Customer Reviews

Create Frontpage 2000 Web Pages In a Weekend (In a Weekend (Premier Press))

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

 

 

Are you building your first web page? Or are you perhaps not the most experienced web designer? There are some huge FrontPage books out there that get into highly technical topics, but if all you want to do is learn FrontPage 2000 and build a web page you can be proud of, then I can't recommend this book highly enough.

This book walks you through how to use all the tools to build web pages, hook up those pages into a web site, and send the site to your internet service provider. When you get done, you'll know how to build and maintain your site, and you won't have had to wade through 1000+ pages to get there. This book even shows you how to use the included graphics editors to dress up your pages, and how to use styles and templates to create a really snazzy look.

The writing is clear and concise, and the wealth of screenshots makes it easy to follow the step-by-step. It might be a bit much to get through this book "in a weekend", but it won't take much longer than that, even if you're a beginner.

When I bought the software for Frontpage 2000 I knew NOTHING about web site design, and certainly nothing about Frontpage. When I bought the program, I also bought one of those 1100 page exhaustive (so I thought) tombs about how to use the program. I got about three chapters into the big book and decided that I didn't know what the heck they were talking about. Now, I'm no dummy. I'm pretty good at following directions, but I just didn't get it. So I went back to the bookstore and bought "Frontpage 2000 in a Weekend". I knew I was in safe waters after the first chapter. Wagner and Callihan do an excellent job of making the whole process of site design simple and painless. By simply following their tutorials I learned everything I needed to know to get amazing results ouf of the program. And just in a weekend (just as promised). As I continue to work in Frontpage, I occasionally come across a question I can't answer. I usually turn to the 1100 page giant first (I guess because it just LOOKS like it ought to have all the answers). But many times the solution they present is covered just as well or better in the Weekend book. My reccomendation: If you're just getting started wiht Frontpage, save the $45.00 on the big books and pluk down a quarter on "Weekend". It's money worth spent.

I thought this book was easy to understand and most of all the title was absolutely correct. There were a couple of areas that were only covered lightly, but I'm sure it was because these are more complicated areas, and need more study. The pages that you can create are not just wimpy little pages either, they are graphic intensive, comprehensive pages that may be published with pride. If you are new to the web game, don't have much time, or simply don't want to buy one of those GIANT books, I highly recommend this book. This book delivers it's intensions.

I am a web designer and an instructor. I've been looking for something to introduce FrontPage to beginners. When I read this one, I was surprised by the overall poor quality of its instruction and numerous basic errors and omissions.I had to return the book because it really belongs to the trash bin. I would not advise anyone interested in learning FrontPage buy it. Any book published by Microsoft Press is better. I hope those friends of the authors who had given endorsements would have been ethical enough not to mislead readers.

The book is easy to follow and gives you basic understanding of the program. It can be done in a weekend as the title promises but after that you'll probably want to do more and this book won't help you. For example there is almost no coverage of cascading style sheets, which really aren't all that hard to use and make managing sites much easier. If you think that your website will grow to anything beyond 5 or 10 pages you will definitely need something else.

I purchased this book because it was one of only 3 references in the store on Frontpage 2000. I thought to myself that at least the CD that comes with it should be worth the price.

After working through the book during the process of doing a medium sized website, I found that many of my questions were unanswered. This a good book if you have never done anything with the web at all, and are not interested in more advanced manipulation of your site.

A HUGE omission from this book is the topic of Cascading Style Sheets. For those who are considering this book and don't know, having knowledge of how to work with these is crucial, and this topic is completely left out.

Other than that, it was an OK introduction to the most basic of topics. If all you want to do is know what the basics are to put up a home page, this book will do the job. If you want to really dig into intermediate to advanced level features using Frontpage, this book is not for you. I will now buy The Complete REference book hoping for more complete coverage of advanced topics.

As for the CD, there isn't much on it that couldn't be had by surfing around the free sites on the web yourself, finding material that is actually relevent to your project.

This book was a major disappointment, and I am only at page 100 out of 353. I have not purchased many computer books, but it is very poor when compared to the last book I bought, Que's "Using Access 95".

The problems are innumerable. The screen shots shown in the book ocassionally change with no explanation on how or why it happened. That would not be so important, except the book often relies on that new look to explain a new function. To follow along, I had to repeatedly change the site to try and match what the book was showing.

Some instructions are just flat out wrong. The books says to hold the shift key and drag to select all items. There is no need for the shift key. The book says the "Select a File" button is on the lower left corner of a dialog box. It is on the lower right. Some topics are talked about lightly (i.e., "you get the picture), and others simply passed over completely that other novices tell me are not that hard to learn (i.e., cascading style sheets). There is too much non-usable fill about taking a break, waking up next morning to get started, etc..

More than anything else, I become frustrated because the information is sometimes incorrect, confusing, illogical, and inconsistent in depth. Add in screen shots with changes that do not always correspond to what the text says, and you find yourself scratching your head more often than not.

If there is one overall impression I get, it is that no one ever actually "road tested" the book before it went to print. I have to believe there would have been lots of feedback on improvements. I have to use HotMetal Pro at work, and the book that came with that software is actually quite good, and markedly better than this book, even though Frontpage is easier to use. Overall: Not Recommended.

I have read a number of books on FrontPage 2000. This book has to be rated as "Poor" if not "the Poorest." It is hasty, sketchy, confusing at places, poorly structured and leaves out quite a few important features of FrontPage even for beginners. The examples are narrow. The numerous "coffee breaks" are laughable. The CD-ROM included in the book is crude and really of little use. I would not recommend it even for a beginner.

I bought this book and the microsoft "step by step" manual. I thought the Microsoft book was a little more in depth. I think this is a good book for people that are going to do one web page and want to "follow a map" that will result in their creating a decent if not spectacular web page. I would rate this book as worth the money. You can with nothing but this book make a web page. If you are considering learning web design as a trade then thid book will be to "lite"

I worked the book. It took dilligent effort to get through it in a weekend. Now, I use it for a reference. I have a big book that says the same thing this one does. This one was more helpful in the area of publisizing the websight.

This book is a really good buy. You can use it to start or advertise a small business on the web. Microsoft has a sight dedicated to advertising the great sights created with frontpage. That means that this book can help with very large sights also.

When I bought it it had five stars. In my opinion it should still have all five. The author went out of her way to show her readers short cuts, I did not find the shift-enter one, however.

Buy this book - Sell a web sight - buy a book - Come back to this one as your favorite.

Mike