Fireworks – quick and dirty tips

I love Macromedia Fireworks… or should I say Adobe Fireworks?! I really hope Adobe keep this little gem, because it is exactly that!

A few people have asked me how to design diagonal lined backgrounds, small dotted squares or some other similar pattern. Is it all done by hand made patterns in Illustrator? No, Fireworks has a load of simple ready made patterns. Use these with caution though; I think sometimes they overkill a design.
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Card sorting exercise

Outline

This is a great little way to get some insight on how your users think your site should be organised. It’s all about scribbling down your page headings on some post it notes and letting users organise them into logical groups that make sense to them. The results can then be analysed and compared against suggested site maps to help you with your website architecture. You might be in for some surprising results!

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