Making your own image border command in Fireworks MX

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First we are going to have a practice run before we create the command.

Open your image in Fireworks MX (This may well work in other versions of Fireworks but it has only been tested in Fireworks MX) Select your image if it is not already selected and go to Effects in the Property inspector. In the menu hover over Shadow and Glow and select Inner Glow.

Once selected apply the settings you see in the image. 2, 100%, 0 and 0. Colour set to black (or whatever colour you want your border) That's it. Simple eh? OK it could still be a bit of a pain if you have several images to process. So first I recommend you run through the process I have just described a couple of times until you are completely happy with it, then we'll have a go at turning it into a Command.

Ok, we are going to run through the process again now but this time we are recording it so we don't want to make any mistakes. I would start by shutting down Fireworks and reopening it.

1. Open your image.
2. Now we want to view the History panel so if you can't see it already go to Window > History to open it or (Shift + F10) Click on the top right corner of the History Panel and go down and click on Clear History You may (depending on, if you have any history or not in your current session) get a warning message. If you have started from scratch it is safe to proceed, so click OK.
3. With your image selected go to the effects panel and go through the routine we practiced.
4. Effects
5. Then apply the settings as we did before.
6. Now go to the History panel and you should see one item set effects listed. Click on it to select.
7. Then go up to the top right of the panel again and click and select Save as Command
8. Input whatever you wish to call your command in my case I named it black image border.
9. Just to be on the safe side I suggest shutting down Fireworks and reopening it again.
10. Open any image and go to Commands. Look down the list until you find your new command , select it and with any luck you will find you have just applied a black border to your image.

There are many other ways to achieve a border around an image, but once your command is made I think this one of the quickest. It will also work on an image of any shape. Plus you have learned how to make a simple command. So why not make another? How about a white image border or maybe a red one for added drama.

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