Scan Lines

Original photography courtesy of my mate, Colin Jones.

"Scanlines" are a frequently sought technique which is so simple to apply to your images, you won't believe it!
Start by opening the document you need to apply the effect to:

Open the "Layers" panel and click the "New/Duplicate layer" icon at the bottom of the panel (it's the small yellow "folder"). When you have done this, select the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle (the Fill colour is up to you!) completely covering the original image, as below:

The next step is to return to the Layers panel and adjust the Opacity of this new rectangle. Look for the slider control alongside the "chequered" marker in the top-left corner of the panel. Click the slider and adjust the Opacity to the settings you see here:

Actually, it's up to you how far you go with this setting, but 60 is a good starting point. You should now see something like this:

While we're here, take a good look at that other drop-down beside the Opacity window. The one that says "Normal". This gives you access to Fireworks' selection of "Blending Modes", and is worth spending a little time experimenting with for some really cool effects! Give it a go!!!

Now, to apply the scanlines! Open the Fill panel and click the drop-arrow to open the Textures list. Select "Line-Horiz 3" and set the amount of texture to 60 by clicking the slider control alongside, as shown below:

And you should now see something resembling the image below:

How much more simple could it be? There's a good deal of flexibility in this procedure, though. The alternative 3 Line-Horiz textures allow you to set more subtle effects. And you can vary the opacity and texture amounts to your heart's content, allowing you to create your own unique "mixes". Don't forget, you can also save your effect as a "Style", saving you loads of work in the future! (See my Custom Fills tutorial for more on this!).