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Drawbacks to the new CS6 Color Picker?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:07:44 GMT

What do people think about the new color picker in Fireworks CS6?

I like the new larger swatches and default palette: a revised "Color Cubes" layout that includes non-web-safe colors and a selection of warm and cool greys/neutrals. I also like the option to view and enter RGB values and to specify transparency (for fill and stroke separately)

However, one thing I'm missing is the option to change the swatches from within the color picker itself. Previously, it was possible to choose from a standard set of color swatch layouts or the Swatches palette itself, via a small fly-out menu.

Now, that option is gone. The color picker simply picks up whatever palette is currently loaded into Swatches (except for masks, which still draw from a separate greyscale palette). To load a new palette into the color picker, you need to change the contents of the Swatches palette itself. This means a little less freedom for the user.

For example, if you've added a few custom swatches into your Swatches palette, but then decide you'd like to switch the color picker layout, you'll lose those custom swatches—unless you go through the extra step of saving them as a palette. Frankly, in Fireworks, I don't even know how to quickly delete a large number of swatches in order to save a custom palette like this. (The only option I'm aware of is to Command-click, which deletes a single swatch at a time; this requires a lot of patience.)

Another aspect that concerns me is the contextual nature of the Fill color picker. Accessed from the toolbar, a complete a set of fill options are offered, which is very convenient; you can quickly choose between No Fill, Solid Fill, Gradient Fill and Pattern Fill. But this is not the case when you access the Fill color picker from within the Properties Inspector. In particular, the No Fill option is missing, whereas this used to be the place to make this change. Users who to try to set the Fill to None here may wind up inadvertently sampling colors when they try to click on the No Fill option below, while the color picker is still open.

Thinking about it, there's plenty of room here; I think the No Fill option should be added back in to the color picker within the Properties Inspector—much as it's already included for Stroke.

Finally, I'm not saying that I used it a lot (I didn't), but I always liked having the Web Dither fill option; it's definitely a unique, textured look that's not commonly available in other applications. It's gone now.

The thing is, there's room for it. So why take away a feature like this?

BUG: Channel-based blend modes in FW CS5 & CS6

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:02:09 GMT

I've observed problems with some of the blend modes in Fireworks CS5 and CS6. Several are definitely broken—most likely a by-product of changes introduced in CS5, which attempted to match some of Photoshop's blend mode behaviors (for Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity).

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/bbowman_fwcs5.html

The broken blend modes are the channel-based blend modes: Red, Green, and Blue. These have no counterpart in Photoshop, and yet no longer function properly.

To illustrate the problem, I've created a simple test graphic: three white squares, three black squares, three bitmaps, and three colored squares (red, green, and blue).

Now I'll add a black background to the canvas and apply a different channel-based blend mode—Red, Green, and Blue—to each object in its respective group. Here's the correct result, in Fireworks 8:

As you can see, each object appears to be the same color as its applied blend mode. A white rectangle with a Red blend mode becomes red, with a Green blend mode becomes green, and with a Blue blend mode becomes blue.

The way it works is this: The composite image adopts the selected channel of the object and combines it with the remaining channels of the canvas (or objects) below. For example, consider the white rectangle with a Red blend mode. The rectangle's Red channel (R:255) should be combined with the remaining channels of the canvas below (G:0,B:0) to create a composite with the appearance of red (R:255,G:0,B:0).

Now here's the same graphic as it appears in both Fireworks CS5 and CS6:

As you can see, there's no sense to this result. The Red blend mode produces Green, the Green blend mode produces Red, and the Blue blend mode produces invisibility. I simply cannot explain the outcome. These blend modes have been rendered useless and unintelligible in CS5 and CS6.

The reason for my concern here is that, just over a year ago, I wrote a series of command scripts based on these blend modes as they existed Fireworks 8. Without these blend modes, my scripts cannot function.

Assuming there are updates forthcoming for Fireworks CS6, I'm hoping there's a chance that this might still be fixed (if not for CS5, as well). Here's the bug report I've submitted regarding this issue:

Product name: Fireworks
Product Version: 11.1.0.205 (CS5.1)/12.0.0.236 (CS6)
Product Language: English
Your operating system: OS 10.6.8

******BUG******
Concise problem statement: Channel-based blend modes (Red, Green, and Blue) are broken in Fireworks CS6 and CS5.
Steps to reproduce bug:
1. Set canvas to black.
2. Draw 3 white rectangles of any size.
3. Set blend mode of 1st rectangle to Red, 2nd rectangle to Green, 3rd rectangle to Blue.
Results: 1st rectangle appears Green (instead of Red). 2nd rectangle appears Red (instead of Green). 3rd rectangle becomes invisible (instead of Blue).
Expected results: Each rectangle should appear to be the same color as its applied blend mode, as the composite adopts the selected channel of the object and combines it with the remaining channels of the canvas (or objects) below.
In the preceding example, the black canvas contains no channel information (R:0,G:0,B:0) while the white rectangles contain information in all 3 channels (R:255,G:255,B:255). When a Red blend mode is applied to a white rectangle, the object's Red channel (R:255) should be combined with the remaining channels of the canvas below (G:0,B:0) to create a composite with the appearance of red (R:255,G:0,B:0).

