Reviews (5)

covers graphics and hooking to databases
If you really are new to Dreamweaver, there might be some understandable trepidation at the size of this book, that claims to be for beginners! But the bulk is due in no small part to the authors choosing to describe 3 case studies. The implementation of code for each case illustrates various ways to use Dreamweaver.

One interesting point of the book, compared to others on Dreamweaver, is that it seems to give equal emphasis to both the visuals that you can make, and to hooking pages all the way back to a database. Most Dreamweaver books concentrate on the former. But here is exhaustive detail on using ASPs or JSPs on the web server. It also looks at integrating Dreamweaver with PHP and MySQL, a popular combination. Graphics designers may not be so enthralled by some of this back end stuff, but on large websites, it is essential.

The Author's support on this book is amazing
Despite the fact that some reader reviewers don't think you should have to read a book from beginning to end, this book is set up that way.In fact, the introduction, and back cover indicate that you will build 3 complete websites in the book, so its obvious that you can't just jump around and hope to keep everything straight.(I don't do web development that way, either.)

What I do want to point out about this book, is Imar Spaanjaars - one of the 3 authors on the book, who is absolutely amazing.I subscribe to the book's support forum at p2p.wrox.com, and Imar never fails to answer a dreamweaver question, or provide a solution - even when it does not involve the book.To me, that alone was worth the price of the book.

Thank you Wrox for a great Dreamweaver book, and thank you in particular to Imar.

excellent, user-friendly tutorial
I am very surprised to read anything other than a glowing review for this book.I had got to a certain point with building websites [ie just completed 2 intro courses on ASP] and needed to gain a fuller understanding of how to access Dreamweaver's dynamic data area.I searched around for a while [on Amazon, of course!] and liked the look of what this book had to offer.When I got it I was more than satisfied.I concentrated most on the second section - the football project - and found the style of writing in this section and the book overall very user-friendly and easy to follow.To respond to the point about not supplying downloads - they do supply these!!You are pointed to the wrox.com site where you can do exactly that if you get stuck with your own code.

Reviews (14)

The Best Basic Book for Dreamweaver
I've read the book all throughout and i was fascinated with its content. Although geared for beginners this one's really take user upto the next level of web designing

Spectacular. Tried the Visual Quickstart Guide before this
This book is a gem!The information is well written, with a great balance of visual and narrative information.The lessons are wonderfully easy to follow and even presented in nice 1 hour chunks.If you like a hands-on approach this book is highly recommended.I tried Visual Quickstart before reading this book and I was exasperated by the choppy narrative that left me feeling either over qualified or underqualified, but never just right.The Macromedia book has done wonders to recover me from that abyss.

Reviews (4)

excellent book to learn Dreamweaver
I learned Dreamweaver quickly and easily with this book. The other books I read takes a lot of time to digest and you tend to forget much after all the longwiring steps of an exercise.
This book gives you precise and direct instructions and shows you the results with beautiful pictures. Learning is effortless and fun. I recommend this book.

Amazingly Easy to Follow
Within 3 days, I am up and publishing with Dreamweaver using this book. I have very minimal knowledge of HTML (I mean minimal). But, I am not even relying on that. I am using the WYSIWYG (Design Mode).

Incredible! I recommend it to everyone. Yet, do know that it does not come with the Dreamweaver software. However, you can download a free 30-day trial, which is more than enough time to go through the exercises in this book. You can download the trial at www.Dreamweaver.com.

The pages guide you with numbered instructions. The numbered instructions point to the corresponding area and action on the image posted on that page. The images are exactly the way the screen is. Just when you have a question, you will find an even more appealing picture with answers to your possible questions.In addition, the writers did a great job. Their instructions are clear and fun!

I have the Dummies book (which does come with the software trial and it is pretty good) but, this one is easier to follow and visually entertaining.

An excellent investment!

Reviews (5)

Too many errors in the book to follow
I am taking a class in Dreamweaver and Flash.One of my teachers has required that we purchase this book and the other teacher in my flash class has us purchasing a book by lynda.com.
I hate this book because if you don't know what you are doing, don't buy this book.They leave out a lot of important information.I got so frustrated in trying to finish the exercises that I just would eventually stop.Further in the book they might tell you what you needed to know back a few chapters ago.Poorly written.Not for beginners.The other book was great.Lynda.com books are more in detail and they are written correctly.

