to the Mac platform, I can't wait to add this software. And even better, Techsmith is offering a special promotional price of $99 US. If you're an educator who teaches software to your students, you have to try out Camtasia.

To learn more, check out Techsmith's press release.

I'm very excited to announce that my latest video training title is now available on lynda.com!

Recorded earlier this summer, the 4.5 hour course discusses and walks you through wireframing, storyboarding, interactive HTML prototyping, in a far more in-depth manner than my Essential Training title is able to. I also introduce you to creating Flex skins, exporting MXML and exporting FXG.

I had a lot of fun putting this course together and I think it will be a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about using Fireworks for prototyping web and other interactive projects such as AIR applications.

Here's a quick run down of the main lesson topics:

• Rapid Prototyping Options in Fireworks
• Wireframing
• Storyboarding
• Multi-page Mockups
• Adding Interactivity
• Creating AIR Prototypes
• Creating Flex Mockups
• Going Further with HTML Prototyping

My photos are now online from the camping trip with Tom Green and sons.

I shot approximately 600 images, and have edited them down to about 240, using Adobe Bridge as my primary tool.

I experimented with slow shutter speeds on many water shots this year and also made a conscious effort to find scenes which I thought would translate well into black and white. In fact, you'll get a first-hand look at how I created the black and white images on flickr in my latest tutorial, which is running on Tuesday of this week.

I've also included a few panoramics from the trip as well, including the one of the campsite.

I hope you get a chance to check out the photos. Feel free to comment on them; I love to know what people think.

Yes it is almost that time again. This coming Saturday, August 1, my good friend Tom Green, I and our sons will be making the 12 hour trek to Obatanga Provincial Park for a week of very low tech relaxation.

Now we don't raise our noses at all technology, you understand; we'll still have our digital cameras so we can capture shots like those seen at mine and Tom's flickr sites. But overall it's a time to chill, read a book, go hiking or canoeing and watch the sun set over a wonderfully peaceful lake. There will be no laptops and our cell phones don't work up there (Tom keeps trying for a signal.)

I have no idea how Mr. Green will survive, as he will be unable to Twitter various profundities at any given time of day. Perhaps he will write them down and later do a massive post-adventure Twitter rampage . . .

This is, of course, assuming:

• We don't strand him on some tiny outcropping of Canadian shield poking out of a lake . . .
• And that we can keep all the sharp and pointy objects from his eager grasp . . .
  
• And that he doesn't get adopted by a black bear as her long lost albino cub . . .
  
• Or that he doesn't become the ringleader of the local Red Squirrel brigade, stealing careless campers' cookies by the bagful when they least expect it . . .
  

I am so dead when he reads this.

It's a time to recharge the spiritual and psychological batteries. That stored up energy is important. Soon after we return, both Tom and I will return to teaching at college - a job as rewarding as it can be exhausting.

In general it will be a time to refresh and renew ourselves before normal daily life washes over us again.

I can't wait. I even have new Christmas songs on my iPod - just for Tom (bwa ha ha . . .)

Hey Everybody!

I'm picking through my idea file for new tutorial concepts for Fireworks and I thought I'd put the request out to you, our faithful CMX subscribers. Is there something you've been dying to know about Fireworks? (or Photoshop or Dreamweaver or ~insert favorite app here~ . . .)

And what about the types of articles? Creative? Technical? Workflow? Business oriented?

Drop by the Community Clubhouse forum and share your thoughts and ideas.

Yes that's right!

Adobe has released the very long awaited patch for Fireworks CS4 for both Mac and Windows. The updater addresses some of the big issues related to text and stability.

You can download the update from http://www.adobe.com/support/fireworks/downloads_updaters.html.

After applying the update, please ensure that the version screen now shows as shown below.
 
http://blogs.adobe.com/sarthak/FwCS4_update_about.jpg

You can also read more details about what was fixed in the patch by reading the release notes.

W00t!

A very exciting day, yesterday; I received my shipment of books and I must say, I'm very happy with the overall production quality of the book. It's pretty cool to see all the illustrations in full color!

Sporting a bright banana-yellow cover (you almost need sunglasses!) the book definitely stands out. Kinda like some of my shirts . . .

In the next few weeks, I hope to release a few excerpts of the book here on CMX, so stay tuned.

It should be in bookstores soon, so if you're interested in learning FW from the ground up, make sure to check it out.

Have you ever wondered if (or how) you can add an iframe to a Fireworks prototype? What about inserting a SWF? Or adding some jQuery functionality?

Well, I just finished reading a truly excellent article at the Adobe Developer Center, written by David Hogue and Mariano Ferrario that takes protyping with Fireworks to the next level.

The article shows you how to leverage CSS, JavaScript and HTML using Fireworks and Dreamweaver to create a highly interactive HTML prototype. There's a great synergistic result when you combine the design capabilities of Fireworks with the coding strength of Dreamweaver. 

If you're interested in prototyping, head on over to the Adobe Developer Center and check out this article.

Well, it's finally happened.

I just pressed the checkout button at the Apple store and in a few days I will be the proud owner of my very first Macintosh.

I ordered the 15" Macbook Pro with the faster, bigger hard drive.

My old Toshiba doesn't owe me any favors; it's had a hard three year life span - and will probably end up in the hands of my nephew for at least a year, but with the writing I've been doing, having the ability to work with both Mac and PC apps is becoming pretty important. I'll just install a trusty copy of XP on the system so I can still work on both sides of the Force.  ;-)

Can't wait till it gets here.

Ahhhhhh! A huge sigh of relief and great sense of accomplishment are the two things I am feeling most at the moment. As the headline states, the very first Classroom in a Book for Fireworks is off to the presses.

I'm so freakin' excited!

The book has a total of 11 lessons, plus two supplemental lessons on the CD which accompanies the book. Just like other CiaB's, the artwork is included so people can work along with the same assets I used in the book. Some of the assets are supplied by - or inspired by  - Adobe, and some are my own, including several photos.

I think this will be it for me on the book scene for a while, but I have some other projects in the works, including some new video titles with Lynda.com . . . and of course, I'll keep writing here at my home away from home, Community MX.

I'll keep you posted on the release date.

Well, MAX San Francisco has come and gone. What an experience; 5000+ geeks attending a single event!

Seriously, it was a great event and I had the opportunity to meet and mingle with many new people. There were also a few networking opportunities as well. Both my Fireworks Mock Up labs were full, and I saw several other very interesting sessions and labs. I for one, was very impressed by the number of Fireworks sessions that were available.

Yep, the secret is out! :-)

On my return, I was informed by a very happy publisher that 28 copies of my book sold in the MAX Store during the event, which made me very happy as well.

I know I promised pics much earlier, but I've just gotten around to getting them online. So if you want to see a few shots from the event and a few from the aquariums at the California Academy of Sciences, head on over to my flickr site.

Enjoy!

Fireworks CS4 finally began to answer the problem of designing and exporting standards compliant web pages, with the inclusion of a new export feature, CSS and images. This feature was an enhanced version of the Smart CSS extension which was available for FW CS3.

Well, the shipping version of this CS4 feature still had some issues. but luckily for us, Fireworks evangelist Matt Stow worked with Adobe to improve the export script.

You will find his article and the new export assets on Adobe's web site:

 This article and the support files are definitely worth a read.