13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn GL, not HTML, October 6, 2006
This review is from: Adobe GoLive CS2 Classroom in a Book (Paperback)
I want to address an issue that I have heard from many who have used this book. THIS IS NOT A GUIDE TO WEB DESIGN AND HTML! This book assumes that you understand the fundamentals of HTML and basic web design. This book teaches you how to use the features in GoLive, which are just easy buttons for basic HTML and CSS coding. If you want to learn how to make web pages, you will need to also buy a book on HTML, and probably CSS. Once you know these fundamentals, GoLive is a GREAT tool to use to make them all come together. This book explains nearly every tool in GoLive and briefly explains their partner HTML coding. This book teaches you all the neat features that GoLive has that will easily create complicated HTML codes.
Buying this book and expecting it to make you a master web designer would be like reading the instructions to bicycle and expecting to win the Tour de France.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Adobe builds great programs & writes horrible manuals, January 25, 2007
This review is from: Adobe GoLive CS2 Classroom in a Book (Paperback)
It is an unfortunate fact that Adobe's own documentation of its programs is BY FAR inferior to that written by outside experts. This is not a big problem with programs with a wide user base (such as Photoshop) which has countless excellent books written about it. It is a problem, though, with programs, like Go Live, which have a limited user base. This is not a reference book or a manual, it is a set of lessons that may (or may not) address your area of interest.
This book is, unfortunately, the only book available on the program and it is, to put it charitably, short of adequate. You pretty much have to buy it since its the only game in town, but it doesn't really give you an understanding of the program so you can venture outside of the areas they have chosen to explain.
Speaking for myself, I found it useless (for my particular needs). I am an advanced Photoshop user, an intermediate In Design user, an illustrator dabbler but none of that Adobe experience was any help at all. My only web site building experience came from Microsoft Front Page (now discontinued) and I wanted to be able to migrate my existing (and very basic) website to Go Live (which I already own as part of the Suite) and edit it and update it from there. I have very limited HTML knowledge and Front Page was ideal for my needs. Go Live is, obviously, way above my skills and this book doesn't help me understand it any better.
For my purposes, it rates 0 stars, but I gave it 3 assuming that someone who does have the necessary HTML, CSS, etc. knowledge might find some of the lessons interesting.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, but really is like a classroom..., August 6, 2006
This review is from: Adobe GoLive CS2 Classroom in a Book (Paperback)
Kind of tedious but effective, this book gets you working on a weird sample web site at first ("Virtech U. The School of the Future", or something) in a series of lessons that take seem to drag on and on and get you itching to work on your bands web site. But it really does give you a good idea of how the tools, windows and palettes work. It's definitely better than a "for dummies" book (not as dumb), but it's still pretty easy to wrap your mind around. Out of all the books I've been through for CS2, this one is by far the most comprehensive, and I'd recommend the Adobe books over any others. Very solid and accurate information, straight from the source. Thank You.
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