Fireworks Alternative

[paul43373278]

Hi,

I have fireworks CS5. I am happy to carry on using it for a long time but i am looking to take some people on to help me do some work. So i need to find a different software. It is time to find an active alternative. 

Can anyone suggest a design software i can use to replace Fireworks, i already got loads of png files, so it would need to work with my fireworks files and do the same.

Thanks for help

Paul

[Paul-M]

Hello - what sort of design work?

[Nancy OShea]

By PNG do you mean flat (mono-layered) PNG files that can be opened in any decent graphics editor or Fireworks' proprietary multi-layered project files?

To my knowledge, only Fireworks can open Fireworks project files.  Ideally, you should saveAs PSD for use in Photoshop.

Photoshop Elements 2020 (approx $100, no subscription needed).  PSE is a lite version of Photoshop CC without all the bells & whistles or learning curve.
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan -- approx $10/month for 12 months. Includes the very latest versions of these great products & services:
-- Photoshop CC and Photoshop on iPad
-- Lightroom on desktop, mobile and the web
-- Lightroom Classic
-- Portfolio website + hosting
-- Spark with premium features
-- Bridge
-- 20 GB cloud storage (upgradable to 1 TB).
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

[Paul-M]

Affininty Designer is the nearest thing to Fireworks that's available for both Mac and PC.

[paul43373278]

Hi,

Thanks for responses, what i use it for mainly is making up simple designs for posters, so i use shapes, adding a few images that might need cropping/tweaking, adding a bit of text, a few filters/effects but nothing deep or intense. I have 1000s of working png files so it would be great if the softeare could open the png file and the layers and images are all in same please etc.

I will take a look at your suggestions 🙂

Thanks for all your advice

paul

[Paul-M]

Photoshop has all the bells and whistles but moving from Fireworks to Photoshop will present you with a learning curve and you'll need an approproate Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription (the Photography subscription is the cheapest option). I think overall Affinity Designer is still the closest thing to Fireworks and would be the easiest jump, there's no subscription model also just a one off payment for the software.

The bad news is there isn't a program that can open layered Fireworks PNG files and retain their editability, Adobe have never built anything into Photoshop or Illustrator, they just stopped supporting Fireworks and left all it's loyal users high and dry. You'll need to convert the PNGs to another format like PSD or AI format if you want to retain layers and editability.

Here are some commands for batch conversion of Fireworks PNG files to other formats, you'll need to unzip and copy the folder to your Fireworks commands folder if you need more help let me know. The commands may come in helpful moving forward to another program.

[rayek.elfin]

I am going to suggest PhotoLine as a potential candidate to replace Fireworks, which in my opinion comes closer to the core functionality of Fireworks. I work with both, but hardly touch Affinity anymore due to a range of usability issues and awkward workflow problems.

There are a number of core workflow issues with Affinity Designer/Photo:

• exporting web graphics in the export persona does not feature a live preview while settings are adjusted. The user is required to export, inspect, change settings, export once more, inspect the settings, and so on. It is unworkable. An external tool is required if you need this functionality
• working with bitmap fills and gradients is very cumbersome compared to Fireworks. Compared both Fireworks and PhotoLine are much more friendly and efficient. 
• still up till this point no true free transform. It is not possible to select an object, and drag a corner handle to transform in perspective, for example. Affinity Designer relies on Photo and its perspective tool, but applying this to a vector graphic rasterizes it. Not good.
• vector-based fills are not possible in Affinity. Seamless patterns are unnecessary difficult to create and manage. PhotoLine and Fireworks have none of these issues.
• lack of indexed colour support. No GIF animation export. No layer-based animation support (PhotoLine offers a similar layer-based animation option as the one in Fireworks). The custom indexed color palette export is broken in Affinity (it is not possible to export an indexed PNG and limit the colors to a custom color palette)
• 1bit bitmaps are unsupported. It is not even possible to export these. Importing 1bit images converts these to RGB without an option to retain the original.
• Webp export is still not implemented
• anti-aliasing control is very limited compared to Fireworks and PhotoLine. There is no option in Affinity to turn this off. 

Affinity Designer and Photo are quite nice, and there is a lot to love, but quite hampered by core workflow issues and missing expected basic features. As a workhorse I prefer PhotoLine. It can't hurt to check them all out, though: each app has its own advantages. No software is perfect.

It is a real shame Fireworks was discontinued. It still is quite unique, and nothing can quite replace it.

[paul43373278]

Thanks for your suggestions, i will take a look and see what best for me.

Thanks

paul

[kneidels]

Was going to ask the same question....

I love how FW has a light footprint, way less that Photoshop or Indesign etc...
i use it for quick edit, batch resizes, exports etc. Simple effects - masks,  shadows and other simple designs for my web related work.

Is there nothing in the CC package (all apps) that does vector/bitmap like FW used to do? I realize i need to jump forwards to something more relevant... hoping to stay within the adove family (would not want to pay for an app.. seen as i have the all aps plan).

Thanks!

[Nancy OShea]

You won't find one app that does everything.  But for graphics in the Adobe family, you have lots & lots of options including:

Photoshop CC,

Photoshop for iPad,

Illustrator,

Dimension,

Fresco,

Aero, (augmented reality)

XD,

Spark Post

and various companion apps for iPhones, iPads and Androids. 

[Paul-M]

Photoshop is the nearest in the Adobe line-up. It has bitmap and somewhat clumsy vector tools... Workflow is prohibited in my opinion but it has most things Fireworks has but has a much steeper learining curve