41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT, December 7, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
Never done a site before and I purchased Dreamweaver MX hearing that it was the way to go but maybe a little complicated for someone new to building sites. Well, after several evenings with Dreamweaver going through all the tutorials I thought I had gotten in over my head. I figured I'd give it one more shot after getting a manual.
This book made all the difference. The problem wasn't that the software was too complicated, the problem was the lack of clear documentation. This book clarified all the confusions I had and with a few more hours I was able to get a nice site up and running. It's really a crime the manufacturers don't include real manuals any more. Because of this book, I now think Dreamweaver is the greatest (with the exception of their decision not to include a real manual in the first place).
Worth every penny.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intuitive, insightful, full of practical information., March 31, 2003
This review is from: Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
There are really two types of people in this world. Those that WANT to read a user's manual cover to cover prior to tackling something new (and do so). And those that want to learn by doing and not spend hours reading how to learn. I, uh, have a laptop with a luscious fruit emblem sitting on a titanium casing-needless to say I fall into the latter category by nature.
I feel comfortable knowing my way around design programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, Streamline), but NEVER touch code. I knew the basic ideas of HTML (tags, headlines, body, title, line breaks) but not much more before purchasing this book.
After only a few hours reading the first 140 pages (easy reading), and following the tutorials (very clear and concise), I started developing my desired website. Within a few hours I had the semblance of the components all functioning in a "Preview in Browser" mode. And I'd say 70% of that time was actually designing and saving the files for each nav button, graphic box, and typing the text.
As many other reviews state, this book clearly explains the benefits as well as limitations of web design in general and to Dreamweaver specifically. There are plenty of references to Dreamweaver 4 for those who are upgrading. There are plenty of basic explanations of HTML, how to best utilize Dreamweaver AND HTML, and the perspective of end use (designing a cool web page) is never forgotten in this book.
McFarland and Progue hit the mark in almost every way with their organizational style, intuitive writing, simplistic tutorials, informative Figures and "Workaround Workshops", and understanding of HOW people want to USE an application like Dreamweaver MX. From building a site, to using dynamic pages with forms, to frames, to tables, to uploading your site, to Flash, to Customizing Dreamweaver and hotkeys; it's pretty much all covered.
A nearly 800 page book intimidate you? Don't worry, many sections are not applicable to a basic website. I feel confident that I can continue to add new features and redevelop my site using only this one book in the future. ...
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The missing manual was surely missing!, August 3, 2003
This review is from: Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
This is one of the few books that I would recommend. It has good content and tutorials that were actually helpful! I purchased the online training from macromedia and it didn't hold a candle to this book.
It has many areas that are necessary for the development of a real web site. Dreamweaver MX should purchase this content and put it in the box with the software!
There are 24 chapters that focused on the feature sets of the software. There is even an appendix with useful links.
Thanks David for taking the time to write a useful, easy to use book.
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