Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I did not buy this book through amazon, although i wish I would have with the markdown in price. It is a great deal compared to the $49 I paid (8-26-10) at B&N. Early on, I was in need of a great, solid, easy to read book that would introduce me into the Dreamweaver world. Being an amateur and having little to no knowledge at all of CSS, HTML, XML, etc., I found this book a great, GREAT tool to help me get on my way to website building and managing. Though in reality, it teaches you a lot more than just those simple desires. The Missing Manual comes in with the expectation that you are an advanced beginner or intermediate at operating a computer and you DO NOT need to have any prior knowledge of computer coding or tech terms to understand the material. It teaches you as you go along without veering from the objective of that chapter.

It is really fascinating how the material covered in the book is so clearly explained with examples and links that supplement the content in the chapter. In fact the book includes many external website links and books to view so that the reader can learn about that feature or code structure in more detail that the chapter will allow. That is not to say the chapters are limited- by all means no! There are books dedicated just to CSS and HTML5 coding- more info than the typical reader would like to know. And so this whole book goes about teaching you the essentials (and there are a lot of them) rather than include every little nuance to code language and bore you to death (if you haven't already died before reaching the end of the book). That's right, this book has 10,031 pages of information and lessons (not including creds & appendix). I absolutely LOVED the fact that the book was formatted so that each page had 3cm margins along the edges!!!!! I write notes in the sides, star important paragraphs and recap half-chapters in these margins. Much less of an eyesore than some other books where you have to cram in between lines to write snippets about things.

I previously bought (and returned) the Dummies version *Dreamweaver CS5 All-in-One For Dummies of dreamweaver CS5 on account that I.COULD.NOT.READ.IT. IT is simply not a very well written book for beginners and intermediates of Dreamweaver/site building. It was difficult to read, and in their intro they said 'this is not a step by step book, so feel free to jump from one chapter to another in any order.' Well how exactly does that help? If you don't know what you're using, how could you expect the reader to chose one chapter from another at random? Didn't quite like that. Anyways, I really like the organization and teach-as-we-go approach that The Missing Manual offers. This is literaly, "The missing manual that should have been in the box." Thanks for reading!

1st off I have to say that I am surprised @ the overwhelming praise that people have given this book, being that you are sure to find loads of typos, mismatched diagrams, and (at times) disjointed procedures in some of the tutorials. Did these people even read the majority of this book as I have been doing for the past month? Or are they just professionals that need a snippet of information? I'll be honest here. I have about 40 pages to go until I finish it, but have become so completely frustrated with a particular example, and the fact that I've been submitting Errata on this book to the point where I feel the author should pay me for being a freelance editor (check out the errata and "unconfirmed errata". My name's there.) that I had to come out and say something. Don't get me wrong. Overall this is a good book for newbies like myself. I am a self teaching aspiring web designer (totally new to DW let alone DW 5) that has read about 7 books on html, css, php5 & Mysql, and Photoshop 5 (just for the record). I am of average intelligence. That being said, this book is not hard to follow, nor are the tutorials particularly hard to implement or understand - except when the end result does not mirror what is displayed in the book after you follow the instructions down to a T.
I give this Book just 2 stars not because the book is a bad one so to speak, but more-so that you get the feeling it was published in a hurry. A typo or other error after every 10 pages for a book that has over 1000 is a little much. It starts off well written until you get to the 5 or 600's, then its typo galore to the point where you ask yourself if this guy actually hired an editor at all. Every now and then you get a sentence where allthelettersareputogetherlikethis. Most of the examples work, but when you get into the dynamic website tutorials towards the end....lets just say that there is a few CHAPTERS (24 and 25 for sure) of mismatched diagrams to say the least. So I am not sure if the examples are malfunctioning because of erroneous steps or if it's just me. The author still hasn't responded to my question. The feedback isn't really all that hot either.

On a positive note I will say the author doesanexcellentjobexplaining (yes I did that on purpose as a joke) what everything is and how it works (the basics that is). He makes it fun to read, and everything user friendly for the most part. He also provides a plethora of resources to use on various topics that you might need in the web development world. In this area I feel he went out of his way to help, which is good. I am not sure if I would buy another book by this guy. I like his style and attention to detail....but the typos and errata are driving me crazy. Overall. I still feel torn over whether this book is worth what I paid for it.