Most likely, this bug was introduced in CS5, which included modifications to Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity blend modes (to match Photoshop). For comparison, proper RGB blend mode behavior was observed in Fireworks 8.

For more information about this bug, please see the following post: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1209542

BUG: Rectangles inside FW symbols become blurry/misaligned

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:42:22 GMT

There seems to be a problem with the use of Rectangles within Symbols in Fireworks CS6, CS5 and earlier.

The problem is that they become blurry. More exactly, they become repositioned within the symbol—aligned to the half-pixel—and their edges become anti-aliased as a result. For example, here's a series of rectangles that I'd created on the canvas to visualize a set of color swatches:

Here's the same set of rectangles after having been saved as a Symbol and imported into another document:

At first I thought this was a problem with Symbols in general, but then I discovered that it only occurred with Rectangles—a.k.a. "rectangle primitives", which are a special kind of grouped vector object created using the Rectangle tool—and only when the contents of the Symbol in which they resided had a pixel width or height ending in an odd number (i.e., 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9).

THE PROBLEM

Here's what I've observed, in greater detail. Start with two Rectangles, 99 x 99 pixels—one with a stroke only, the other with a fill only. Select the first Rectangle and choose Modify > Symbol > Convert to Symbol, and then do the same for the second. Save the file. Everything looks OK, right?

Now close the file, and reopen it. Have a look at the thumbnail previews within your Document Library. They look a little... fuzzy, yes?

Click on the name of one of the symbols in the Document Library to open the Symbol Properties dialog, and then click OK. Now look on the canvas...

Yikes. The symbol instance containing the stroked Rectangle (on the left) has become quite blurred. Now, back within the Document Library panel, click on the thumbnail preview of the other symbol to enter Edit Symbol mode, and then return to the document canvas...

Yikes again. The symbol instance containing the fill Rectangle (on the right) has also become blurred—horizontally, in this case. They both look worse now.

Note that it's not the instances nor their placement on the canvas that's the problem—you can move them anywhere on the canvas, and they'll still look just as bad—but the symbols themselves. Double click on one of the symbols to enter Edit Symbol mode and select the rectangle. Its X-Y position in the Properties panel will look normal, but if you open the Transform panel extension (http://www.senocular.com/fireworks/extensions/?entry=572), you'll see the real story: The rectangle has been re-aligned to the half-pixel.

Importantly, the trigger here isn't the dimensions of the rectangle, per se, but of the symbol contents as a whole. If the symbol contents have an even-numbered dimension, alignment remains crisp and pixel-perfect along that dimension; if the symbol contents have an odd-numbered pixel dimension, a blurry misalignment occurs. For example, here's a series of "even" rectangles (20 x 20 pixels) that, with their single-pixel spacing, comprise an odd-numbered selection (125px), shown before and after symbol conversion:

Incidentally, the same problem reveals itself when you import these symbols into another document using the Import Symbols command within the Document Library options menu.

THE FIX

The patch for this bug, once it's occurred, is to edit the symbol. In Edit Symbol mode, select all objects—or just the misaligned Rectangle objects—and choose Modify > Snap To Pixel.

The fly in the ointment here is that, in many cases, the original alignment is not preserved. The rectangles may now be misaligned in relation to other objects in the symbol, as well as to other objects on the canvas. Therefore, to finish the job, you may need to also nudge the rectangle(s) by a pixel horizontally or vertically using the keyboard arrow keys.

The good news is that once a symbol has been fixed using Snap To Pixel, its alignment and clarity should remain fixed.

THE WORKAROUND

The surest way to avoid this issue, of course, is to avoid including Rectangles in your symbols—not the geometric shape, but the grouped vector object as it's created by the Rectangle tool. Therefore, prior to converting a selection to a symbol, check for any Rectangles within the selection and ungroup them using the Modify > Ungroup command, which will convert them into simple paths, unaffected by this bug. (Chances are, by the time you're converting these objects to symbols, you won't need the fluid resizing or adjustable rounded corners that Rectangle objects offer; the trick will be remembering to perform this extra step.)

THE BUG REPORT

Lastly, here's the bug report that I submitted to Adobe regarding this issue:

Product name: Fireworks
Product Version: 12.0.0.236
Product Language: English
Your operating system: Mac OS 10.6.8

******BUG******
Concise problem statement: Rectangles within Symbols become blurry if the width or height of the symbol contents is an odd number (e.g., 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, etc.). The blurriness is caused by misalignment of Rectangles on the half-pixel within the symbol, and becomes apparent upon closing and reopening the document and either a) viewing the symbol's Document Library thumbnail preview, or b) clicking to view Symbol Properties or to Edit Symbol. It can also be observed upon Importing the symbol into the Document Library of another document.

