Customer Reviews

Dynamic Web Site Development

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

 

 

Do not buy this "book" (it is actually a "Web-site" on CD) unless you are forced to buy it as required material for a class... and in that case - borrow it from some other poor soul who has already purchased it - since they certainly will be happy to get rid of it.

It is hard to imagine anyone finding this a helpful item. The author apparently has no idea how to present information in a cohesive and usable manner, and seems to have only a beginner or hobbyist level grasp of the principles he is attempting to teach.

He seems to be preaching about "Intelligent Tutoring Systems" and how to make a great web site using Javascript, but the overall navigation, presentation, and content of the "site" is so amateurish that it is embarrassing. Most of his code examples are of poor quality and show a misunderstanding of programming principles, or are at least so poorly thought through that it is a disservice to the student or Javascript beginner to offer this material as being instructional. In my opinion, the student will come away from this material with a misunderstanding of web site development, Javascript programming, and professional practices - if she/he is able to actually follow the materials and can get past all the broken links and dead-end pages that is.

One example of the poor quality of the material is that when you select the button to view the "correct" answers for two of the three Javascript tutorial quizzes - you are shown the answers to the first quiz. Not very helpful! And this is typical of much of the material.

If the author had followed his own advice in the following quote from the "book" then perhaps at least the material would be readable and navigable, if still virtually useless:

"Creating an effective and attractive Web site involves much more than throwing images and text onto a background graphic. Flashy images and super-cool technology won't keep viewers on your site. It's necessary to learn how to construct a creatively-designed, carefully developed, consistently maintained Web site."

Don't bother buying this product - you are guaranteed to be disappointed.

This is probably one of the worst teaching CD's I have ever seen. Indeed, the author, who is also the instructor for the college course, clearly has no concept of what good programming skills or good presentation styles are . The entire course was basically copy & paste exercises with no real instruction whatsoever. There was no challenge. I could have learned just as much on my own. To add insult to injury: he gets the money for the poorly written (and required) CD. I would give it 0 stars if I could.

This CD-ROM book took me step-by step through all the intricate moves necessary for programming and installing a well-designed web site. The clear instructions are beautifully organized and illustrated throughout. I highly recommend it to anyone who has basic computer skills. The designers of some of the sites I've visited could improve their skills if they took lessons from this first-class instruction manual.