I use the entire Macromedia suite and love them all. I create illustrations, logos, brochures and web site layouts etc. using Freehand. I use Dreamweaver to create all my websites and rely heavily on Fireworks to do image editing of photos and create complex roll over menu bars and simple animations. And, of course Flash for wonderful seamless animations and websites.
If you want, you can create an entire web page using Fireworks, but I use it mainly to convert the graphics I have created in Freehand to gif or jpgs and then export those into Dreamweaver and compile everything using Dreamweaver. Sometimes to have greater control of my art elements I will create an entire home page in Fireworks, complete with animated buttons and export the whole thing as one big (sliced) graphic into Dreamweaver.
The programs are easy to use and you can self teach yourself. I love Macromedia and am wary to see what evolves after the merger with Adobe. I have a feeling that since Freehand has always been a rival to Illustrator it may get the axe...but I am confident that Dreamweaver and Flash will make it.
I have always been a little curious about the differences between Photoshop and Fireworks, but so far I find that I can accomplish all I need using Fireworks, in terms of image editing, dropping out backgrounds and retouching photos and all my other graphic design needs it gets the job done and I don't feel the need to drop $500 to purchase Photoshop.
