Customer Reviews

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Hands-On Training

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is a wonderful starting point for someone new to Dreamweaver (and Web design). Its step-by-step approach makes it easy to learn how to use the many features that are available in Dreamweaver. And the CD that comes with the book is also great. It contains sample files so you can do all of the exercises in the book, which contribute greatly to the learning process. It also has video tutorials, another really nice feature. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is learning Dreamweaver. It's one of the best how-to books I have ever used.

What a lifesaver. I was so lost! This book started answering my questions from page one. Easy to follow, hands-on training and at the right price. You can start on your project as you read. Priceless!!

I'm in school - this book was a textbook. I've used the Adobe Press ones, too basic and boring examples. I hardly read them and never again used them as a reference. This one I enjoy reading and do refer to. There is more information and I like the layout.

This is a very thorough book, covering almost all aspects of Dreamweaver. However the author assumes that the reader already has a pretty good understanding of computer programs and web design. This book was assigned to me as the textbook for a Dreamweaver course at a local college. Most of the students, including me, had a very hard time understanding much of the terms used in this book, even in the first chapter.

Just so you know what I'm talking about, here are some quotes from the FIRST chapter. "Sure, you could use other technologies such as Java Script and CSS and server-side languages such as ASP, JSP, Adobe ColdFusion and such." "DHTML uses a combination of XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, and the DOM." "Web applications have also been referred to as data-driven, database-driven, and dynamic sites. In almost all cases, a Web application involves a database and server-side scripting, such as ASP, Adobe ColdFusion, PHP, and so on." I don't know about you, but I have no idea what the author is talking about.

I think that if you are pretty savvy about computer programming in general, or have worked with HTML before, or if you know other Adobe programs such as Photoshop, then you are probably at a level where you can take advantage of the information in this book. If, however, you are new to web design and HTML like I am, then there must be other books that explain Dreamweaver in a more simplistic way for beginners.

This book is just a repackaged version of their Dreamweaver 8 book, which I am also not a fan of. The book never takes a beginner through the process of creating a site from scratch. The book does not give the user any standards based and accessible layout options. The book does not emphasize best practices in web design. The book does not address the topics in a logical, learning based manner. Instead, they introduce topics section by section, glossing over things that the user hasn't even learned yet. The CSS chapter is not thorough enough and they go through a significant number of important css topics (classes, IDs, descendant selectors) without reinforcing those topics with the reader in any way. I give this book a big thumbs down. Do you want to know how to really build a web page? Read Head First HTML, XHTML and CSS. Now, that is a great book.

Review written by Peter Adams of the Tucson Adobe Users Group

I have been a proponent of the H-O-T (Hands-On Training) series for beginner training for a few years now. In fact, I had used a previous version of this book series from Peachpit for learning Dreamweaver MX (2003). It must said that Garrick Chow has done a very good job in keeping the book basic enough for a beginner to find useful yet supplying enough information to hold the interests of a intermediate user such as myself.

The first five chapters detail the basics of Dreamweaver CS3 by providing examples that are accessible in files located on the CD-ROM included with this book. The files and examples provide the reader with a good basic understand of the Dreamweaver CS3 user interface along with an understandable approach to its' functionality. Chapter 6 does a very good job in relating how Dreamweaver CS3 takes advantage of CCS (Cascading Style Sheets). The book provides the reader with some basic concepts of how CSS works and actually shows how to modify the actual CCS code. Mr Chow then illustrates the Dreamweaver CS3 CSS Styles Panel.

If there is one small weak point in this book, it is the chapter dealing with XHTML (eXtensilbe HyperTest Markup Language) and HTML (HyperTest Markup Language). But as stated in the book, the introduction of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, this knowledge is not as vital as it once was.

One other strong chapter in this book was Chapter 13 - Working with Forms. This subject was covered in a very easy to follow format. The book provided a very realistic simple sample of setting up a form and having it submitted via email.

I would certainly recommend this book for a beginner. For an intermediate user - it would be a good book to browse and review if it accessible via a library or a user group.