Steps to reproduce bug:
In an open FW document, draw a Rectangle and set the width and/or height to an odd number (e.g., 99 x 99 pixels).
Select the Rectangle and Convert to Symbol.
Save and close the document.
Reopen the document. In the Document Library, double-click the symbol name to open the Symbol Properties dialog, and click OK. (Or double-click the symbol preview to Edit, and then return to the document canvas.)
Results: The Symbol instance appears blurry on the canvas. (The Symbol itself also appears blurry within Edit mode.)
Expected results: The Symbol should appear as it was originally created, without a loss of clarity or change in alignment.

Note that this bug can occur whether a rectangle's dimensions are even or odd; the determining factor is the dimensions of the symbol contents as a whole. However, the bug affects Rectangles only; it has not been observed with paths, ellipses, auto shapes, bitmaps, or groups.
The Transform panel extension was used to view the precise pixel alignment of objects and determine the cause of the blurriness.

For more information, including graphic demonstrations and workarounds, please see the following forum post: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1073489?tstart=0

This bug has also been observed in Fireworks 8 and CS5 on Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

POSTSCRIPT

Amazingly, this bug can also affect Symbol instances on the canvas that have been "broken apart". To see this for yourself, create a symbol like one of the preceding examples, select the symbol instance on the canvas and choose Modify > Symbol > Break Apart. Save and close the file, then reopen it. The "broken apart" instance on the canvas will now appear blurry/misaligned(!).

BUG: Stroke Color will not remain selected for Text

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:25:04 GMT

This bug concerns the Stroke Color box that appears in Fireworks' Tools and Color Mixer panels. Once selected, this box allows for the modification of an object's stroke color.

Basically, when a text object is selected on the canvas, the Stroke Color box will not remain active. Immediately following any stroke color adjustment, the focus moves to the Fill Color box instead. This makes it difficult to make subtle modifications to stroke color—using the Color Mixer panel, for instance—and increases the chance of accidentally modifying fill color.

This is a bug in Fireworks CS6 and CS5.1 on Mac OS 10.6.8. It does not occur with standard vector objects, only with Text objects.

The following report was submitted to Adobe:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Product name: Fireworks
Product Version: 12.0.0.236
Product Language: English
Your operating system: Mac OS 10.6.8 (Intel-based)

******BUG******
Concise problem statement: The Stroke Color box (in the Tools and Color Mixer panels) will not remain active when a Text box is the currently selected object on the canvas. Immediately following any stroke color adjustment, focus moves to the Fill Color box instead.
Steps to reproduce bug:
Select a text object on the canvas.
From the Properties panel, set a stroke color for the text.
From the Tools panel, select the Stroke Color box and choose another stroke color for the text.
From the Color Mixer panel, select the Stroke Color box and modify the existing stroke color using the sliders.
Results: In Steps 2, 3, and 4, the Stroke Color box is automatically deselected immediately following each adjustment. The Fill Color box is selected instead. Modifying the stroke color further requires reselecting the Stroke Color box each time before proceeding.
Expected results: The Stroke Color box should remain selected following any adjustment, to allow for further modifications. This is currently true for vector objects but not for text objects.

This bug makes it difficult to make subtle modifications to stroke color when a text object is selected, and increases the chance that fill color will be accidentally modified. It also contributes to a sense of overall instability within the application interface.

For more information, please see the following forum thread:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1087696

The bug has been observed in Fireworks CS6 and CS5.1 on Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). It is not present in Fireworks 8.

BUG: Info panel displays incorrect Hue values

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:57:01 GMT

Recently, I've been doing a lot of work with color in Fireworks and came across the following bug, which appears to be a longstanding issue within the application. Rather than keeping it to myself, I figured I'd post it here in addition to submitting a bug report with Adobe. So here it is...

Hue values displayed within the Info panel (in HSB mode) do not consistently match the values displayed in the Color Mixer panel—including basic colors such as pure Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta. The values are 1 degree off—most often below the Color Mixer value, but sometimes above (as with Magenta). This holds true whether using with the Eyedropper tool or the Color Picker swatches eyedropper, and whether sampling from the canvas or from swatches.

For example, the following inconsistencies were observed when sampling the centermost horizontal strip within CS6's default Color Cubes swatches picker. Note that over 50% of these colors are affected by the issue.

The Color Mixer seems to display the correct values, while the Info panel's values appear to be incorrect. Note that this issue affects the HSB mode only; the RGB and Hex values are consistent between both panels.

This bug has been observed in Fireworks CS6, Fireworks CS5.1 and Fireworks 8 on Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

Here's the bug report submitted for this issue:

Product name: Fireworks
Product Version: 12.0.0.236
Product Language: English
Your operating system: Mac OS 10.6.8 (Intel-based)

******BUG******
Concise problem statement: The Info panel displays incorrect Hue values for many colors—including pure Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta. The Hue values are usually 1 degree below the value displayed in the Color Mixer panel (e.g., 59 instead of 60 for Yellow) but sometimes 1 degree above (e.g., 301 instead of 300 for Magenta). This is true whether using the Eyedropper tool or the Color Picker swatches eyedropper, and whether sampling from the canvas or from swatches.
Steps to reproduce bug:
In an open Fireworks document, open the Info, Color Mixer, and Swatches panels. Within the Color Mixer and Info panels, set the color mode to HSB.
Draw a Rectangle and set its fill to Yellow (#FFFF00) using the Color Picker.
Observe the Hue values displayed in the Color Mixer and Info panels.
Select the Eyedropper (I) tool, and sample the rectangle's fill color. Again, observe the Hue values displayed in both the Color Mixer and Info panels.
Results: In both steps 3 and 4, the Hue value for pure Yellow (#ffff00) appears as 60 degrees in the Color Mixer panel but 59 degrees in the Info panel.
Expected results: The Hue for pure Yellow (#ffff00) should appear as 60 degrees in both panels.

