Linux alternative to Fireworks MX? (For Web dev)

[news]

I use Linux at work 100%. But then, at work I'm mainly using PHP and
mySQL development.
At home I use Linux most of the time, except for gaming and Web
development. Because I have Macromedia MX 2004, and they simply won't
work in Wine in Linux.

Now, after the initial layout, I don't use a WYSIWYG too much. Mainly
because I use a lot of PHP in creating the Web data. And I use CSS more
and more as I get used to them. So between Quanta+ and Zend Studio I
don't really need an alternative to Dreamweaver.

But the big thing I can't really do without is Fireworks. For the
graphic design of a Web page I'll build it in Fireworks, create buttons
and mouseover effects and whatnot. My Web pages tend to be very visual
and not your basic stick some text in a table.
I'll use slices and have Fireworks export the slices in 72dpi image
pieces in tables, and an HTML doc, which I'll then use an editor to
manipulate and add styles and make it all W3C validatable.

Is there something available in Linux to help with the graphical, image
creation and layout as well?
I've tried using Gimp, and even though I'm OK with Photoshop, Gimp
doesn't seem to be very vector based graphic friendly. Fireworks allows
you to do some nice section grouping and merging, vector based text
creation and manipulation, easy bevels and shadows, selection and
movement and duplication of elements... it's just a breeze! Gimp seems
pretty powerful, but mainly as a photo manipulator perhaps.

Anyway, I don't even really need to have it do slices and export into
tables... I need to get away from that anyway! I just REALLY like the
easy vector manipulation that Fireworks has. I'd say even better than
Illustrator. Or at least, easier to use for Web design.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Liam

 

[David Cary Hart]

Is there something available in Linux to help with the graphical, image
creation and layout as well?
I've tried using Gimp, and even though I'm OK with Photoshop, Gimp
doesn't seem to be very vector based graphic friendly. Fireworks allows
you to do some nice section grouping and merging, vector based text
creation and manipulation, easy bevels and shadows, selection and
movement and duplication of elements... it's just a breeze! Gimp seems
pretty powerful, but mainly as a photo manipulator perhaps.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 has a very good vector graphics creator (OO Draw).

Gimp does take some getting used to but it is extremely powerful.

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[Nicholas DePetrillo]

OpenOffice.org 2.0 has a very good vector graphics creator (OO Draw).

Gimp does take some getting used to but it is extremely powerful.

Try Inkscape as well, http://www.inkscape.org/, it's a rather nice
fully-featured vector graphics application.

 

[news]

Try Inkscape as well, http://www.inkscape.org/, it's a rather nice
fully-featured vector graphics application.

Inkscape looks pretty good on its Web site!
But I seem to be having problems installing the libgc it wants to be
able to run. =/
So it may be a while before I can give it a try.
Thanks for the feedback!
-Liam

 

[news]

Inkscape looks pretty good on its Web site!
But I seem to be having problems installing the libgc it wants to be
able to run. =/
So it may be a while before I can give it a try.
Thanks for the feedback!
-Liam

OK, I gave up on installing the SRC (which I usually always try to use)
and just used the static RPM.
Well, I have to say this is the closest thing to Fireworks I've seen
yet!
It has a very nice select and manipulate intarface, with grouping and
raise/lowering.
Not seeing anything that allows one to do shadows or bevels or BMP
patterns... but I read something about installing extensions. So maybe
there's something out there.
Plus it looks like it only exports in png... but I can always open it
in Gimp and convert to gif or jpg... and do drop shadows and other
filters in there too, I guess.
Hmm, and when you import a raster graphic, you can't "magic" select
sections and manipulate them... but then I guess I can't have the
world. Where would I put it? =)

Between this and Gimp, I can maybe do most of what Fireworks can do...
and do it in a lot more time. =/ But, it's a step closer to be using
Windows only for gaming. =)

Thanks for the reply!
-Liam

 

[news]

Is there something available in Linux to help with the graphical, image
creation and layout as well? [..]

OpenOffice.org 2.0 has a very good vector graphics creator (OO Draw).

Gimp does take some getting used to but it is extremely powerful.

Well, maybe I'm just not playing with the right pieces, but it seems
like a slightly better Windows Paint program. I'm going to have to play
around with it some more, but it doesn't seem very robust.
Thanks for the suggestion; I'll keep checking into it. =)
-Liam

 

[John Bokma]

Anyway, I don't even really need to have it do slices and export into
tables... I need to get away from that anyway! I just REALLY like the
easy vector manipulation that Fireworks has. I'd say even better than
Illustrator. Or at least, easier to use for Web design.

Xara Xtreme is being ported to Linux. Other options: if you own a copy of
XP you might want to run a VM (free):

http://johnbokma.com/vmware-player/create-virtual-machines.html

Or you can use Inkscape for now.

But IMO Xara is the best program for vector drawing. I couldn't wait for
the OS version, so I bought it :-D.

 

[John Bokma]

Forgot link:
<http://www.xaraxtreme.org/>

OS version is called Xara LX

http://www.xaraxtreme.org/download/

has a demo, work in progress. If you like it, and you have access to XP
(on a VM) I would say: buy it, and wait until it's ported.