Using this book as part of a class (using PC),I find that trying to practice on my Mac there are a lot of errors in the screen shots. Normally I have to deal with PC screen shots, and I am used to it. But when I am trying to follow instructions using the Mac screen shots and they do not look the same I get totally frustrated.(Such as looking for a command listed in a panel that can not be found no matter what I try.) I also dislike being whipped around to all the potential variations when the basics are not emphasized enough to understand what they are. Screen shots use unreadable tiny print. By the time I follow the text, look at the screen shots with a magnifying glass and back again I get lost. A very frustrating book.

Garrick Chow's approach includes not only how to use Adobe's Dreamweaver but also the bigger picture of how and why a web site is organized and how to do it. Dreamweaver CS3 has so many tools to help us maintain the integrity of the sites we design and implement. Automating repetitious tasks through templates, libraries, accessibility tools, and the History features make our jobs easier as Dreamweaver CS3 offers a nice element of control when others are contributing content and even pages to the same site. Chow shows where each tool is and not only what it does but tells us why we should be using it.

Chow has taught for more than 10 years and authored several books for Lynda.com. I found this book to be clear and concise, especially for graphic designers who must create web sites and pages as part of their job now. Chow starts out explaining why and how structure to your site should be set-up from the beginning. Building a site is not the WYSWYG process many designers think it is. A web site is more a living, breathing creature unlike a static print brochure so there are many things to consider when creating or redesigning a, existing site. Even something as simple as a file name has a different role as Chow points out the importance of page titles for search engines versus page names merely convenient for the designer to remember. We always have to think of our end user every step of the way. The files are not files "seen" only by prepress folks as in offset printing, their names are critical to being found and seen--or not--by our potential customers.

Throughout the book, Chow provides sidebars filed with good tips, caveats, and charts of shortcuts and short glossaries to orient the designer new to CS3. Tips that are meant to keep us from making mistakes that would frustrate us down the road when we launch our new sites. Little things like "Creating a Site Map" are helpful in spotting rogue links quickly.

The book comes with a tutorial CD that follows each chapter so the reader can do the processes as well as read about them. I personally went from MX2004 to CS3 so I appreciated the small screen captures with key elements circled showing where things are in this newest version of Dreamweaver. The CD includes exercise as well as training videos to see how things are done in detail. The chapter on templates is not to be missed as templates are a good way to maintain set design features on a site where others create and upload pages. The Update Template File feature makes changes throughout the site so we retain control over the design with easy maintenance. Creating libraries is a smart way to keep page elements organized and even assign copyright statements to as needed. Roundtrip editing to/from Photoshop or Fireworks is a sweet and fast way to tweak an image--if you know how to access it. Chow makes it simple to find these tools.

Chow leads us on a journey, first thinking about our end user and what we need our site to provide them, then he adds the page building, CSS, tables, forms and site linking, accessibility considerations, and finishing with fun things like adding sound, music and movies.

The last section of the book deals with the growing movement toward more dynamic and data-driven web pages as Chow explains Ajax and Spry tools, like widgets and detail regions. What does Spry do exactly? It allows you to integrate complex Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) implementations into your web pages for a better web experience for your users. Chow ends the books with handy troubleshooting FAQs and how to get your site online and how run site reports to find problems. The last words are additional resources and how to install/uninstall extensions.

This is a book centered around Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 that provides a solid overview of how to approach designing for the web--and maintaining that design. My copy is already full of little bookmarks for quick reference and I'm sure that Chow would be pleased about that.

My review is from my self-learning perspective versus using the book as a classroom text. Also, I have intermediate web development experience using Front Page. That said, I found this book to be a cumbersome and difficult learning aid, compared to video courses available. The book seemed to overly complicate using Dreamweaver, starting in Chapter 1 with a lengthy explanation of XHTML, which I found tedious and unnecessary. I found the vtc.com video course I took offered a much more practical approach to learning Dreamweaver than this book. The CD in the book is helpful but basically an adjunct to the book material.

This is not a reference manual type of book. It is an instructional manual for following page by page with instructions, to make various pages. This book includes exercise files to follow along.
Basically, it is a nice introductory text book for Dreamweaver beginners. And if you familiar with other books in "Hands On Training" series, you'll know what I mean. It's nice series, and this particular book is nice too.