Note that this issue affects the Info panel's HSB mode only; the RGB and Hex values are consistent between panels. Also note that this bug affects over 50% of the "pure" hues within CS6's Color Cubes swatches palette. For more info, see the following forum post:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1083391

This bug has been observed in Fireworks CS6, CS5.1 and FW8 on Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

FEATURE REQUEST: Enhanced Texture Options in FW

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:21:59 GMT

Recently, a forum user was asking how to change the color of a texture in Fireworks to red or blue. In particular, he/she was struggling with attempting to apply a texture to a white object, and it wasn't showing up.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1006694?tstart=0

The question got me thinking about textures, how they're created and how they're applied. Textures are a unique and distinctive feature of Fireworks. On the one hand, the interface for textures is very simple to use and almost magical; on the other hand, it's surprisingly limited. The concept is great, but the implementation seems only half-baked.

With this in mind, I'd like to suggest a few simple ways that textures could be made more fluid and versatile in Fireworks.

First, a little background...

WHAT IS A TEXTURE?

In the world of Fireworks, a texture is basically a type of pattern that's applied to an object. However, unlike a pattern fill, textures include transparency and integrate with the existing fill content (color, gradient or pattern). They're suggestive of textures in the real world, which are often tactile and defined visually by light and shadow.

Texture graphics are most commonly grayscale ("black and white") in GIF or PNG format. Applied within the application, the graphics are converted "on the fly" to white-on-transparency. If the Transparent option is checked, the graphic is converted into a sort of mask, making the "textured" areas invisible instead of white.

And that's about it.

So what if you'd like to apply a dark texture to a white object? Sorry, it can't be done. What if you'd like to apply a texture in color? It can't be done. What if you'd like to reverse or invert the pattern of the texture? Can't be done.

Well, in fact, these things can be done, but not directly. They require workarounds such as cloning the object and placing the clone above or beneath the original, applying textures as pattern fills (instead of as textures) and adding effects like Color Fill, Invert, and Convert to Alpha, or editing the texture file directly, saving out a new copy, etc. In short, there are unintuitive ways to accomplish these goals that lead to bloated effects lists and layers or that require extra time and care.

HOW CAN TEXTURES BE IMPROVED?

First of all, does it make any sense that textures are applied exclusively in white? Not really. In the real world, a texture can be defined not just by light but by shadow. And even shadows can have color. This means that, at minimum, it would make sense to allow for the application of a texture in black, and, at maximum, in any chosen color.

Secondly, textures are relative. They represent change to an existing surface. Sometimes, it might make sense to highlight the texture itself; other times, the surface around the texture. This means that being able to quickly reverse the figure-ground relationship of a texture would be a very handy feature.

With the above concerns in mind, I've devised three 'user interface' scenarios, presented here in order of most conservative to most extreme. The first scenario is the least powerful but still doubles the number of possible outcomes (compared to the existing interface). The second scenario may be the most logical of the bunch and represents a modest evolution of the existing interface, while increasing the number of potential outcomes even further. The third scenario allows for the application of any color to a texture but also represents the biggest change to the existing interface; that said, it's also quite compact.

Scenario 1: Invert option

The idea here is simply to add an Invert checkbox to the existing options. Checking this option would convert white to black, allowing for the application of dark textures to white or light-colored objects. In "Transparent" mode, this option would invert or reverse the figure-ground relationship of the existing texture.

Scenario 2: Dropdown menu plus Reverse option

Here, the Transparent checkbox is replaced by a dropdown menu that includes 3 mutually exclusive options: White, Black, or Transparent. Checking the "Reverse" option would invert the figure-ground relationship of the texture. This scenario allows for 6 possible outcomes in place of the existing 2, and is actually more logical than the first scenario, which conflates two options.

Scenario 3: Color picker plus Reverse option

Here, the Transparent checkbox is removed, and in its place, a color chip/palette is added to allow for the selection of any color to be applied to a texture. (Choosing Fill: None would create Transparency.) Again, a "Reverse" option would invert the figure-ground relationship of the texture. This scenario differs most from the existing interface but is quite compact and allows for the greatest number of outcomes.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

I've submitted a feature request to Adobe's official site:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

When it comes to bugs and/or feature requests, every vote counts. If you care about this issue, I encourage you to submit your own feature request to the above URL, referencing this post if desired. Feel free to copy and paste the feature request below or write your own. (Be aware that there is a 2,000 character limit to the "issue description" of a bug report or feature request, and the following report is very close to that maximum.)

