Using the Rounded Rectangle Tool in Fireworks CS4

The vector shapes menu in Adobe Fireworks CS4 provides designers with a wide variety of shapes to choose from and cleaver, quick ways to edit them. Take the Rounded Rectangle tool for example. In older versions of the product, think MX 2004 v6 (prior to Adobe's purchase of Macromedia), corner roundness was numerically controlled which basically forced the user to guess at the rectangle's corner radius. This functionality did not behave well and was needless to say a bit clunky to use.






















Today, corner radius is controlled via clicking and dragging the "control points"found around the shape. In the first image shown below you can see a set of five control points (yellow diamonds) attached to the shape. The four points attached directly to the shape control corner radius and the fifth controls the overall size of the shape.









To adjust the radius of all four corners at the same time, click and drag any one of the four control points found on the path of the rectangle, or...








...adjust each corner independently by holding down the "Alt" button on your keyboard (PC) or the "Options" button on the MAC while clicking and dragging the corner you'd like to adjust.








To resize your shape simply click and drag the control point that sits just outside the border of the shape.