Customer Reviews

Adobe(R) GoLive(R) 6.0 Classroom in a Book

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first venture into the CLIB series and my first venture into serious web designing tools. I needed help fast and I needed a self paced training that would keep me interested. This book comes through on both counts. What's more, it is doing it with style. The only thing missing from the classroom experience is interaction with the teacher.

My background is hardware bashing, not code bashing or web development. I needed a tool to get a personal promotion site up and running. I looked at other tools like FrontPage, Macromedia's offering and even some HTML editors. I'd helped put some simple web pages together and realized I do not want to code pages. FrontPage was reasonably priced, but did not offer much in the way of flexibility. Macromedia was OK, but I was not at ease with their interface. I already own and use some Adobe products, so the interface seemed very familiar to me.

This is not to say the interface is simple, and that's where the Class Room in a Book comes in. One suggestion: if you are a first time user of GoLive (GL), start with Lesson 2 or at least working part way through it. Lesson 2 provides an excellent introduction to the GL interface and structure. I found the supplied lesson materials matched the book perfectly, something I have not always found, and the exercises were not simple busy work, but true teaching exercises.

I'm only part way through the book, but I feel I know enough that I've begun designing my own site. As I continue the lessons, I will be updating the site's design to incorporate what I'm learning. The next challenge will be learning LiveMotion from the CLIB for that application.

I highly recommend GoLive 6.0 Classroom in a Book to all levels of users. You do not need an extensive hardware background to follow the book. You do need to be a fluid operator of your computer and you should have some understanding of what the Internet is to take advantage of the potential offered here.

I am a neophyte user of GoLive. Therefore, I needed a book that explained how to use the software from beginning to end. I can't speak to whether Classroom in a Book explores the full depth of this software. However, for my level of expertise, it is one of the best books I've read. Many of these follow-along books are poorly written and documented, where the explanation does not always follow the task you're being asked to perform. You will NOT be disappointed in using CIB to familiarize yourself with GoLive. And the kicker -- CIB actually explains WHY you do what you do when leading you through an example. It is simply the best-written and documented book on software I've read.

I am a BIG fan of the Adobe Classroom in a Book (CIB) series. I constantly recommend the books to folks who want to get up to speed on Adobe's software. So ... I come to this review slightly prejudiced. Just wanted to get that out of the way up front.

The thing I like best about Adobe's CIB series is that it is truly a tutorial, not just a reference book. (Though you can use it as a reference quite easily.)

If you will take a little time and do the lessons in the book in order, you'll learn all the basic (and some beyond) skills that you need. The included CD-ROM contains all the files you need to do the tutorials.

I'm working through the GoLive 6 CIB myself. I've used GoLive since a pretty early edition, but it seems that Adobe changes the workings of GoLive considerably with each new edition and I have been neglecting my web sites for quite some time, so I've forgotten how some things work. Adobe GoLive 6.0 Classroom in a Book is exactly what I needed.

There is a very logical, step-by-step progression to its organization. It covers the basics, and some very advanced features. From basic web page design, to floating boxes, animations, rollovers, cascading style sheets (one of my weak areas), drop down menus, javascript, and site management, it covers it thoroughly.

If you are trying to learn GoLive in order to build yourself some web presence, this book will be a GREAT help. Just work through the tutorials, and you'll learn it. (It certainly beats paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for training.)

I have not read through the entire book (only 1/2 through) but I believe that I've read enough to write an accurate review. I have read other Classroom in a Book guides before and I must say that this is the best one I've read. It spends more time explaining the different features instead of just giving you step-by-step instructions like the other CIB's. It is also longer than most of the other CIB's @ 590 pgs (Amazon has a wrong page count), maybe because it spends more time explaining things...

I was a total beginner with GoLive before reading this. It took only 4 lessons before I was able to start working on my own site. I am sure that when I am done with this book I will have ALL the basics I need for making a VERY functional, professional looking site. Certainly better than most sites made with Frontpage (no offense, AGL is just plain BETTER!). These lessons are loooong, the first lesson is 45pgs long, and take over an hour each to complete. It can get a bit exhausting, but because the learning is so accelerated I don't get bored doing the lesson. The first three lessons have a good deal of overlap. The basic methods are used often but are mixed in with new methods to keep the pace of the book going.

This book covers a lot of ground: image maps, CSS, actions, components, but is NOT what I would call "comprehensive". Actually, I have not run into a comprehensive GoLive 6 book. A good recommendation to start where this one leaves off would be "Real World GoLive 6". That book doesn't cover the basics just as GoLive 6 CIB doesn't cover the advanced features. Buy them both and you're all set!

I read reviews of CIB books with people saying that they have run into a lot of errors in the books; I have not found any errors yet and am 260 pgs through. This is GREATLY appreciated as one error can set me back several minutes.

Overall I am very pleased with this book and would highly recommend it. Although, if you have previous experience with AGL you would be better off (definitely) with Real World GL6. This is THE best book for beginning GoLive web designers!

I really am enjoying the course work very much and I would rate the material with a 4 or 5 star rating; however, the CD they include with the book is faulty. Not only is it missing the batch file as mentioned in a previous review it is also missing a setup.exe for the font loader along with the appropriate directory where it should be. With the previous review, I expected to have to contact PeachPitPress to get a replacement CD, but they ended up sending the same faulty CD even though I explained what the problem was.
With all that said, I do recommend the book, just do not expect to use the CD training materials right away unless you use a work around.

Here is a quick work around for those that may find themselves in the same situation with being unable to open a locked site.

In Adobe GoLive 6.0, create a new site with the same name that the locked site has.
Open the .html files from that lesson in IE or whatever browser you prefer.
Save the file to your desktop and import it in to the new site you created.
Copy the folders with the gifs into the site home folder and repair any links that may be broken.

I wrote this quick and I may have skipped or miswrote a piece but it should work.

Good luck and sorry for the typos

This review's only a first impression of the book - I bought GoLive only recently and concluded that it was powerful enough that I was going to need some sort of coursebook to get the best out of it rather than just winging it.

Unfortunately, from a first glance it doesn't appear to include anything on some of the features I wanted clarification on - I've had to get that information elsewhere.

What it does cover - most of the standard stuff you'll need to create webpages and manage a site, how to make use of Smart Objects, how to do site design diagrams. What it doesn't cover - dynamic content.

As with the other Adobe Classroom In A Book I've tried (on Illustrator 10), the first chapter leads you through a very basic example using a fairly wide range of features, so you feel that you've actually done something useful. Then, in the next lesson, it takes you back to stuff like "How to organize your workspace" and similar basic stuff which tends to frustrate, since you've just spent the last lesson moving windows and palettes around.

Still, not a bad book - I intend to finish working through it - if it can't teach me anything about using dynamic content (which I've figured out for myself) at least it looks like it'll cover most other stuff.

Some items in the book may seem very basic but necessary if you want to learn GoLive the right way. For instance when linking - it really is a point and shoot system. I guess once you get the hang of it as the way the book describes the step by step procedure - you'll find similar attributes in MSVisio. This book may seem simple but necessary in its step by step procedure. Each chapter enumerates on each part of the creation of a professional html web page. I recommend this book if you want to learn how to use GoLive the right way, which will in-turn advance you to be more creative with your ideas.

I just finished reading Adobe GoLive 6.0 and found the book very informative, easy to understand, and the lesson's on the CD were of course simple, but fun to work with. Although for windows users there is a .bat file that you must use to unlock the lessons. Some CD's were shipped without this program and the CD is useless without it! But, there's good news, if you call Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA they will ship you a CD in just a few days.
I did however find a few mistakes, but I've designed, and published my web site as I've read through and completed the lesson assignments. Your welcome to check out my web site, and there's an e-mail link on my home page so you could contact me if you like. Thank's to Adobe for setting the standard for web authoring software.
David L. Coplan
C. E. Web Graphics & Design

I just finished reading Adobe GoLive 6.0 and found the book very informative, easy to understand, and the lesson's on the CD were of course simple, but fun to work with. Although for windows users there is a .bat file that you must use to unlock the lessons. Some CD's were shipped without this program and the CD is useless without it! But, there's good news, if you call Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA they will ship you a CD in just a few days.
I did however find a few mistakes, but I've designed, and published my web site as I've read through and completed the lesson assignments.Thank's to Adobe for setting the standard for web authoring software.
David L. Coplan

I was very impressed with the format and training from this well-organized book. Easily written for the beginner with easy lessons to work on. For me it was excellent. One other book that I bought for GoLive was very confusing. I have also purchased other Classroom in a Books for other Adobe products because of my positive experience with this book. The ease of training wants me to explore other Adobe products.