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Participant
May 20, 2020
Question

What's the next best thing to replace Fireworks?

  • May 20, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 1681 views

LOVE my Fireworks and just purchased a brand new Mac only to find out that it's not supported on Catalina.  

 

SOOOOOO.....I guess I shall be learning a new program but I have no idea which one is most like Fireworks or would be most useful to me.  I mostly used Fireworks to design and edit images, logos, and print graphics.  

 

Any suggestions?

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    2 replies

    samibahri
    Participating Frequently
    May 20, 2020

    install a virtual machine (i use parallels but you can use Virtualbox, it's free) with windows and continue to use fireworks. 

    Legend
    May 20, 2020

    Photoshop, if you're prepared to invest the time has a ton of features but can feel clunky and unintuitive, the learning curve is steeper than Fireworks. The nearest I've seen to Fireworks is prrobably Affinity Designer, altough it lacks one or two features.

    Paul-M - Community Expert
    Participant
    May 20, 2020

    Thank you! I was afraid someone was going to say Photoshop LOL.   I will check out Affinity Designer first......and go from there.  I'm sure I can learn Photoshop but man......Fireworks seems much easier to maneuver in!  

    rayek.elfin
    Legend
    May 20, 2020

    If you do, be sure to purchase all three: Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher. They're on Covid-19 sale currently as well, and very inexpensive for what you get in return. It really is a no-brainer.

     

    The reason to get all three: they work seamlessly together (use the same file), and Publisher combines all three into one with its innovative "switch room to Photo or Designer" feature, and while Designer supports artboards, only Publisher supports pages and page templates. Coming from Fireworks I think you will appreciate that functionality.

     

    Photo also offers a wide range of bitmap editing tools, while Designer focuses on illustration and GUI work.

     

    The only real issue for someone coming from Fireworks is the lack of an export preview, which means you cannot preview export settings when exporting your assets and work. I find that extremely frustrating. But it is in the works according to the devs.