Attractive but flawed
This book is attractive(all glossy pictures) and is able to just show just the basics.The problem is that the CD in the book doesn't boot and it is impossible to do the lessons without it.In addition, there are problems in the lessons and they skip steps, or show the wrong picture for a step.The email for support is also missing, you may be able to use it if you know Korean.Good luck with this pick you will need it, I would look for a better alternative.I have read a lot tech books and work in MIS, this book would not help me complete my job.

Reviews (12)

Building A Bridge Across The Great Divide
If you've chosen Dreamweaver MX 2004 for developing your web sites but need to get across the "great divide" from static to dynamic sites, Sean Nicholson's book will guide you skillfully across in the shortest possible time and distance.

To keep things in perspective, learning how to develop dynamic web sites involves application server (ColdFusion, ASP, etc.) and database technologies (Access, SQL Server, etc.) in addition to your present use of web server technologies (XHTML, CSS, etc.). Learning how to do so quickly while addressing real world issues like database security, application and server choices, and related concerns is no small undertaking. The journey, without the assistance of a skillful guide, can take months or years, mostly because most books on this topic are either too light or heavy on the topic.

As an entrepreneur seeking the fastest and most skillful route across these technologies, I estimate this book will save me several months on the learning curve. Essentially, Sean guides you through increasingly complex exercises that demonstrate and point the way to how you can build your own dynamic sites using the same skills and knowledge.

I give the book high praise for both its business savvy in providing an overview in Part I and the comprehensive, industrial strength exercises in Parts II/III. However, in order to spare you months on the learning curve and to keep you moving forward, the author has had to assume a certain level of skill on your part, including the ability to troubleshoot problems with your code. In the world of dynamic sites, even the smallest piece of wrong code can stop you in your tracks until you resolve the error. And while I have found the exercises to be comprehensive and virtually error free, keep in mind that to show every dialogue box or key stroke would require a volume 3x its present size.

Ready for the adventure of crossing over to dynamic sites? Buy the book, roll up your sleeves, and start the journey!

Do yourself a favour - Skip this one!
Well this book is definitely chock full of errors.Sean R. Nicholson and his buddies at New Riders really let this one slip through the cracks.There has been no proofreading performed on this book.What a waste of time and effort it was to go through the exercises and have not work.It forced me to use other sources to find out what is wrong with the examples that are used in the book.My suggestion is to keep looking for a more reliable book as this one fails to deliver.

DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Absolutely deplorable...this book will waste your time, money and brainpower.I am currently only about half way through the book and I have decided to abandon it entirely out of frustration.

Not only will you find extremely poor writing, you will be lead through examples that are inconsistent, difficult to understand and ultimately disfunctional.In other words, the examples will fail, and leave you blinking at your screen wondering why. If you have Dreamweaver experience, you will more than likely be able to go back through some of the failed exercises and do some troubleshooting of your own to make the applications work.If you are coming at this topic with little experience (which is what the book advertises to be targeted for) then expect a very bumpy ride.

This author offers no examples of troubleshooting your code, and uses verbage in his writting that seemingly is intended to confuse you and through you off.

Reviews (5)

Fantastic tips, but not a definitive book
I picked up this book several months ago, and I keep coming back to it.I have been using Dreamweaver for six years, and I still picked up lots of great tips in this book.It's great as a tip resource, and one that you will keep coming back to, and I highly recommend it for its content.My two complaints about it are related to each other:The titles of the tips and the organization within the chapters.

In this book, there are tips called "Alias:The Dreamweaver Command" (for Clean Up HTML/XHTML), which don't really tell you what the tip is for. More concise tip titles describing the tip would be a lot easier to find what you are looking for.I would also like to see groups within the chapters.That also doesn't exist in this book.

That said, I highly recommend the book.Though it's not perfect, it's great!

Scott Kelby Is Funny.These Guys Are Just Annoying.
Do you have one of those uncles who thinks he's so-o-o-o-o funny, even when he's not?The kind of uncle who has to make a pun or other kind of word play every time he opens his mouth?Maybe you know the type.That's the feeling I got from this book...an unfunny, pathetic guy sitting around trying way too hard to be funny, and falling flat on his face 99% of the time.OK, so there are some good tips in here, but if writers Lowery and Buraglia had expended more time and energy clarifying their tips and a lot less time trying to be funny, this book probably would have been a great help.What makes anyone think that writing a "killer tips" book will make them as funny as Scott Kelby?When will some of these people stop trying to be comedians and start writing usable stuff?When will I learn to stop buying this stuff???

Reviews (2)

Helpful, if very basic at times.
I started with this book because I decided to do an independent study of dreamweaver at my high school and it was the only one the computer lab had. I may not have chosen it if I was picking one for myself, I don't really know, but it's worked out quite well for me. It goes over everything I really needed to know, it wraps up concepts fairly well in their respective chapters so I could skip to or over what I wanted not to bother with or get to quicker withou too much trouble. My only complaint is really minor and only because I use computers quite a bit. It goes over, sometimes in some detail, even basic functions such as renaming a file by clicking, waiting, and clicking again or write clicking. It explains how to save and how to click from one window to another when they're both up on screen anyways. It was a bit frustrating at times, sort of funny at others, but skipping over those it taught me quickly what I wanted to know and now I've got dreamweaver MX at my house and I bought the same book because it was quite useful and I know how they write it. They include pictures of the menus and functions pretty much every page as well to help you out.

Very Useful Reference
I had not been using Dreamweaver for very long before obtaining this manual-and as many of my associates can attest to, I was ready to hit "uninstall" several times per day. I found Dreamweaver to be very cluttered and difficult to navigate. I am happy to report that Ms. Towers' book prevented the uninstall process as far as Dreamweaver was concerned. By following this book from the first chapter and working through the tutorials, even a beginner can successfully configure Dreamweaver and begin designing fully functional and aesthetically pleasing web sites.

However, I did find a few areas too lightly covered, such as making and working with custom templates. Also, being aware that this book is focussed on a Macromedia product, I would have liked to have seen more information for working with or importing work from, other applications such as PhotoShop and Image Ready. Understandably Ms. Towers covered a bit more about integrating Dreamweaver with Macromedia's Fireworks, but even working in the design field, I personally know very few people who use Fireworks as opposed to PhotoShop.

There were a few other areas I would have liked to have seen handled differently or perhaps laid out in a different format. I found that when trying to learn how to use Dreamweaver's CSS tools, I had to do a fair amount of chapter jumping to get the information I needed. Personally I would prefer to have like functions grouped together for ease of advancement in that area.

The illustrative examples are numerous, well-labelled and relevant to each page's content. In many areas, I found the illustrations to offer a better explanation of how to accomplish something than the textual instructions. In my opinion, one of the best sections in this book was that on managing web sites. Gone are the days when the majority of websites consist of one page of information and perhaps a few graphics. Even a simple personal site can easily encompass severalpages of content. The tips on managing everything from a small domain to a large network are very practical and invaluable.

Reviews (10)

This is an excelent book
This book is excellent!We highly recommend Jeffery Bardzell's work. He handles the matter of building a dynamic website with exact step by step examples and builds the sample Newland Tours website. Beware!!! this book is the older version of and is nearly identical to Macromedia's: "Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, Coldfusion, and PHP: Training from the source".Therefore if you have that book, you don't need this one and if you don't have either one you should likely get the newer one.If it hadn't been for this book being virtually identical to the book referenced herein, we would have given this book 5 stars as it is certainly worth it.

Great tutorial, AS USUAL
My first introduction to this series of books was when I took a Macromedia Director class for a "certified instructor".At first, I was disappointed in the fact that I would actually pay someone to go step by step through a book.In the end, I wasn't disappointed at all.

Typical to Macromedia Press, this book is meant as a walk-thru tutorial covering many of the features you need to get up and running.User Authentication, forms, Post, Cookies, etc. are all well explained and can be applied immediately to your own web applications - and all the code works!!No troubleshooting is necessary.

Although the book is designed to be a complete "course", it is a great reference and has the ability to use all the content or just 1 or 2 chapters.This book is a MUST if you are new to dynamic websites!!

Great book for all skill levels!!
From my experience with other "Training from the source" books put out by Macromedia Press, I had some high expectations for this book. It did not disappoint!

The author takes you through upgrading a fictional news site from standard HTML to an XHTML Dyanmic website. The two server languages that are used in this book are ASP and Coldfusion.For each sample of code in the book, the author provides you with BOTH code examples.Very nice!

I consider myself an intermediate level web designer, with a little knowledge on ASP and Coldfusion.This book has definitely help me understand why Dyanmic sites are going to replace standard HTML code.Although it is not bogged down with serious coding, it covers the most commonly used dyanmic procedures.

Reviews (21)

The Best Book on the Topic
This book is excellent!We highly recommend it.Jeffery Bardzell handles the matter of building a dynamic website with exact step by step examples and builds the sample Newland Tours website.This book is identical to Macromedia's "Dreamweaver MX Dynamic Applications" training from the source, except that this book has PHP references in it as well.Therefore if you have that book, you don't need this one and visa versa.

