Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver CS3 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Far too complicated for beginners, too simple for professional users, the book seems to be perpetually in search of its audience. The author has a lot of enthusiasm for her subject but not the understanding of her readers. This is a great pity, as the idea is good - to create a book that can be used both as a guide and as a reference manual. A great deal of knowledge is assumed straight at the beginning and nowhere is this as clear as in the first couple of chapters where CSS springs up without ever being defined or explained. Examples are few and far between.

This is an excellent introduction to Dreamweaver CS3 for people who are familiar with web technologies but who have never worked with Dreamweaver. It covers the basics quickly and even goes into a number of best pratices and advanced topics. For example, it covers css positioning and layout as a more modern alternative to using tables. This makes it easier to design for alternate device browsers like cell phones or PDAs. It also has chapters on dynamic, data base driven, web sites.

If you know web technologies, this book can get you up to speed in Dreamweaver CS3 in a few days.

I'm no dummy but sometimes felt like one reading this book. The name suggests that it is for someone with no experience setting up a website. That's me. But it sometimes assumes more knowlege than I have. There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. I'm ignorant of many things - but capable of learning. Perhaps more practical examples would have helped. As a beginners book, there were too many gaps that left me confused, too much use of terminology I didn't know -and should not have been expected to know at various points. This isn't, by any means a bad book. Just not for dummies.

This book is just what I needed to get me started in Dreamweaver. I had used an older version of Frontpage - that did not prepare me for the complexity of this new program. The book, being especially for the CS3 version, has clear illustrations of the panels, etc. It's still very complex. Janine Warner has more resources on the internet that I will check out too. The little tips and hints throughout the Dummies books alert you to things of importance. This book helped me to understand the language needed to be able to use the Adobe on-line tutorials. The only thing is that I had to ink out the big "Dummies" on the cover of the book- it helps to learn when I don't think of myself that way!

It was my first Dreamweaver book and I have to say that I learn some concepts but I found severals errors in the book.

For example, CSS part is not well explained and you will never know how to include tags inside a container. I read several times and for me It was impossible. I think it is the most important concept in Dreamweaver and it is not well explained.

I also found errors when you try to follow the exercises. The main window is not explained properly and the complex concpets are not explained.

From my point of view, it is a good book to start but there are things that you will reviewed.

The beginning was long, but only hyped the book -- saying how good the author was and how grand the book was. It did not tell you anything about the subject.

As you get started, they had expected you to have already read the book. Come on! I am a beginner.

So disorganized!!! It was like jumping back and forth from chapter to chapter to figure out what they were saying.

Overall I was very disappointed in this book. I spent a day with it and put it down. The other books on the market are much better for beginners.

Maybe it will burn well in somebody's fireplace?

Having purchased Dreamweaver and being new to web design it made perfect sense to me to get a guide book to help me use it. The Dreamweaver CS3 for Dummies is very easy to use, well set out, and much more convenient than the electronic help files and tutorials that come with the software. Dreamweaver CS3 for Dummies is a great resource to turn to again and again as you learn more and more each time you go back to it.

After more than 10 years with Amazon and hundreds of orders this is my first review. I could not resist because this book was such a waste of time. ALL the info can be found in Dreamweaver's help menu. From my point of view the best example the author offers involves building an online image gallery with <div> tags and the swap function (chapter 10, page 277). But are you shown how to do this? NO. Instead you are referred back to chapter 6 and generic instructions to try an figure out on your own. Now either the author did not know the answer so could not include the instructions or held back for some other purpose. Whatever the reason, it made an already bad book horrific. STAY AWAY. This is a total waste of time.

I've built, run and maintained my own site for over twelve years using HTML and have used all Adobe CS3 applications and made a living doing it and I was FREAKING LOST!!! from the first page of this thing. It's as if the author just forgot what it was like NOT to know DW.

"Never driven a car before? Great, hop in and I'll show you how to do a bootlegger's turn at 80 MPH on dry pavement."

I have no doubt she's very good at DW herself but she is completely out of her element when trying to teach beginners. Try it if you must, but when you have yanked all your hair out and given up, return it for a refund! I wish I had.

The product arrived quickly and for a price so low I didn't have to spend gasoline looking for a bargain. The product was given to a client and ha helped her learn Dreamweaver and HTML quickly.