Adobe CS3 Web Workflows: Building Websites with Adobe Creative Suite 3 (Paperback)

by Joseph W. Lowery (Author)
Key Phrases: selector type, tag selector, video encoder, Choose File, Press Ctrl, Healing Brush (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Maximize your potential as a web designer with Adobe CS3 Web Workflows: Building Websites with Adobe Creative Suite 3, a guide to all the tools in Adobe CS3 and how to use them together to create dynamic web pages. Understand the workflow from one product to another and learn how to use the essential techniques in each program so that you can complete your work skillfully and efficiently. Discover ways you can maximize your productivity with workflows like Photoshop to Dreamweaver, Fireworks to Dreamweaver, Flash to Dreamweaver and Photoshop to Fireworks to Bridge to Dreamweaver.

From the Back Cover

CS3 is more than the sum of its parts

Today's Web is an artful blend of images, illustrations, text, animations, and video, all skillfully woven into a single package that is instantly delivered to the site visitor. And you, the Web designer, create that package. It's much easier when you know how to use all the tools in Adobe CS3 as they were intended to be used — together. This book describes the workflow from one product to another and details essential techniques in each program, so you can get your work done.

Maximize your productivity with these workflows:

• Photoshop® to Dreamweaver®

• Fireworks® to Dreamweaver

• Flash® to Dreamweaver

• Photoshop to Fireworks to Bridge to Dreamweaver

Companion Web site

Visit www.wiley.com/go/adobecs3webworkflows to download exercise files for each chapter as well as a sample AVI file.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470261277
• ISBN-13: 978-0470261279
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #171,701 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Intro, September 6, 2008

By	Kim Ngo - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wow. I just finished chapter 2 and am completely impressed with this book. Rarely do I care enough to write a review. Actually, this is my first review ever, for a book. I knew nothing about Photoshop, except for the common train of thought that Photoshop is an industry standard, is powerful, and is not "easy" to use.

This book is a big step-by-step tutorial on how to create a web-page mock-up (something that should be done before creating the actual web page). Mock-ups are analogous to designing a computer program before implementation begins.

For under $30, it's cheaper than taking a class and is a breeze to follow through.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well organized, October 30, 2008

By	C. TANG (Walnut, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book covers Adobe CS3 in Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash..etc. Before I selected this book, I ever went to B&N and Borders so many times but just can't find ANY book with Firework CS3 (They may have Firework 8 from Macromedia). Anyway, the contents are well organized and printing quality is super. I have read more than 50% and followed the instructions step by step. Readers can download examples from their website.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully executed, but lacking depth, January 9, 2009

By	Jeff Chapman (Nagoya, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was searching for a book that would give me some insight on exactly how the Adobe Creative Suite 3 programs could be used in tandem to create a web site. There were a lot of specific questions I needed answered, and this book showed some promise.

Overall, the book is literally dripping with step-by-step tutorials. Adobe CS3 Web Workflows grinds through almost every single click of the mouse and move of the cursor in methodical fashion, with profuse full-color screenshots that leave no question of "what's the next step?" answered. Indeed, even a total beginner could probably create the samples provided in the book with such meticulous detail. Directions like "In Photoshop, choose File - Open" or "Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) to restore your changes" give testimony to the fact that author Joseph Lowery wanted to make this book accessible to people who have almost zero knowledge of computing, let alone the applications of Adobe CS3. In this respect, the book probably achieves its goal in helping new users of Adobe's Creative Suite to begin making the most out of their software investment for the web.

On the other hand, considering the lofty title of the book and the various ways that the Adobe CS3 applications can be used together, I was rather disappointed in the almost total lack of information on using Illustrator, Acrobat, Contribute or Device Central to contribute to the total web design workflow. Roughly 178 pages are devoted to the nitty-gritty of designing a comp in Fireworks and/or Photoshop (with 60 more pages dedicated to the addition of Adobe Bridge), and a Flash to Dreamweaver workflow spans about 40 pages. But only two short pages are dedicated to Illustrator's role in the web design process, and no information is given at all on how it can be used along with Photoshop and Fireworks.

To be honest, I feel that while this book is comprehensive enough for the very specific workflows and products that it does cover, and will be useful for beginners who just want to create something and see how the software works, it seriously lacks in the breadth and range required by creative professionals who need more tools and creative options than a teacher telling them to "press this button" and "click here". In fact, I felt that this work really couldn't "see the forest from the trees". This book unfortunately lends itself to just blindly follow along with each exercise, not knowing what the final result will be, or why the workflow in question is really the optimum one.

The other shortcoming I see in this work is the lack of understanding of what web contents and design using a creative application suite really entails. No mention is made of blogs, active content or server-side content, or of a design workflow for teams. The focus is on individual, small-scale projects, and on what button to push or tool to use to create a very specific result.

In short, if you're looking for a tutorial and a guide who will hold your hand step by step to achieve some kind of preset project over the weekend, this might not be a bad diversion. However, I felt that the book does fall quite a bit short of its title, and may disappoint the working professional who prefers a "broader stroke" and a larger set of knowledge. (For Illustrator users, I would recommend the Illustrator CS3 for the Web training CD or online contents from Lynda.com - Mordy Golding provides a wealth of useful information there on how Illustrator works by itself and with other CS3 components to create Web content.)