PLEASE bring back Adobe Fireworks

Report · Nov 13, 2023

I am SO UNHAPPY with Adobe these days and I used to love the company. Now it has ruined its good reputation.

Why buy a company like Macromedia that makes great software just to kill it? This is disgusting. Fireworks was fast and user-friendly. Now there is NOTHING that replaces it. Fireworks had just the features that web designers needed to quickly edit photographs and simple graphics for web or any digital use. There was a great batch process, very useful to web designers. It was not cluttered with extremely complicated and unnecessary features that web designers do not need - like Photoshop is. Adobe claimed there was an "overlap" between Photoshop and Fireworks. So, simplfiy Photoshop for photographers and restore Fireworks for web designers. I have learned Photoshop a million times and it is still extraordinarily slow, unbelievably frustrating, clunky and really UNINTUITIVE. It takes hours to do the simplest thing.

Adobe is stuck in the past world of print design. It has made the fatal mistake of NOT LISTENING to its customers.

Now I hear Adobe is canceling XD. Obviously Adobe has totally missed the boat on web designers and only cares about high end graphic design which will probably be replaced by AI anyway. Get a grip Adobe!! The market is for people who don't want to spend hours on a simple task or pay gobs of money!!!!

Report · Nov 14, 2023

Yeah, it is unfortunate Fireworks was discontinued back in 2012/2013. Wow! A decade's flown by since then.

I do understand your frustration (I was there myself). No-one at Adobe listens in here, though: you are screaming into the void. Also, the web has evolved in the past decade, and Fireworks isn't really capable enough anymore to accommodate current requirements in my opinion.

Also agree with you that Photoshop is rather awkward for web graphics.

We can but lament the loss of Fireworks here, and some of use continue to use it if possible. Adobe doesn't care about the small segment of FW users who complain.

Sad, but it is what it is.

And now it's going to get their grubby hands on Figma and end XD. While I welcome the end of XD (it's horrible in my opinion), I fear that Adobe will effectively kill off or cripple Figma as well and become the undoing of Figma. This is based on the long well-known history of Adobe ruining good software. Just look at Fireworks, Animate CC (Flash), Freehand, and quite a few other victims.

Time will only tell if Figma will survive Adobe. The odds are against it.

Report · Jan 03, 2024

Freehand was amazing also.. wow.. old memories.

Report · Nov 20, 2023

I've been using Fireworks all this time because it's exactly what I need. I don't need Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign most of the time.

It's still been available in the CC all this time. But today I'm not able to start the program because it says I need to renew my subscription. I obviously have a subscription...

Is anyone else experiencing this?

Report · Nov 20, 2023

You're not alone in feeling this lack of ergonomics and flexibility when it comes to a tool such as Fw & its extensions, for UI/UX management for the web.

Any way most of threads talks about missing Fw https://community.adobe.com/t5/fireworks/ct-p/ct-fireworks?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all&lan...

But today I'm not able to start the program because it says I need to renew my subscription. I obviously have a subscription...

Is anyone else experiencing this?
By @lukalumen

A few days ago, @ForsakenOutlaw57FF asked the same question than yours, you'll find it by going Fireworks Asking for Serial # - Says Trial Period Expired

I'm thinking of setting up a series of articles on https://puce-et-media.com (if I can find some time aside) and why not opening a forum if this one offered by Adobe were to close.

Report · Jan 03, 2024

100% agree - likely bought to get rid of the competition and hate it for being better. Some tyrant at the top annoying many for no good reason.. Are you listening Google? Google should do what it did with Google docs to Word.. give us a choice...

Fireworks is amazing.

Report · Jan 07, 2024

Fireworks is obsolete.

It can't open RAW files.
It can't create WebP files.
It can't create AVIF files.
Legacy software that's outlived its usefulness is of no value to anyone in 2024.

It's time to put it behind you and move on...

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

Report · Jan 07, 2024

It's outdated for sure. But there's no replacement for it with Adobe
products. And it's enough for any quick work.

I had to go with Affinity Designer in the end.

Report · Jan 07, 2024

My experience tells me that people will continue to use software (including outdated software) as long as it fits their workflow requirements.

In regard to core functionality and workflow Fireworks still works just fine as a vector illustration package to produce web images and simple animations, even if it is unable to export to more current file formats such as WebP or AVIF. It is rudimentary to export PNG files from Fireworks and convert those to those formats with free/open source tools. A basic automated file conversion can easily take care of these missing export formats and multiple export size targets.

While I stopped using Fireworks in my own pipeline for a long time now, I can imagine long-time Fireworks users wanting to continue to make use of it, because FW still does offer a unique and efficient workflow good enough for general web graphics. And as long as those users can install and run FW on Windows - Why not?

Now, I don't use Adobe software anymore for this type of work myself. But if I had to choose between Photoshop and Fireworks, I am not so sure that I would prefer Photoshop... The current web export in the latest releases of Photoshop is a complete mess in my (and others') opinion. It's not even possible to export an indexed PNG with full transparency from Photoshop anymore due to pig-headedness from its developers, for example.

Yes, it's outdated. Yet, as long as Fireworks runs fine for those users and it caters to their needs: I'd say: live and let live.

I do agree that it is futile to expect Adobe to resurrect Fireworks. And at some point in the future Fireworks will stop running on Windows and/or Adobe will decide to remove it from the CC suite.

Just a wild guess here, but I am pretty sure Adobe will sooner remove Fireworks from its CC suite lineup before it stops running on Windows! 😜

Report · Jan 25, 2024

My experience tells me that people will continue to use software (including outdated software) as long as it fits their workflow requirements.
By @rayek.elfin

==========

Or until it's impossible to access and they're forced to find new software.

As of 2024, Fireworks is impossible for many people to access. It is what it is.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

Report · Feb 20, 2024

Hello guys!

Fireworks was one of the most innovative web image layout programs ever created. It was simply unique... it was light years ahead of everything else. Fast, intuitive and with plenty of extensions... Photoshop?... it had many plugins that it even shared with Fireworks... but Photoshop was aimed at photographers and graphic designers and Fireworks was aimed at content creators. Nothing was comparable to that great program called Fireworks.

Report · Feb 20, 2024

@Neomatrix,

Thanks for the Fireworks obituary. 😊

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator