Dreamweaver MX Templates [Paperback]

Brad Halstead (Author), Murray Summers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2002

Harness the power of Templates in Dreamweaver MX! With the release of Dreamweaver MX, the functionality and power of templates is greatly enhanced. In Dreamweaver MX Templates, the authors provide an in-depth examination of the templates functionality, along with Dreamweaver's other reusable design elements: library items and snippets. This examination is cast in the context of the development of a web site for a fictitious company. Early chapters will provide the foundational information about templates, library items, snippets, and assets. The second part of the book will focus on providing detailed instructions about how to use templates and reusable elements to create a corporate web site. In addition to step-by-step instructions, the authors include tips, notes, and warnings. The web site will include the completed project and all necessary files to create that site; extensions that have been created specifically for the book; a support forum; and other items to be determined during the course of development.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Harness the power of templates in Dreamweaver MX

Dreamweaver MX Templates provides an in-depth examination of the newly enhanced template functionality as well as Dreamweaver's other reusable design elements. Part I builds the foundation for understanding templates, library items, snippets, and assets, including detailed instruction about how to use templates and reusable elements. Part II is a real-work project that puts what's been learned to practical use by building a web site for a fictitious company. Step-by-step instructions, tips, warnings, and exercises help guide you along the way.

About the Author

Brad Halstead is a computer software engineering technologist by training. He is now a full-time computer technician who provides a great deal of Dreamweaver technical support through the Macromedia and Project Seven forums. In addition to being a Dreamweaver technical editor, Brad has contributed to both the Dreamweaver MX Magic book and Inside Dreamweaver MX.

Murray Summers is a Team Macromedia Volunteer, a Macromedia Certified Website Developer and Dreamweaver Developer. He runs his own Web site production company, Great Web Sights. Murray has also been a technical editor for Coriolis and an invited speaker at The Other Dreamweaver Conference.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1st edition (October 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735713197
• ISBN-13: 978-0735713192
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,685,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful for experts, March 5, 2003

By 

"baseten10" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreamweaver MX Templates (Paperback)

First off, this book is not for someone who doesn't already know how to use templates. See previous comments by readers concerning "spawn child pages" which is a vague term not used anywhere else relating to dreamweaver except in this book. What they mean to say is "open as new from template." It took me many many hours to discover this discrepancy.

The main problem with this book is that it goes through 150 pages of explaination without any examples. When they hit you with the actual hands on templates tutorial at page 151, they assume you digested the previous 150 pages and give you ZERO meaningful direction back to the relevant topics being demonstrated. The benevolent authors feel that "use methods described in earlier chapters" is enough direction for their readers, which is absolutely ridiculous.

In frustration, i began searching the web and found an excellent tutorial on pattysite.com about creating nested templates that was infinitely more valuable than this book for getting started with templates. it explained the overall structure of templates in a very concise manner.

After working through the pattysite nested templates tutorial, the book was a somewhat useful guide to the inner workings of dreamweaver templates. Also to be fair, the authors are fairly active on the dreamweaver newsgroups and are readily available for grilling / answering questions. (they will be hearing from me shortly)

So summarizing my rant above, buy this book if you already use templates and want to learn some new tricks, skip it if you don't. This book could easily be reduced to half its size, but as we all know, that doesn't sell very many books. The common logic is that the heft of a manual is directly proportional its value...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome! A Dreamweaver MX User's Template Bible!, November 13, 2002

By 

Phyllis Adams (Dover, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreamweaver MX Templates (Paperback)

As a Professional Website Designer/Developer, it is my job to make sure that I offer my clients a well designed website that they will not only be comfortable with, but proud of. Templates make things a lot easier - but not everyone knows how to use them.

The best way that I've found to learn the ins and outs of Templates in Dreamweaver MX is this book. It is written in a language anyone can understand. It offers hands-on projects to show you, not just tell you, how things work. Whether you are an experienced Dreamweaver User or Website Developer, or a beginner, this book can walk you through the process of using templates to design your websites easily and effectively. It's insightful, well-thought-out, well-written, and an extremely useful tool that I would recommend to anyone at any level. Thanks Brad and Murray for writing this awesome book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery of DWMX Templates Solved!, October 28, 2002

By 

P.J. "katsuey" (LANSING, KS, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreamweaver MX Templates (Paperback)

Dreamweaver MX Templates is the first great "how to" book for utilizing the power of library items and templates. Of all the mysteries not well understood about DW features, Templates is certainly high on the list.

Mystery solved!

Brad and Murry have covered the territory well with a book that starts at the beginning (section 1) and builds (section 2) so that anyone reading the book can walk away confident in the uses of templates, new template features in DWMX and the awesome timesaver available in library items.

Instructional and easy to read material, complimented by easy to understand exercises reveal the power in templates, library items and snippets.

A great book for those new to the power in DWMX and a good reference guide for those who understand DWMX but just haven't gotten the hang of templates and library items.