Adobe Fireworks

Adobe Fireworks, shown in Figure 8–17, is probably the second most used tool in my Web Development utility belt, and for good reason. This very easy to use vector and bitmap editing program is perfect for touching up or compressing graphics, as well as for mocking up designs and prototyping new projects.

Originally created and owned by Macromedia and later acquired by Adobe in 2009, this wonder application for Web Designers everywhere hasn’t received as much attention as Adobe’s flagship photo editing program, Photoshop, but that is all right because it has plenty of fantastic features that easily make it a no-brainer for a program that should be included in your arsenal. In fact, for many of the tasks web developers and designers tackle, Fireworks is the better product for the job.