In today's tough economic environment, I find myself doing less magazine ads and more online ads. Web banners definitely give you the biggest "bang for your buck", and depending on the size of the campaign, often there is a need for banners of various sizes with the same branding, or look and feel. From a designer's prospective, Web banners devour a lot of production time, and I grew weary of re-creating the same "call-to-action" button - so I found a better solution...

Fireworks 9-slice scaling tool allows smart objects to be re-sized up or down without losing the corner radius!

9-slice scaling in Fireworks CS3 and CS4

What does that mean? No longer will you have to re-create different size buttons - simply create one graphic/button and then scale it to fit. It's genius, and using this program rather than Photoshop saves a great deal of production time. To get a better idea of how this tool works, view the tutorial at [http://virtualclues.com/9Slice_Scaling.php].

Now don't get me wrong here, Photoshop is a GREAT program for "tweaking" photos, but if you need to "turn and burn" a dozen plus Web banners, 9-slice scaling in Fireworks is a huge time saver!

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About the Author

Ken Flores is a senior graphic artist responsible for pushing forward Lyris' internal and external brand. He has over 10 years of experience in traditional print and Web design.

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