At over 1000 pages and 27 chapters, 'Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual' by David McFarland is one of the rare books that I can EASILY give a Highest Possible Recommendation for. It has been known for quite some time that Dreamweaver is THE #1 resource for creating a professional web site in the most efficient way possible and with the fewest steps so that you can get your site created with netters surfing to it in the shortest amount of time. Now learn how to use Dreamweaver as efficiently as possible and get a peek at all the newest features in CS5!!

The material contained within is simply staggering: Basics, CSS, Forms, Flash, Automation, Database connectivity, and server-side XML and XSLT, it's all here!!

The Missing Manual is my favorite line of books because of the logical separation of content, the writing, and the design. My only gripe with this book would be the lack of color which could have easily been put in for only a small amount more added to the retail price, but this is not enough to knock my recommendation down. If you use Dreamweaver or want to learn more about what CS5 has to offer, pick this book up TO-DAY!!

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

If you have read the author's previous book, Dreamweaver CS4, The missing Manual, which is excellent; save your money. In the author's haste to get a book out, he neglets to cover integrating Dreamweaver with CMS: Word Press, Joomla, or Drupal. If anyone has a list of improvements, I am all ears. I hope this saves you time and money.

Either book, will do an excellent job teaching Dreamweaver. I guess I had high expectations CS5 would be educate me as much as the former; no such luck.

At over 1,000 pages, I was nervous this book would be long-winded and slow, or a dense reference book with little instructional value. I am happy to report that it is neither. McFarland spends just the right amount of time on each subject, clearly guiding you step by step through the end of each lesson, and then swiftly moves on to the next lesson. The tutorials are a huge help and are my favorite feature of the "Missing Manual" books in general. It's a great approach for hands-on learners. McFarland tactfully toes the very thin line of explaining things clearly enough for a novice without talking down to more advanced designers. In fact, I could easily see this being someone's first web design book, though I would recommend getting through a good beginner HTML/CSS book first. That being said, this was far from my first web design book, but I still got a ton out of it.

Experienced web designers and users of previous versions of Dreamweaver may find themselves skimming through some parts, as I did, but be sure to skim, not skip. Every section I skimmed had at least one or two valuable shortcuts or features in it that I was not aware of. And of course it's a new version, so some things have changed, and you don't want to miss that. All in all, there is enough in here for everyone. I love that the book goes very in-depth in to dynamic websites, which is clearly the direction more and more of the web is going. If you develop with WordPress or any kind of site based on a database, there is plenty for you here. I also loved the last chapter on XSLT, a technology I have long been interested in but hadn't had the time to learn. McFarland provided the perfect introduction. In the end, this feels like 3 or 4 books in one.

I must deduct a star for the amount of "jumping around" there is. On virtually every page there are multiple instances where McFarland directs you to another page in the book to learn more about something or back to a page you already read to review a topic. There were a few times when I wanted to learn something right away that was several hundred pages ahead. I guess it's better that he gives you the head's up rather than not mentioning it at all, but after a while it becomes a little distracting and feels a bit like a "choose your own adventure" book. I think McFarland and/or his editor were a little overzealous in avoiding redundancy when it would have been easier to just explain related topics at the same time. But that's my only complaint and otherwise it's a great book. 4 stars.

This book saved my bacon. I decided to learn Dreamweaver on my own with no experience in HTML or any programming. I'm a graphic designer, so I'm familiar with a lot of Adobe software, but Dreamweaver was so different, I just couldn't figure it out. I looked at a lot of books, but they were either too limited in the functions they taught, or relied on too much prior knowledge of HTML and programming conventions (I still can't make heads nor tails out of a lot of the "hints" I read online). As a designer, I wanted to be able to control everything visual about my site. With this book, I was able to recreate exactly what I had planned my web site to look like, and it works in all browsers! I felt like I was banging my head against a wall trying to learn to build a web site. Without this book, I don't think I could have done it. Now I am ready to start working on some other sites. The only problem is, my Missing Manual is getting a little threadbare already from how much I've riffled its pages!

"Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual" is an excellent choice whether you want to learn Dreamweaver from scratch, or update your skills if the versions have passed you by for a few years. That was my situation. I started with an early version of Dreamweaver, and had only upgraded once before, to MX. By the time I got CS5 there were a lot of new interface tools I didn't really know about, and let me tell you that Adobe does precious little to clearly inform you about. My early DW development techniques still worked, so for a long time I didn't feel the need for the downtime to retrain myself.

Well, I finally decided that it was time, and that this was the book to start with. If you go through everything in the book, word for word and step by step, be prepared to spend literally a few weeks worth of man hours to complete it. It took me 10 days just to get through the first 30% of the book, but it was worth it.

First, there are a lot of new productivity tools that will eventually save me the time I've spent in study. Second, the book doesn't just cover Dreamweaver. It also covers state of the art development technique and how to accomplish it using Dreamweaver.

The various tutorials will work for you whether you are a rank beginner or an advanced user. They are step by step, and clearly explain the interface paths to perform each step. That is my problem with many tutorials ... they tell you to perform a function with the software, and leave you on your own to struggle thru menus and dialogues to find what you need. Not only does this book tell you exactly how to get to the function, it tells you what to do if you can't find it because of a Preferences setting. Even advanced users will do well to follow the tutorials step by step, you can still learn some important things.

The book is especially strong in imparting CSS design principles and nuts and bolts. I spent a lot of time in that section, and have already put it to good use.

Don't be shy about skipping chapters that cover things you may never use, or at least use soon. However, even if you skip a chapter, you should skim it closely enough to be familiar with the content, so that you will know those tools are available as you ponder how to best complete new projects.

There isn't much new when it comes to style sheets, library items, and site management, so those were areas I skimmed, though I still picked up a new tip or two per chapter.

Then there is a long stretch of chapters about using databases to create dynamic pages. I've written ASP and personally managed database servers for many years, so I got to skim most of that. However, I did pay attention to the areas providing information on integrating database objects directly via Dreamweaver. That's something I've never done, but may now look into.

The book is written in a friendly, sometimes humorous style, so that it is seldom deadly dry. I give it my highest recommendation for a software tutorial book.

Superb! This book is a refreshing delight.
I'm a professional software developer and have been reading technical programming books for 30 years ranging from C, C++, Java, Python, etc. etc. and "Dreamweaver CS5 - the Missing Manual" is among the best books I've ever bought. The author blends and balances conceptual overview, description, detail and tutorials superbly. Enough overview to get the most important concepts established; enough detailed description to reveal how things really work while also pointing out some of the important "gotchas" that newbies will run into; and then enough tutorials (but not too much, and not too trivial) to help beginners get both a comprehensive feel for dreamweaver and put them well on their way to building professional websites. For example, the tutorials are well thought out and then distilled to focus on the things that are important for beginners to understand. Also the instructions for the tutorials are so explicit and accurate, it is almost impossible for readers to get confused.

This is an excellent book IMHO. He explains things and just when I'm going to say, "But what happens if you do this," the next paragraph goes right to it. He covers everything I need to know about DW. I'm not an expert, but he has gotten me to feel comfortable in using DW and I know that when I get stuck I can find a reference to the problem.
Not only that, but their customer support is fabulous. I found an error on their web site and a picture out of place in the book and they responded and fixed it immediately via email. Great buy!

If you are completely new to dreamweaver, I would recommend this book. I have tried to search for online tutorials, but nothing comes close to teaching you how to work with a site quite like this book. It's slightly intimidating with its length and looks as if it could compete with the dictionary in volume. However, the ease of navigating through the book and the simplicity of the words that the author uses makes it really easy to use the book to really get in the know how of dreamweaver.

I feel like this book is better than a class on dreamweaver. It's so jammed with such good information and answers almost every question you could ever have with how to run dreamweaver. If you get any book to try to understand this highly complicated program, get this one.