SAkers
Nice book for beginners.However, not a book for programmers.What little code view you can see is constantly cut off so you cannot see the complete code.A lot of guess work is involved.Also, the code that is spelled out within the text does not stand out so it tends to blend into the text a little too easily.On a positive note, this book does give you a good overview of the basics of dynamic web programming.

Reviews (5)

Good addition to the library
If you've worked through Dreamweaver MX2004 from the Source, and have purchased Studio MX2004, this is an excellent introduction to begin learning how best to make use of each product and make them work together.I wouldn't recommend it if you are a beginner to Dreamweaver, however.

Great Intro to Studio MX Development Process
Studio MX 2004: Training From the Source provides a fast-paced tour of Studio MX 2004. With 3-4 chapters each on Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Freehand, Flash, and ColdFusion, the book doesn't dwell on any application very long. This means, of course, that one should not expect to have mastery over all these programs just by reading the book, because some of these programs have a lot of uses and features.

What the book does accomplish is provide a fast, yet substantive introduction to how these tools can be integrated together into a smart workflow. That is, rather than simply trying to show you how to use each of these programs in isolation, this book shows you how to leverage the programs' capabilities as a suite. It totally changed my approach to how I design web sites.

Another area in which it is particularly strong is its clarity across highly diverse topics. The book ranges from Fireworks and Freehand (which are design-centered) to Flash and ColdFusion (which require programming). I had some experience with graphic design before coming to this but no experience with code. But thanks to this book, I learned how to write my first programming code in ActionScript and then ColdFusion, and even though I can't say I'm a great programmer, I at least understood it and it worked!

I highly recommend this book for those who want to get up to speed with Studio MX 2004 as a whole quickly and smartly. You may still need additional books to get greater depth on individual programs (I bought the Flash and Dreamweaver Training From the Source books as well), but it all starts with this book. It's more than a tour of the Studio: it's an introduction to the Studio's development paradigm.

Reviews (4)

Decent for beginners
Don't buy this book if you have a good, working knowledge of Fireworks MX. The lessons are very basic and will not serve you if you are looking for advanced web graphics design. To the publisher: Add a "search inside this book" synopsis! It would have saved me the hassle of returning it to Amazon.

Fireworks MX 2004- training from the source
I came here to give the book a five star after finishing it this morning. After reading "joe reader's" review I'll just agree with him except, if your new to Macromedia, don't plan on absorbing this book in one day. It is thorough. What Patti does as an author is to make things easy with a nicely written step by step walk through of very powerful program. No mistakes or surprises that I could see. You will learn Fireworks and further you'll learn how powerful Fireworks is as a stand-alone program and as a front-end/companion to Dreamweaver.

Reviews (2)

This is a great resource
The authors do a great job introducing Fireworks MX 2004 to new users.They take readers on a thorough tour of the features and tools sets available in Fireworks.Experienced readers can also learn from this book as it talks about more advanced topics and even highlights the Fireworks Exchange by Macromedia which is one of the most powerful assets available to Fireworks users.If you want to learn Fireworks MX 2004, this is the book for you.

What a great resource to insert creative ideas to websites
This book really helped me out with learning how to implement creative thoughts/ideas into a working navigation system. When read, it sounds like the authors are right there walking you through each and every step you need to understand and master FireworksMX 2004. As you read through the book, you'll find a lot of helpful tips that are in each section. I almost liked reading the tips rather than focusing on the main sections. Be sure to work through the tutorials, I picked up a lot of tidbits that I didnt think were possible.

:)

Reviews (4)

Excellent Technical Fireworks Book
This book does a decent job with the artistic approach to Fireworks, but it's real power lies in its technical explanations - how to use the automation and advanced development techniques for web graphic design. The author does a wonderful job of explaining some Macromedia mysteries, where certain features would otherwise not be explained. A good example of this is Macromedia's loose and changeable meaning of Alpha Transparency - This term can mean different things in different parts of the program, but it's not documented in the software docs. However, this book points this and other such idiosyncrasies out.

The language is particularly good. The author seems to be in tune with exactly what you might get confused by and almost always takes great care to fill you in on the jargon or concepts. A couple of times he leaves you out in the cold, but only in one or two cases where the content is not critical. Overall, this is the best Fireworks book I've seen and I really hope they write a follow up edition.

Boooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ing
In general computer books are not exciting read, but this book takes it to a new level. Poorly written without good examples. It talks about a function and what it does, but leaves you in the dark on HOW it is done. Do yourself a favor, don't buy this book.

If I could of given it a 0 star rating I would of.