Where do you work and what keeps you busy?

I work at Fellowship Technologies in Irving, TX. My official title there is “UX Developer” which I suppose is a fancy way of saying I design and code things for people to use in a browser.

What type of project are we showcasing today where Adobe Fireworks was used in the process?

Most recently, I worked on creating a design patterns library for Fellowship One (our flagship web app), as well as writing our front-end code standards document. Those can be seen at:

http://developer.fellowshipone.com/patterns/

http://developer.fellowshipone.com/patterns/code.php

Additionally, I have a few side projects that I maintain. One of these is the 960 Grid System, which is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are printable sketch sheets, design layouts, and a CSS file that have identical measurements. I made the original templates in Fireworks, which have since been ported to many other design programs as well, some of which were contributed by other 960 enthusiasts.

http://960.gs/

Are there features in Adobe Fireworks that saved you time and money?

Most definitely. The ability to work with both raster images and vector shapes in the same application is invaluable. Also, the ability to preview Fireworks PNGs directly in a web browser makes it an ideal design tool for quickly getting buy-in from clients or other stakeholders in your company. It sure beats exporting tons of images from within a *.psd file.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/enterprise_it.html

Additionally, I love the way that multiple “pages” can be saved within the same document. That, coupled with “states” (formerly known as “frames”) allows for a great deal of flexibility in mocking up user interaction of a web application. Of course, comps can only get you so far, and I usually prefer to jump into writing code earlier than later, but Fireworks is always an integral part of any web project.

What current web related technologies are most favored when designing and developing for the web?

Lately, I have been getting more into HTML5. I recently put together a demo that I unimaginatively titled jQuery Desktop, which is essentially just a re-creation of a desktop environment in a web browser. Obviously, based on the name, it utilizes the jQuery JavaScript library for its interactivity.

http://desktop.sonspring.com/

I am also quite interested in learning and delving more into using the new HTML5 canvas tag. I am intrigued by the ability to parse the DOM with JavaScript, and then create meaningful visualizations of that data, on-the-fly. As browser adoption increases, I think that we will see more and more rich interactivity created via canvas.

Of course, in order to conceptualize what I am trying to draw with JavaScript and canvas, Fireworks will play a big role in prototyping things out. In fact, of all the Adobe design tools, I think that FW is the closest to how canvas works: drawing vectors within the confines of pixel-based dimensions.

Do you remember your “Aha” moment you had experienced when first opening up Adobe Fireworks?

I first started using Fireworks when on the web team at Asbury Theological Seminary. At the time, the school’s site was comprised of thousands of flat HTML files, which we managed via Dreamweaver and Contribute. By the way, if you have a large-scale site like that, do yourself a favor and use a content management system. Nowadays, it seems like many schools are choosing Drupal more and more.

http://buytaert.net/rutgers-using-drupal

Anyway, I digress. Packaged as part of the Macromedia suite was this unfamiliar graphics tool called Fireworks, which I found  myself in need of one day, in lieu of the tool I’d been using up until that point (Paint Shop Pro, ugh). At first, the jump from a purely raster mindset into working with vectors felt a bit alien, but once I discovered the power of vertexes and non-destructive filters, I was hooked.

Before long, any and all graphics I did were created in Fireworks. My biggest fear when Adobe merged with Macromedia is that FW would get axed, but I’m happy to see that it is still going strong. In my opinion, it is still the best design tool out there, for people who make web interfaces.

Could it be better? Sure. And, from what I hear, the forthcoming release is going to make a lot of long-standing FW users very happy. I think I can say that much, without divulging any privileged info!

Are you involved with any communities on the web?

I contribute to the stream of noise that is Twitter. I am also on LinkedIn, Readernaut, and SlideShare.

http://twitter.com/nathansmith/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan

http://www.readernaut.com/nathansmith/

http://www.slideshare.net/nathansmith/

Do you have a place on the web you call home? Where can we find you?

Yep, I blog-semi regularly at my personal / professional site – http://sonspring.com/

Where do you work and what keeps you busy?

Sometimes I wonder where I don’t work. A lot of my professional life revolves around teaching these days. In the fall and winter I teach day courses at The School of Communications, Media and Design at Centennial College . I teach digital imaging, web design and photojournalism at this campus.

Usually a couple times a week I also teach night courses at Humber College specifically in the areas of web design.

I am a contributing partner for Community MX (www.communitymx.com). You’ll usually find at least one article a month from me at CMX, usually focused on Fireworks.

This October, I’ll also be presenting at MAX in Los Angeles. I look forward to seeing big crowds in the Fireworks Sessions!

What type of project are we showcasing today where Adobe Fireworks was used in the process?

I’d have to say my Fireworks books and video training. I have two Fireworks books published by Adobe Press: Adobe Fireworks CS4 How-To’s and the Adobe Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book. A lot of work involved in pulling those together, let me tell you, but I’m quite pleased with the end result.

Also, I just completed a new Lynda.com training title called Rapid Prototyping with Fireworks CS4. It’s now live and you can check out it and my other titles at http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk1=188

Are there features in Adobe Fireworks that saved you time and money?

Yes – a very long list of them, too. From a workflow perspective, Pages, Smart Guides, Tooltips and PDF Export. From a creative perspective, the vector tools are great – they are just so easy to use. I really like the Attach Text in Path feature, too. I use this all the time when mocking up web page layouts. And masking – I can’t say enough about how easy it is to apply masking techniques in Fireworks. Masking opens up so many creative options.

What current web related technologies are most favored when designing and developing for the web?

Fireworks. I know I sound like a broken record (or scratched CD), but honestly, if I am doing any screen-based work for myself, teaching or clients, Fireworks is at the forefront of what I use to get the job done.

Do you remember your “Aha” moment you had experienced when first opening up Adobe Fireworks?

Well that’d be going waaaaay back to Fireworks V1.2, which is what, 10 years ago? It was when I learned how powerful vector objects (I was a strictly a Photoshop guy prior to discovering Fireworks) could be when creating designs.

Are you involved with any communities on the web?

Yes I am! Twitter (JimBabbage), Flickr, LinkedIn, The Community MX forums and you’ll also find me wandering around the Adobe Fireworks user forum

Do you have a place on the web you call home? Where can we find you?

Hmm that is a tough one as I tend to plant myself in a few locations. Lol. My main base of operations is my company web site, http://www.newmediaservices.ca, but I’m pretty visible on the Adobe and CMX Fireworks forums too.