Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies

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

 

 

This book is an excellent reference. However it's format differs considerably from some "For Dummies" books. I cannot claim to have read all the "For Dummies" books, but most that I have read pretty much take a hands on approach, tell you what to do, indicate what the screen is supposed to look like after you do it, and go on from there explaining the function of all screens and the various choices they present. And then usually walking the reader through most of the choices. This doesn't happen in Dreamweaver 3. It does discuss the functions of the program in a clear and accurate manner. But there is no thread of an ongoing project that, upon completing the book, would be finished and ready to be read by a browser. The book is strong on technical aspects of the program but contains virtually no practical applications of these technical functions. The closest it comes is at the beginning of the book where the auther instructs the reader... "Write something". But that's the last specific directive given to the reader. It's an excellent book for those who have a good solid understanding of basic Web site development. But as a step by step hands on training text for the beginner, it could lead to more frustration than learning.

I went through the Dreamweaver tutorial and still didn't "get it." Then I read DW3 for Dummies - aha, so that's what the tool is about! Dreamweaver is a pro-level tool, and the documentation that comes with it addresses that audience. This book cuts one level lower to help us novices get up to speed. Note however, that this is not the "end all" book; it simply gets you started...

My first exposure to Dreamweaver 3 was through the CD that comes with this book. (The CD also come with a trial version of Fireworks 3 and several other programs). I am very impressed with Dreamweaver and the explanations this book gives of its features. I'm about halfway through and I understand and can apply every bit so far.

This is one of the first books out on Dreamweaver, so I was a bit wary of buying it. It's not for someone who knows absolutely nothing about web design (of course Dreamweaver isn't probably for someone who doesn't have at least *some* idea of what makes web pages work).

If you want to learn Dreamweaver 3 and have had some exposure to web design, this book will teach you what you need to know.

I'm a web design novice and after spending some time last year beginning to learn Dreamweaver I got sidetracked with work and fell out of it. This book was a good resource to get me going again.

If you have experience with web design, I'd recommend you skip this one and go for the Dreamweaver 3 Bible instead, but given the title, I think it's very well suited to the target audience. After reading this book you will be ready to get started, but you may quickly find yourself wanting a book with more detail.

My only complaint is the inclusion of 2 chapters on Fireworks. The author didn't provide enough information to be truly useful, yet managed to waste two chapters that could have been devoted to Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies turned out to be a Godsend to me. I had spent countless hours trying to figure out how to work dreamwever 3, but after buying dreamweaver 3 for dummies, I was spending most of my time actually working on my site! It had easy to read instructions, and it m,and all the difference.

As a basic get-going this Dummies issue isn't too bad, in that it explains the menu options and some rudiments. That said, I found it to be rather disappointing in the way it approached matters; it tending to start a subject, dive off somewhere else, returning to what you started with someplace else - maybe chapters later.

The opening chapters were rambling and repetitive with useful details mentioned in passing, For example, shift+enter is a line break and the enter key is a paragraph break. I missed this the first time around and, after finding the function by accident, spotted it in the book's text by chance.

The way in which table-sizing was handled was also clumsy: all you have to do is use the mouse and click and drag the sizing handles like in other programmes instead of always going through the property inspector.

Too much space was spent in giving examples of other peoples' work which wasn't particularly poignant (18oz being a remarkable piece of nonsense) and, more often than not, a contradiction to the better practices preached.

Okay, the book covers a lot: Dreamweaver 3, Fireworks 3, and Flash 4. But in rather an unnecessarily schematic way within the space provided to avoid the feeling that I should be reading something more advanced and which still covered the opening basics.

Nevertheless it's reasonable value at the price.

Simply Outstanding! Everything you NEED to know without all the stuff you don't need to know. Well written and easy to read. PLUS, and this is great, it covers the basics for using Fireworks 3.0 and an intro to Flash 4.0, you must have this book if you want to learn Dreamweaver 3.0.

If you already know something about HTML authoring this book isn't too bad if you want a quick guide to the program. BUT if you are a newbie to creating websites, then this book is a poor place to start. I purchased this book for a friend who wanted to get up and running, and while I know there is no substitute for a human teacher - this guide was a poor textbook at best. The chapters don't explain the basic concepts behind websites, so while the reader can find out how to use Dreamweaver to make frames, tables and CSS - there is little to nothing on what a "dummy" would find useful (example: how to make text a specific color). This book has too much fluff with chapters like "Fulfilling Your Dreams" and "Making It Cool" but very little about the basic lessons a beginner could use.

I had to use dreamweaver 3 in a hurry to start implementing for a project. I was able to get through this book in a few days and was able to start producing right away. The section on Fireworks was brief but gave a good overview to get started. I would recommend this book!

If you want to learn Dreamweaver quickly, this is the book for you. It's easy to read, understand, well written and concise. Learning a new program should be made as easy as possible-this does the trick.