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Chapter 3. Livening Up Your Artwork with Color

In This Chapter

• Defining colors for the Web

• Finding and applying colors to graphics

• Creating your own colors in Fireworks

• Using gradient fills

Like most other Creative Suite applications, Fireworks lets you define an object's fill and stroke. You can use some unique tools for that selection, as well as some hidden features that work slightly differently from the ones you may be used to.

In this chapter, you find out how to apply a fill or stroke color to your artwork, and you discover the basic steps for working with gradient fills.

Choosing Web Colors

Colors appear differently on a monitor from the way they do when you view them offscreen, but this issue isn't as serious now as it was in the past. Years ago, you had to base your color selections on the lowest common denominator. Most viewers now have monitors that can display thousands, if not millions, of colors.

Note

When you're choosing a color for the Web, don't fret over the exactness of a color viewed on different monitors unless precision is critical. Critical color can apply to your company logo or to fabrics that viewers might be comparing onscreen.

In Fireworks, you can choose colors from several panels, with each panel offering a different model from which to create them. Even though you're working in RGB (Red, Green, Blue), you can still enter CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key or Black) or HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) values.

Finding Colors in Fireworks

Perhaps you want to create ...