Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver(R) 4 Fireworks(R) 4 Studio: A Beginner's Guide

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been using all sorts of computer software for a long time, but I became so frustrated trying to learn Dreamweaver and Fireworks that I almost gave up! Luckily, I saw that this author was very active in posting to the Dreamweaver and Fireworks news groups that I thought I'd buy ONE more book to help me learn the programs. Am I ever glad I did.
The author builds your knowledge very carefully, making sure you understand each concept before you go into the software to apply it. By the end of the third chapter I felt like I was already much more confident in how to use Dreamweaver, and by the last Dreamweaver chapter I was sure I knew what I was doing. Finally!
The last half of the book takes you through Fireworks and how the two programs work together and was almost a bonus. Two books for the price of one!
If you're not sure that you're up to learning Dreamweaver (and it really isn't the easiest program to understand) then this is the book for you. Combine that with the excellent insturction that you get in Fireworks, and this book is well worth the price.

I had had very little training in HTML and web design, so I decided to get this book after purchasing D4/F4. Initially I skimmed through the book and tried to jump right into web design, which was a mistake. I went back to the beginning of the book and decided to start over, and it has been smooth sailing ever since! Each chapter in the book is designed to ingrain skills in your head by repeating tasks and building upon them. It is very explanatory and extremely easy to follow. As the book goes along, it assumes you know more and treats you less like a beginner and more like a pro. This is a must have for designers using D4/F4. Highly recommended!

This is a very well structured book, and gives the novice some background on the web and HTML, which more experienced web designers may want to skim over. I am well versed in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and have been handcoding with Notepad and an HTML Editor for the past three years. I had read about Dreamweaver and Fireworks and decided to learn them. I've gone through the Dreamweaver section of the book so far and have gotten a pretty good feel for the program. I have already gone through two Fireworks books so I will probably go through that section pretty quickly.

The main strengths of this book are:

1. Well structured with a logical progression from one chapter to another.

2. Very few errors unlike some computer books I've worked with. Also I e-mailed the author and got a reply the next day, so he seems committed to helping readers of his book.

3. Little mini reviews and also chapter reviews to make sure you understand each module.

This book is among the best I have seen in the way the infomation is presented. It doesn't cover everything Dreamweaver has to offer but I can't imagine a better book to start out with.

I'm new to both Dreamweaver and Fireworks. The manuals that came with the software were intimidating. This book was just what I needed. The lessons work from the ground up.

I won't give it 5 stars, though, because I'm a Mac user and this book is written for the Windows user. Sure, it has a few mentions of Mac items here and there in parenthesis, but all of the graphics are Windows screenshots. Also, some of the instructions work only in Windows. For instance, an instruction says "Open Dreamweaver and press the F8 key to open the Site window". When I did that I got a Mac OS window about extending the keyboard capabilities. I had to go to the "Site" menu and choose "New Site" to accomplish the task. Then the instruction said to right click on a folder and make a selection from a pop-up menu. On the Mac, Control-click did the trick but it took me awhile to figure that out.

If you're new to Dreamweaver and Fireworks like I am you need this book. If you're a Mac user you need to be the kind of Mac user that is familiar with cross platform issues in order to decipher some of the Windows stuff or you'll get frustrated at times.

This is a great way to not only learn the technical sides of Dreamweaver and Fireworks 4, but also how to put your site together from start to finish. Most manuals that come with software only explain how to do individual tasks without pulling it all together...this one does. It is easy reading, with a sense of humor, and he often answers questions you think of while you go along. There were a couple of times that a step might be missing, like he'll say "then you should see this," forgetting that you might be in a different view, so just stay alert. This didn't happen often. Also, I did find that some of the Fireworks exercises were beyond what I initially needed to do, but I'll be coming back to those sections when I'm comfortable with my site and want to be more adventuresome...

I am just starting the text, and though it seems to contain all I need, I get the feeling that about 30% of the words read are unnecessary. There is way too much friendly talk to make the transition for non-technical users as well as repetition, and unnecessary praising of the program.

This book is a great way to get started making web pages. It explains how to use Dreamweaver and Fireworks in a very clear way. This book helped me understand the big picture of how the web works, so I really understood what I was doing.

This book is written to make learning Dreamweaver and Fireworks easy. The book is huge, but it's because it takes the time to explain steps and make each process easily understood. Obviously written by someone that not only knows the Macromedia products, but also how to teach them. I'd recommend this book for beginners and for those that are looking for some great tricks to use in both Dreamweaver and Fireworks. GREAT JOB!

I think this book brings you from the basic level of computing/WWW knowledge to a intermediate level. I just received the book today and flipped through the different sections and it looks to be an easy read, yet informative. This book will provide the upmost foundation for Dreamweaver and Fireworks 4 and lead right into Inside Dreamweaver 4 text.