Alan Musselman

Well, I’ve been slacking on my Other Fireworks Guru once a week post, but with good reasons!

Today, Im acknowledging Linda Rathgeber-Stewart as a Fireworks guru. Back in the day when I used to post to the Macromedia Fireworks forum looking for answers to my questions, she would reply and give me fantastic feedback, plus she would give me ideas I wouldnt have thought about, so it gives me great pleasure to give Linda my props for all the help she’s given the Fireworks community with more to come with Fireworks 8 and the Studio in general.

Accomplishments:

• Coauthored Playing with Fire:
• Written two Fireworks eBooks:
• TMM – Team Macromedia Member since it started.
• Community MX member and has written tutorials for both Community MX and the Macromedia Developer Center.
• and much more…

Linda also works as a design subcontractor for Roubaix Interactive, Easter Asociates, Webeze, Electric Sage Designs, and Great Web Sights.

In April of this year she was one of a handful of designers asked to submit a Web site redesign plan for AusAID, the Australian Overseas Aid agency. (Her design was selected.) The new site should go live in about a month. Other than the occasional photo retouching in Photoshop, she works exclusively in Fireworks.

Be sure to check out her site: Playing with Fire.

Thanks Linda!!

There’s a lot of Fireworks gurus out there, but today Im giving recognition to Jim Babbage.

Jim has written over 70 articles and tutorials for Fireworks and actively participates at Community MX! (That’s insane Jim!) Wow, if I were a new Fireworks user, you would be my idol Jim, but Im not saying your not my idol now, hehe.

It’s amazing when someone that’s new to Fireworks never realized how powerful the app can be in their web app arsenal. Who wants to go through all the hassle just to export images like in other apps when you can just Create > Slice > Export. I also can’t tell you how many code poets/production artists I talk to on a daily basis that use Fireworks and love it. The faster you get in and get out, the faster you can head out to the beach or go hiking or whatever you enjoy to do in your spare time.

Jim’s been a visual communications guru for over a decade, and his skills include digital imaging, web design, landscape, nature and commercial advertising photography. Jim currently teaches credit courses in photography/imaging and newmedia at Centennial College’s Centre for Creative Communications and is also a partner at NewMedia Services.

Be sure to check out the Fireworks Developer Center and Community MX (Specifically Fireworks) to read his articles. I know I’ve picked up a bunch of tips from his articles and you can too!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Jim and keep up the fantastic work!

Some say Senocular is a super-humanoid while others report beast-like creature sightings in and out of the East Coast. I’ll have to admit, crossing paths with this magnificent beast is truly amazing.

Heck, if you cant do it, Senocular will probably create a custom command or Flash panel so you can get the design/production work done..speaking of which, don’t forget to download Senocular’s Fireworks extensions, there’s lots of nifty gadgets floating around there.

Enjoy!

Senocular’s Fireworks Forum:

• Using Fireworks
• Drawing and Design
• Extensions

Fireworks related links:

• Source Files
• Extensions (These are definitely unique)
• Tutorials

Thank you Senocular!

Man, I look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

I gotta tell you…I’ve never seen so many hardcore Fireworks gurus in one place.

This Fireworks forum has got to be one of the best around with FW users from all over the world sharing tips, techniques, debates, improving workflows and best of all, creating a synergy for others to learn from their trial and errors. Since Fireworks is all about…well web graphics, its nice to see members can upload PNGs/JPGs directly to the threads. This feature makes the process easier for everyone to understand what the thread creator is talking about and particitpate actively.

I poked around on it yesterday and found myself diving into the "galaxies,vectors,tech interfces" thread. Sheesh…talk about some stellar creations, I decided to participate myself. I noticed no one was using the Star Auto Shape for lens flares and I gotta tell you, its pretty simple to create a flare once you learn how to interact with the Auto Shape..so…I got side-tracked with my design and created a "Lens flares using the Star Auto Shape" tutorial so others can learn how to create Flares using an Auto Shape. There’s also a custom command that generates a Star background, check it out.

I’m not sure if Geek Forums has gotten a Thank you from a Macromedian before, but here’s mine, "THANK YOU". You guys soo rock over there and keep up the great threads. I’ll stop by more often and offer my expertise and assistance when I can.