Customer Reviews

Creating a Web Site in Dreamweaver CS4: Visual QuickProject Guide

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

 

 

This book is deceptive as a "visual quick project". I learned Adobe Pagemill years ago using Maria Langers book put out by Peachpit Press, so I thought this one would make Dreamweaver approachable for a beginner like myself. The author uses lines to point to a visual example on the screen of what he is saying and often the line is actually pointing to the next thing he will say. After he has us set up the home page in a cascading style sheet, something a beginner has never done before, instead of going to the next logical place-creating a page that will link to the home page css, he jumps into adding flash video, creating lists, etc. When he has us put an image on the page he vaguely mentions to create an image folder to put the image in when saving it, but never bothers to tell us how to do that. I found myself struggling every step of the way and searching on my own for how to accomplish tasks. Beginners need step by step directions and usually when learning how to create a website these steps go from how to set up your index.html page to how to create a new page (he doesn't even bother with a "new page" in this book), to how to link the two pages, along with basic text boxes and image boxes. This book will give you little of substance.

I've had a lot of success with Visual Quickstart books, but I was surprised at how poorly written this one is. The first reviewer is right; it's replete with nonsensical instructions, topics grouped together that have no purposeful or sequential relationship, etc. Nevermind that companion files are provided, you'll start banging your head against the wall wondering where the missing chapter is. If you're a teacher who already knows the subject and can pretty much skim over most of it then I'm sure it's a fabulous book; but for those of us trying to learn the program on our own, it's a blind alley that gets us off course and wastes our time.

I do recommend, however, the Visual Quickproject by Liz Castro if you're looking for an introduction to HTML; it's a little out of date but much of it still applies, and she seems to know how to provide steps that actually lead to a decent conclusion.

This is a very simple book that won't take you far, but where it takes you is clearly explained. This is not the book for someone with intermediate, much less expert understanding of Dreamweaver. But WOW it is a really good one to explain some of the basic concepts. Well done!

As a newcomer to web design, Dreamweaver and the Adobe CS4 Suite, I reviewed as much of the online and hardcover literature as I could find or tolerate. This book's content and method offered me 1) a rapid familiarity with the Dreamweaver interface, 2) an understanding of how the building blocks of the interface relate to each other 3) efficient access to more complex development. Hester's book is a notable exception to the endless prior knowledge required by other sources.

You need some knowledge about web sites and about dreamweaver to use this book. It is not for persons who are not already familiar with that.

This book will get you up and running with creating a website in Dreamweaver CS4. It covers the basics, not to detailed in the advanced stuff that Dreamweaver CS4 provides also.

I have been away from Dreamweaver for a few years and am desperately in need of updating my site. Dreamweaver can be overwhelming to someone who is not a full time web designer so I purchased this book today. I'm happy to say that it gives a step by step, well organized self paced class that is getting me going. I fully expect to be able to do a quick re-write and update of my site, followed by some more in-depth tweaking and improvements at a later date thanks to this book. http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_pr_wr_but_top?ie=UTF8&nodeID=&asin=032159150X

As an IT teacher, this is exactly what I was looking for to use in a short course for Dreamweaver CS4 - a short book at a reasonable price that is well-written and goes through a good example.

The previous reviewer complained that some of the concepts were not well explained - This may be an issue if you are teaching yourself - but it is fine for use in class as I can explain the extra material as I'm teaching it. Well done to the author and Peachpit Press

For a future edition, I'd like to see some review questions (or extra challenges to try on your own) so any students who are working faster than the others can be busy with extra work.

I'd also like to see some discussion of the fact that (usually) one copy of your website is on your computer and one copy is uploaded to your web-host and the need to find and pay for a domain name and web-host.

I found this book to be a great help. I have used Dreamweaver previously but not in several years and I had to do a complete redesign of a web site I had previously built. I needed a book to help me get started quickly. I wanted a book that was short and to the point without many explanations, "Just tell me how to do it." After reading some of the negative reviews I still decided to give this book a chance and I'm glad I did. It was a tremendous help and I highly recommend it to anyone who has previous experience with HTML or Dreamweaver and just needs a refresher.

decent book if you need a few quick points, I use it as notes instead of taking them in class.