FEATURE REQUEST

Product name: Fireworks
Product Version: 12.0.0.236
Product language: English

*******Enhancement / FMR*********
Brief title for your desired feature: Enhanced texture controls, including the ability to apply textures in black and/or color (instead of white), and the ability to reverse or invert texture.
How would you like the feature to work? Three possible implementations have been outlined in this forum posting:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1042206?tstart=0

The basic scenarios are as follows:
SCENARIO 1: An additional "Invert" option. Checking this option would convert white to black, allowing for the application of dark textures to white or light-colored objects. In "Transparent" mode, this option would invert or reverse the figure-ground relationship of the existing texture. This scenario would allow for 4 options in place of the existing 2.
SCENARIO 2: Replace Transparent checkbox with a dropdown menu (White-Black-Transparent) and a "Reverse" checkbox. The dropdown menu offers 3 mutually exclusive options, while "Reverse" inverts the figure-ground relationship of the texture in each case. This scenario would allow for 6 options in place of the existing 2.
SCENARIO 3: Replace Transparent checkbox with a color chip/palette and a "Reverse" checkbox. The color palette would allow for the application of a texture in any color, while choosing Fill: None would create Transparency. This scenario would allow for the greatest number of options.

Why is this feature important to you? Textures are unique to Fireworks and potentially very useful, but their implementation is incomplete. The use of 'white only' means that textures cannot be applied to a white object. Inverting a texture or applying a texture in color requires advanced workarounds and can lead to bloat. The suggested options would make the feature exponentially more powerful and intuitive.

Printing a PDF in Illustrator on Mac

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:47:36 GMT

Could someone show me what a healthy Illustrator CS5 or CS6 Print dialog looks like on a Mac?

I recently purged a bunch of outdated "Adobe PDF 7.0"-related printer files from my computer and several weeks later discovered that significant portions of my Illustrator Print dialog were now disabled. It's weird because these files don't actually work on Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and yet they seem essential to accessing the various Print dialog features (including layout preview) as well as the OS-related Page Setup... and Printer... options.

Thes screenshots show the Print dialog first with the Adobe PDF 7.0 files installed and then without—note the many disabled features in the second screenshot.

I now feel trapped into keeping this vintage, dysfunctional printer driver. I'm wondering whether something went missing from my CS5 or CS6 installations—an Acrobat component that would replace Adobe PDF 7.0 and allow for a full range of printing options in Illustrator.

I've also spent a ridiculous amount of time dealing with this problem and seem to be getting nowhere.

Help! Flash bug reports returned as "undeliverable"

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:36:02 GMT

I've been attempting to submit a bug report regarding Flash Professional CS6 and CS5 on Adobe's official bug reporting page:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

I've made three attempts in the past 4 days, and each one has been returned to me as "undeliverable":

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

flash_feedback@namailhost.corp.adobe.com
The recipient's e-mail address was not found in the recipient's e-mail system...

I've successfully submitted reports regarding Fireworks and Dreamweaver, so the error is not on my end. Does anyone know what's going on here?

As there is no "Flash Professional" option in the list of product names, I've been choosing "Flash Authoring", which I've seen mentioned elsewhere as a suitable choice for general issues with Flash Professional.

Bug: Is View > Slice Overlay broken?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:18:04 GMT

A user on this forum recently asked how to turn off the translucent green color that appears over slices, while still showing the slice boundaries (i.e., not making the web layer invisible). I suggested turning off the visibility of the individual slices within the web layer of the Layers panel.

However, I also noticed a View > Slice Overlay command, which seemed like it might perform the same task on all slices at once... and yet it appeared to have no effect. A similar command, View > Slice Guides, works like a charm, toggling the red slice guides on and off with ease, but Slice Overlay seems almost completely useless.

Here's what I've noticed:

Toggling View > Slice Overlay off has no effect under any circumstance.
Toggling View > Slice Overlay on will turn on the Web Layer's visibility—but only if it has already been turned off by another means.
The command has no effect on the visibility of individual slices.

So that's it. It does one thing, and it does it badly. It's already quite easy to turn the entire Web Layer on and off using the Layers panel or the "Show/Hide Slices and Hotspots" button within the Toolbar. I'd therefore expect View > Slice Overlay to affect the visibility of the translucent green color that appears over slices, while leaving the slice guides intact—basically, the inverse of View > Slice Guides.

Am I misunderstanding the purpose of this command? Can someone else confirm this behavior? I've observed this in Fireworks CS6 and CS5 on Mac OS 10.6.8, and in Fireworks 8 on Mac OS 10.4.11. Does it work for any Windows users?

Bug: Forum redesign

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:20:45 GMT

Does anyone know how or where to report a bug involving the forum itself?

It seems that when the number of tags applied to a discussion exceeds one line, the initial posting gets squeezed into a very narrow column on the right-hand side and becomes practically illegible. (And once there's been a response, the inital post can no longer be edited to fix the problem.)

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/953003?tstart=0

This wasn't an issue until the recent redesign.

Forum redesign in Firefox vs. Safari

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:16:42 GMT

After a week or so of staring at a very ugly, incoherent redesign of this forum site in Firefox (on Mac), I finally took a look at it in Safari. It's like night and day!

