Customer Reviews

Dynamic Dreamweaver MX

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

 

 

I purchased this book because I am new to DreamWeaver and I wanted to read about some advanced topics. What I got from this book was a whole lot more. Typically, I work with 32 bit apps, and web is sort of a new area to me, so I was having a hard time deciphering all the acronyms and understanding what they are for. All I found in each book about any topic was code/syntax with no explination as to what any of this was used for. Dynamic Dreamweaver MX was the first book that showed me the whole picture starting with less advanced topics like HTML and CSS and then moving on to server side scripting with VBScript and ASP and databases. I dont think you need to even use DreamWeaver to get use from this book. If you are looking for a solid foundation in dynamic web pages from start to finish, I think this book is a great place to start.

This book gets you up and running immediately with Dreamweaver MX. What it doesn't do is waste time explaining every widget of the UI (which is greatly simplified and much more intuitive, anyway). What it DOES do is explain how to create professional sites quickly, taking a thorough look at web accessiblity, CSS, usability and emerging web standards. OK, you don't need this if you're making a 'look at my holiday pictures' site. But if you want to get a competitive edge for your company or design agency, you need to understand these concepts. What I particularly like is the fact that the authors do same job as me. They understand real concerns. Rachel Andrew is on the Dreamweaver task force for the web standards project - you can't get much more knowledgeable an author than that, but she's also a professional web designer.

Highly recommended. Why don't Macromedia get these guys to write the manual for MX2?

I went through this book and can now design dynamic data-driven ASP pages. Since Macromedia is focused on Cold-Fusion it is a relief to have a reference that explains using DreamweaverMX with ASP. There are more hosting providers available offering ASP hosting (at a reasonable price) than offer Cold Fusion (usually adds 20 or more US dollars a month to the base cost of hosting). So it is "cheaper" to work with ASP. I found this book to be very helpful and highly recommend this to anyone who wants to move from static pages to dynamic. It covers all the basics you would need to connect to a database and build recordsets and use the behaviors in DWMX. There is tons of info on the internet also. This book taught me a lot in a short amount of time and then I found all sorts of sites on the internet that had tutorials or free downloads. After reading this book I was able to understand the things on these various websites. I could then zero-in on a particular solution to something I was doing for a client's site and get the answer either from the book or from an online source. The foundation I got from this book has enabled me to dive deeper into DWMX and take better advantage of its many tools. I had a design background (Quark, Illustrator etc) and needed to make the jump to the "dark side" - programming and handcoding. This book de-mystified those scary subjects and I am now seeing lines of code in my sleep.

Hats off to Glasshaus and kudos to the authors! Andrew, Elbaga, Foley, Regan, and Turnbull have not forgotten what it was like to be a beginner! Dynamic Dreamweaver MX is not just for beginners though. The book takes you through the stages of developing a dynamic website from Introducing Dreamweaver MX to Advanced Techniques. The reader is given a solid foundation on which to build. Concepts are fully explained and reinforced with hands-on tasks. I found it amazing that so much valuable information could be found in just 358 pages! This book has helped me understand not only the "how to" but, more importantly, the "why". The only question I have now is "why did it take so long for a book like this to be published"?

Added note. Do not confuse .asp with asp.net. they are two separate server technologies. this book covers conventional asp, not the newer .net.

This should have been an excellent book. I bought it after carefully considering many other books with similar focus (including reading the Amazon reader reviews). I've been using DW since version 2 and certainly didn't want a basic primer. This book promised to zero in on exactly what I wanted: using DWMX to create dynamic sites with ASP.

All 5 authors seem to be knowledgeable and competent writers; a single author wrote each chapter. But IMO this book sorely needed editing for overall consistency and comprehensiveness. The whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts.

I suppose I was expecting something structured along the lines of Wrox's "Beginning ASP Databases": an ongoing, easy-to-implement tutorial that illustrates all of the theory in a consistent manner.

But the tutorials in this book were fragmented and difficult to follow, each one using different conventions, and often omitting information (which was sometimes found in later chapters but would have been useful earlier).

I'd love to see a second edition of this book that takes all of this information but presents it in a more cohesive manner. As it is, in order to set up PWS and get any of the examples to work, I had to rely heavily on other books and online tutorials (notably the Webthang tutorials for DWMX). It's been an exercise in frustration.

Dynamic Dreamweaver MX is an excellent book for Advancing Web Designers. I have lost count of the times I have spent [money] on a book hoping and praying that it contains at least 5 or so pages of answers to my questions within the 500 Pages it contains. I found EVERY PAGE in this book to be comprehensive and straight to the point. It is by far the best book I have yet purchased in the field of Web Design. I am at the point where I know all the basics and I need to push towards designing dynamic sites. This book gave me an absolute Solid Base to venture forth. I purchased this book a few days ago and I am already building Database driven sites with the knowledge I have gained from it. If you are at the same point I am I highly recommend you pick up this book. For the Price it is an absolute Bargain. I can see this book paying for itself 100 fold in the long run. As a matter of fact I recommend you check out all of Glasshaus's titles. Thier books are incredible. Thank You Glasshaus!!

Being a beginner to the world of database driven web applications I found this book somewhat useful. My only major beef with the book is that in my experience using the tutorials and exercises and trying to apply them to ASP.NET, the screens and server behaviors didn't match up correctly leaving me scratching my head and randomly searching Dreamweaver's pull-down menus for the correct item to match my current tutorial step? Now I'm not sure if this book was just too early for the .NET world and I am trying to apply the latest and greatest technology to a inappropriate book or if the marketing for this book was just too ambitious? Overall a decent book, but don't bank on this being your "bible" if you are working in ASP.NET.

This book is not for beginners. So if your new to data driven web sites, This book is not for you. Its starts of with just a few pages telling you about the new advances made within dreamweaver and just dives straight in at the deep end about the dynamic stuff. WHY CAN'T THESE AUTHORS WRITE IN A SIMPLE MANNER? They seem to assume that evrybody knows as much as them. Anyhow can I have my money back, please?

This book was a total let down.

I had great hopes when I scanned the contents of the book, but the whole book is badly written, and gives an overall impression of being rushed through.

There are far better books for creating dynamic sites with Macromedia products, and I strongy urge anyone to seek alternative reading.

Very disappointing.