Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been designing web sites for a number of years now and my program of choice was Adobe GoLive. However, I recently decided to switch to Dreamweaver MX 2004 because I wanted to take advantage of the program's advanced CSS and CSS-P capabilities. But I waited to make the switch until I knew this "Missing Manual" was available. I'd heard it was going to be released, and because I already own some other "Missing" titles, I instinctively knew this would be the book to get.

I wasn't disappointed. This book is EXCELLENT, both for newcomers to web design with Dreamweaver, but also for "switchers" like myself, who have experience with web design, but not with Dreamweaver. The book takes a step by step approach.

Some of Dreamweaver's features overlap with GoLive's, and some are common to all visual web editors; but that doesn't matter. You'll still enjoy reading this book, and you'll pick up lots of useful tips along the way.

The tutorials are PRICELESS. You simply download the files from the book's web site, and work through them, step by step, with the author holding your hand all the way. I really like the approach: learn the features, then learn to use them in a tutorial.

One very small caveat is that if you are looking for EXTENSIVE coverage on CSS layouts (without tables), you won't find it here. Yes, there is a chapter on how to lay out pages with nothing but CSS positioning, and there is a tutorial, which are a wonderful start to the subject. But you'll need something like "Eric Meyer on CSS" in order to take your CSS layout skills to the max.

This book easily deserves the 5 stars I gave it.

The slogan of the Missing Manual series is "The book that should have been in the box" and Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual lives up to the series' reputation. Macromedia wouldn't want to ship this book with the software because it's a doorstop at 800 pages. Imagine what it would do to the packaging and the pricing of the already expensive software.

One itsy bitsy negative, but this book is not the only one avoiding it. Dreamweaver's help file doesn't cover it and neither does the forum on Macromedia's Web site. There is a feature called download stats listing the size of the file and the time it would take to download it. At what speed? 56k? T1? What? I would assume 56k, but assumptions are not reliable.

At 800 pages, you can expect all the features to be covered through step-by-step instructions, notes, and screen shots. The hard core stuff like building dynamic Web pages, working with databases, and using server programming within Dreamweaver are all there for those ready for a challenge.

McFarland goes the extra mile to note differences between computer systems (Mac vs. PCs) and browsers (compatibility). Looking at the table of contents is proof of the book's completeness and all I need to do is attest to its readability. First timers to creating a Web site or to Dreamweaver as well as owners of earlier versions will gain plenty of knowledge from this one.

Trying to figure out how to work my Captain Video decoder ring is as close to programming as I'd ever gotten. (Dates me, I know.) So I figured I was relegated to "The Cosmically Clueless Fool's Guide to Dreamweaver MX". Until I found out about this "Missing Manual" series. Since most software manuals seem to be written by idiot savants for whom English is only marginally considered to be a functional language, I was amazed when I started with this thing. It is totally engaging, terrifically well written, very easy to follow, as logical as Spock, and comprehensive without descending into the anesthetizing world of Geekdom. In a word, it is... fun! It seems that every nuance of DWMX is touched on with patience, a total concern for reader understanding, and quite frequently with humor. The tutorials are excellent - everything laid out carefully and clearly step-by-step. I cannot imagine a manual of such breadth being more user-friendly for the rank amateur as well as for the, well.... rank professional. A total delight! My advice to anyone contemplating Dreamweaver or this manual - don't be intimidated. This is a manual written and designed the way manuals should be. Kudos to Mr. McFarland and Pogue!

I am almost done with David McFarland's book. I have read through it sequentially (and done each tutorial). It is easily one of the best software "how-to" manuals I've read. I've tried a few Dreamweaver sources (Lowery's Bible is also very good) and I do agree with another reviewer that Lynda.com has a great book and online movie tutorial, also. McFarland provides, for me, the ideal mix of discussion/reference and tutorial. For example, "forms" and "templates" are really boring if you just try to read about them - but his brief tutorials really work to get you through the basics. He gives broad coverage of Dreamweaver MX 2004; unlike some other books in this category that are really about Studio, this is limited to Dreamweaver with about one chapter on Flash integration.

The book is static HTML (more or less) until the last 150 pages or so, when he introduces dynamic databased connections - an area that I would NEVER understand with the Macromedia online help alone. I just finished the first couple of tutorials on dynamic database, and I am really impressed - I got through with no problems and a really good understanding. They have given the steps a real attention to detail here, little things, like noting a minor dialog glitch that might throw users off. Another great little innovation. At the end of each step, he explains what he's going to do next - a little thing that makes a big difference. Highly recommended!