Firefox 12:

Safari 5.1.7:

I'm speechless at the discrepancy here. Is anyone else experiencing what I'm experiencing in Firefox, or is one of my browser settings off somehow?

Bicubic zoom rendering in Fireworks

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:22:49 GMT

Does anyone know if it's possible to alter Fireworks’ rendering behavior while zooming?

Case in point: If I’m designing an iPhone screen interface, I’d like to be able to work on a document at full resolution (640x960) but view it at half size (50%) to approximate the actual device size and to more easily fit on my monitor. But Fireworks’ default rendering behavior while zooming is Nearest Neighbor, which produces a very jagged and harsh-looking image. I’d like to change this rendering behavior to Bicubic or Bilinear instead.

With screen resolutions increasing across various devices, I see this as being an increasingly important issue for designers who create interfaces and graphics for those devices on lower-resolution monitors.

There are workarounds to this issue, but each workaround creates additional problems, which require their own workarounds... when the real issue is pretty simple. InDesign offers users the option of several rendering modes while previewing, and I think Fireworks should do the same. Currently, it’s possible to preview a reduced-size image with Bicubic rendering in Fireworks using the Image Preview dialog or using Transform (e.g., with a symbol instance), but these extra steps shouldn’t really be necessary.

Seriously, is there any way to hack into Fireworks to adjust this behavior? (Also, I should mention that I’m using an older version of Fireworks. Maybe zoom rendering has improved in more current versions?)

Trick for disabling shortcuts in Text edit?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:24:16 GMT

Does anyone know a trick for overriding or disabling a keyboard shortcut while in Text edit mode in Fireworks?

A while back, I added a custom keyboard shortcut (Shift +) to allow me to cycle forward through blend modes, via command. This is the default keystroke combination used by Photoshop, and it's also a shortcut that I've added to Illustrator, so it's my preferred choice. However, I recently noticed while in Fireworks' Text edit mode that I cannot type a simple "+" sign, because it triggers the blend mode command instead. This isn't a problem in Photoshop or Illustrator—somehow, they bypass keyboard shortcuts while in Text edit mode, but Fireworks 8 does not.

It occurs to me now that I could temporarily switch to Fireworks' standard keyboard shortcuts set while I'm editing text, and then switch back to my custom set once I'm done. Alternatively, I could use the Character Viewer in the Mac OS to insert the "+" character—which is even easier to do if I add that character to my Favorites.

These are pretty good solutions... but if anyone has a quicker method, I'd be interested. I'm also curious whether newer versions of Fireworks have the same issue. It seems like a number of users on this forum have had problems with Text suddenly disappearing... I don't know if there could be a correlation. In general, it would seem like a good idea for Fireworks to override shortcuts while in Text edit mode, à la Photoshop.

Required fonts for CS2?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:36:59 GMT

I've been searching for a list of fonts the are required for Adobe CS2, but can't seem to find a resource. Does anyone have this information? These would be fonts that belong in the "Reqrd" folder within /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts/ (on Mac OS X).

According to Extensis's Font Management in Mac OS X: Best Practices Guide (7th ed.), there are a handful of Myriad fonts that should not be removed from this folder:

MyriaBol

MyriaBolta

Myriad

MyriaIta

MyriaRom

I believe these are PostScript Type 1 files, representing Myriad Bold, Myriad Bold Italic, Myriad Italic, and Myriad Roman. Ironically, my Adobe "Reqrd" folder has no actual fonts inside it. But I did find these font files in my User library fonts folder on my current computer. So they've always been active, but apparently I'd lost track of their origin. Now I'm trying to confirm that these are the files that belong there, and if there were any others that originally belong in that folder as well.

Does anyone have CS2 who could check their "Reqrd" folder? Otherwise, an online resource for this would be much appreciated.

SURVEY: Blend mode options in Brush tool?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:31:16 GMT

This is a survey question for users of all versions of Fireworks. In Fireworks 8, I've noticed a difference in the Brush tool properties depending on whether the selection is an object or a mask—in particular, the Blend mode options do NOT appear in the Properties inspector when a bitmap mask is selected, *unless* the object was selected first, as well as the Brush tool.

Please try the following, and let me know the results:

Starting with the Pointer tool, select a bitmap mask (by selecting its thumbnail in the Layers panel) and then choose the Brush tool.
Does the Blend mode menu appear in the Properties inspector?
Now, with the Brush tool still active, select the thumbnail of the object being masked.
Does the Blend mode menu appear in the Properties inspector?
Now select the Pointer tool, and then re-select the Brush tool.
Does the Blend mode menu appear in the Properties inspector?
Finally, re-select the mask, with the Brush tool still active.
Does the Blend mode menu appear in the Properties inspector?

In Fireworks 8 (on Mac OS 10.6.8), the answers to the above questions are, "No, no, yes, yes." So it is possible to use Blend mode options with the Brush tool when working with a bitmap mask, but it's a convoluted process to get those options to appear. I'm interested in whether later versions of Fireworks exhibit the same behavior. Anyone with a different version, please chime in.