The Dreamweaver MX 2004 book is, as its series title says, the "missing manual." The Missing Manual series is a highly respected and popular technological series, edited and managed by David Pogue, and published by Pogue Press in cooperation with O'Reilly & Associates, Incorporated. This book was written by David Sawyer McFarland.

The Dreamweaver MX 2004 book is targeted at beginners--or people with just a little experience--and even web design experts. "The Missing Manual" series of books has never failed to be good, even great, so I was looking forward to reviewing this book.

Out of the starting gate, organization is a key factor in the book's layout. A clear, easy-to-follow table of contents provides a quick reference to parts of the book the reader may or may not want to jump right into or skip completely, depending, of course, on the reader's experience level. This table of contents is followed by a short introduction chapter which tells what's new in Dreamweaver, describes differences, or parallels, between HTML and XHTML, and explains a little bit about cascading style sheets (CSS).

Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual continues this great organization by separating the book into six distinct sections: Part 1, Building a Web Page; Part 2, Building a Better Web Page; Part 3, Bringing Your Pages to Life; Part 4, Building a Web Site; Part 5, Dreamweaver Power, and finally, Part 6, Dynamic Dreamweaver. The progression from Part 1 to Part 4 is a great help to beginners, and the final two parts provide much assistance to beginners moving into the expert zone of webmastering.

What I found to be the best feature of the book was the supplemental material and resources offered by the author. They are available at the author's website in the form of downloadable files, tutorials, and several links to other websites for even more help and answers. However, the feature that is perhaps the most useful is the capability to link to a working example of the web pages you are supposed to build and actually see a live model in action as comparison.

The fonts used, Formata and Minion, and the layout of Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual were very easy to read and follow--easy on the eyes, at least to mine. There is one thing, though. In future editions, I would like to see spiral binding so that the book could lay open when using it at the computer, especially when referring back and forth from the book to my computer screen. I had to apply different methods of holding the book open, i.e., cordless phones, clipping heavy pens to the pages, etc., and this was just inconvenient.

Bottom line: Does the book live up to its title? Yes. Do I recommend Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual? Yes.

You will not be disappointed with this book. I have read about 12 different Dreamweaver books over the past 4 years, and so far this is the best I have seen.

After reading this book, I sat wondering why other software books are not written nearly as well. This book is chuck full of so much important, useful, interesting and inspiring information that I will be looking for other books in this series as well as keeping an eye out for other books authored by McFarland.

One of the great things with this book is that it is meat, but with a great flow to each of the areas covered - its not just information, but extremely well put together and well written. There is an intro to each section that is not overly wordy. There are many sections where there are step by step instructions. A number of the chapters have a tutorial toward the end (over 130 pages - the cover says) for the reader to practice what they have just learned directly with Dreamweaver.

Another extremely helpful aspect to this book that I rarely if ever find in others is that almost ever 3rd or 4th page has a box with some very cool "Boy am I glad you told me about that" info. They are entitled "Power Users; Clinic" and "Workaround Workshop". The book would be worth it just for the gold mine of very rich bits and pieces of powerful tips and tricks to use. A great deal of thought went into each one of these blocks of info, as has the entire book.

The screen prints are not overly used, but when they are they are very relavent. I have been content to read most of the book without even turning on my computer, because of the fine job of ample description and images.

If you are going to be waiting around to find something related to Studio 8, keep this book in mind when they update it for that version.

This book gives step-by-step tutorials (comes with a CD) that walk you through everything from some basic HTML to database interfacing and CSS. This is a great all-in-one book if you only want to buy one book to learn DW. I bought it for use in a class and found that I learned MUCH more from the book than I did in lecture! If you want to learn how to use Dreamweaver, buy this book.

Possibly the best introductory tutorial I've ever read, and one that now serves as an invaluable reference for some of the tougher areas. It takes you step-by-step but doesn't insult your intelligence. Dreamweaver is *deep* and I was aghast at the idea of reading an 800-page book to learn how to work what I originally asssumed was a glorified text editor (silly me), but the book really opened my eyes. Dreamweaver MX 2004 is a breathtaking product and you need this book to make it go.

I love the Missing Manual series of books and this is one of the best. I'm an avid Dreamweaver user, and The Missing Manual has made me much better with it. Although this book can be a little wordy it's worth reading every word from beginning to end...it's packed with great info!

I'm half-way through this book, and so far, it's been a blessing. The author has structured this text in a way that allows a reader to get started using the software, and create web pages. He explains things thoughtfully and speaks to the beginner. With this book I also purchased Firework MX Bible--a big mistake. That book is thick, filled with copius descriptions of every possible tool, but teaches you nothing about actually using the software to create web objects.