UPDATE: I'd still like to hear from users of Fireworks CS3, CS4, CS5, and CS5.5 on this question! Please take a moment to help. All it takes is a Fireworks document with a bitmap object and a (non-vector) mask. Be sure to indicate what version of Fireworks you're using.

FW Scripting: Does saveSelection() require documentIndex or not?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:40:20 GMT

Hey, Fireworks users! If you're into scripting at all, please try the following test. First, copy this simple script and place it into a .jsf file or into the Command Prompt panel, or anything that allows you to run a script within Fireworks:

fw.getDocumentDOM().saveSelection("test-123", "new or replace");

fw.getDocumentDOM().setSelectionMask(null,"replace");

fw.getDocumentDOM().restoreSelection("test-123");

Now create or open two FW documents, and make a quick bitmap selection within the second document, using the Magic Wand, Marquee tool, or what-have-you. Now run the script.

Ideally, nothing will seem to have happened. This script is designed to save an active bitmap selection, to remove it, and then to restore it—all within the active FW document. If you check in the Restore Selection dialog, you should see the file "test-123" listed among the saved selections. Otherwise, everything will be the same.

At least that's what's supposed to happen. What you may get instead is an error message, like this one:

If that's the case, replace the previous script with this version... Are the results any better? (They should be.)

fw.getDocumentDOM().saveSelection("test", 1, "new or replace");

fw.getDocumentDOM().setSelectionMask(null,"replace");

fw.getDocumentDOM().restoreSelection("test");

What's missing from the first version of the script is a documentIndex ("1") within the saveSelection() function. According to the "Extending Fireworks" PDF resources for both FW8 and CS5, this argument is NOT required, and if it is omitted, the active document will be asssumed. But that's not what happens. Instead, saveSelection() assumes the bottom-most document [0] and mis-saves the selection in that document instead of the active one. As a result, when restoreSelection() looks for the selection within the active document, it cannot find it.

This bug was observed in FW8, and a bug report was recently filed with Adobe. However, if you've replicated the bug in a more recent version of FW, please consider sending an additional bug report to Adobe, referencing your own version:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Instead of a writing out your own description, feel free to include a link to this discussion in your bug report. Also, if your version of FW does NOT exhibit this bug, please leave a comment below. Thanks!

FOLLOW-UP: This bug remains in Fireworks CS5.1 and CS6 on Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

Fireworks: How to find document index for scripting?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:19:51 GMT

Can anyone share a simple method for obtaining the document index of an active Fireworks document, within the array of open documents? Normally, the current document is accessed by using fw.getDocumentDOM(), but I'd like to obtain the actual array index value (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.) to use elsewhere in a script.

I've created a function to obtain this index value, but it's ungainly: It compares entire DOMs that have been converted to source. This requires too much memory or processing and nearly brings the script to a halt. I need something simpler.

var dom = fw.getDocumentDOM();

function documentIndex() {

if (fw.documents.length == 1) {

return 0;

}

else if (fw.documents.length > 1) {

var i = 0;

for (i = 0; i < fw.documents.length; i++) {

if (fw.documents[i].toSource() == dom.toSource()) {

return i;

break;

}

I've considered using a document property like docTitleWithoutExtension, filePathForRevert, or filePathForSave as a basis for comparison between documents, but these are unreliable: They won't work if the documents in question have have not yet been saved.

I figure there must be a simple method, I just don't know what it is.

Scripting workaround for activeTool bug?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:25:41 GMT

I'm working on several scripts in Fireworks 8 and trying to set the active tool to the Brush tool using the following command:

fw.activeTool = "Brush";

The problem? It doesn't work. The Brush properties will appear in the Properties inspector, but the previous tool remains selected in the Toolbox, and the cursor freezes when it's moved over the document window/canvas area (but is fine outside this area). Switching to another open application and then switching back to Fireworks will fix the cursor freeze and "jog" the tool fully into Brush mode. Alternatively, selecting another tool from the Toolbox and then re-selecting the Brush tool will clear up the issue. But none of this helps in terms of creating a workable script.

Is anyone else aware of this problem? Can someone suggest an alternative way to set the active tool to Brush via script?

Incidentally, several other tools exhibit similar problems with the activeTool property: The Pencil tool (like the Brush tool) throws an error, while the Eraser and Blur tools simply have no effect whatsoever. The remaining tools—Pointer, Marquee, Line, Paint Bucket, etc.—seem to work fine.

FOLLOW-UP: This problem remains in Fireworks 11 (CS5), exactly as described above.

FW8: function to trigger Restore Selection dialog?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:20:36 GMT

I'm working on a command script in Fireworks 8 and wondering: Is there a document function that will trigger the Restore Selection dialog?

This would be the dialog box that appears in the application when choosing "Select > Restore Bitmap Selection...". It offers options for replacing, adding, subtracting, or intersecting a saved selection with a current, active bitmap selection. Surprisingly, the function "dom.restoreSelection()" does not invoke this dialog box; it offers no "ask user" argument option. Instead, it seems to be the command that's triggered within the application after a user has responded to the initial Restore Selection dialog.

Incidentally, I'm also looking for a function that will load the alpha channel of a selected object (or element mask) as a bitmap selection. In the application interface, this would be analogous to option-clicking the object or element mask thumbnail (in the layers panel).

Thanks!

Commands cause Fireworks 8 to freeze (with Batch Progress dialog)

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 05:18:52 GMT

I've been having consistent trouble with Commands in Fireworks 8 (on Mac OS 10.4) causing the application to freeze. Has anyone else experienced this?

Here's the scenario: I use custom keyboard shortcuts to trigger commands such as ‘Blend Mode - Forward’ or ‘Increase Brush Size’ in order to speed up my workflow. After executing several of these commands, I'll be doing something simple like using the Selection Tool or adjusting layer opacity, and the application will freeze. A Batch Progress dialog appears ("0 of 0 files processed. Batch conversion complete."), but it is unresponsive. The only option is to Force Quit the application and to lose any unsaved changes.

This happens quite frequently. It is not a problem with any particular command; it happens with _all_ commands.

In trying to fix this bug, I discovered something interesting: Every time a command is executed in Fireworks 8, it generates an empty FireworksBatchLog.txt file within my User/Library/Application Support folder (the same folder where custom Keyboard Shortcuts and Library Symbols are stored). Normally, a Batch Log is written upon completion of a successful Batch Process, and it includes useful information about what files were processed and how. In this case, however, the Batch Log text file is empty.

Now, this Batch Log might just be a symptom of the glitch, as opposed to the source itself, but it clearly connects with the Batch Progress dialog that appears once the application freezes. Apparently, when commands are executed rapidly via keyboard shortcuts, this empty Batch Log gets rewritten every single time, and a relatively innocuous problem compounds itself and causes the freeze.

I reinstalled the software, but the bug persists. I've also filed a bug report with Adobe—but would they even consider _looking_ at a bug if the sofware version is this old? It seems odd that Fireworks 8 is the only version never to have received an update. And yet this bug seems very matter of fact. I'm quite surprised that I can't find any other references to it online...

If anyone knows of a fix for this, or can replicate the bug in their version of Fireworks, please let me know.

Script to open an entire library (e.g., Patterns, Gradients, Brushes)?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:34:41 GMT

I'm wondering if it's possible to write a script that would: A) open an entire library--like Patterns, Gradients, Brushes, or Swatches--in one click, and B) set the View preference for each page of that library.

I'm working in CS2, and I find it too cumbersome to access the libraries one by one--especially libraries like Patterns, which can only be accessed by first choosing Windows>Swatch Libraries>Other Library, and then navigating through the OS interface to select Patterns, and then opening just one particular file at a time... It's ridiculous! I want to be able to browser through and USE these things, but they're just buried under too many layers of menus and sub-menus. Is there a better way?

Can scripting be used to tackle this problem?

I scanned through the AppleScript PDF included with Illustrator, but a lot of it's just so over my head, I can't even tell if it could be done.

Thanks.

How to cycle thru blend modes within the Layer Style dialog??

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:29:03 GMT

Hopefully, we all know you can use the Shift key and + or - to cycle through blend modes in the layers panel, as well as in various tools (like the Gradient tool or the Brush tool). A great way to quickly preview your blending options.

But what about within the Layer Style dialog? This seems to the only situation where this shortcut does not work. Is there another shortcut or workaround that can be used here?

I'm using Photoshop CS2 (on a Mac).

Thanks,
Doug D.

Cursor disappears in Add mode (Shape & Selection tools)

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:07:15 GMT

Help! My cursor is completely disappearing when in the Add (+) mode of both the Shape tools and the Selection tool--making it very hard to draw shapes.

I can still add to a selection, I just can't see the cursor when doing so. Interestingly, if I use the shortcut key (adding Shift while in normal mode) instead of changing modes via the options bar, I CAN see the cursor. Note also that this is the only mode that exhibits this problem. (Also, other tools, such as the Magic Wand, Lasso tool, and Pen tool, are completely unaffected.)

I'm using Photoshop CS2 on a Mac PowerBook G4. I recently upgraded operating systems from OS10.3.9 to the latest version of OS10.4. This is a recent problem and may have coincided with the OSX upgrade.

(Also, I've restarted the computer numerous times, and the problem persists.)

Thanks!

How do I access page 2 of the user forums?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:48:01 GMT

Was trying to find a thread for my previous post about the lack of support for Mac OS 10.3.9. It seems that the updated kuler site requires Flash 10, which in turn requires OS 10.4. And I couldn't even access my previous color palettes once this change was made. Yet there was no forewarning of this on the site, that I could tell... Now I was just trying to find that post, but I can't even seem to access anything beyond page 2 of the forums...

I'm losing my patience with this...

No more Kuler for MacOS 10.3.9?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:30:58 GMT

I'm running Mac OS 10.3.9 (Panther) and can no longer access Kuler. Apparently this is because Kuler now requires Flash player 10, which requires OS10.4 or above. Am I missing something here, or is that it? I have to upgrade my OS just to view my kuler themes?

How about a warning about this? Whatever happened to accessibility?