Customer Reviews

HomeSite 4.5 Fast & Easy Web Development

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

 

 

I have been using FrontPage for sometime, and was recently asked to begin exploring HomeSite as a scripting tool for ColdFusion (of which I knew very little). What a (pleasant) surprise to find that this book covers in detail how to both process forms and access a database using the ColdFusion scripting features built in to HomeSite (not to mention very solid information on ASP as well). While I would like to have had more specific information on the customization features available within HomeSite, this was a solid overivew of the program in general (certainly worth the $$, when compared to the documentation provided by Allaire).

I'm not completely through this book yet. I like the format and the step-by-step approach with lots of boxes for special notes and cautions. There are a few typos (as mentioned in previous reviews) but, in my opinion, they are minor and did not distract from the subject material.

I am writing this reveiw now because: 1) the www.prima-tech.com site is not working and 2) I wanted to tell readers how to get past a difficulty that I had on page 84.

You need to know the IP address of your PC in order to utilize Personal Web Server while testing your work. There may be other methods, but I did the following: 1) open a MS-DOS window and 2) type "ipconfig" at the c:\windows>" prompt. You can then use this address within your browser (connected or not) to test your work. The author assumed that I already knew how to get and use my IP address. He should include a box on page 84 to explain how to do this for each operating system covered in the book.

I won't expound on all the typo's already reviewed. I'm disappointed that there is no meat to the book. It is a book of "click this button and you will get these results" There seems to be nothing more here than in the included documentation. Lots of verbage too. I don't need 5 lines of text explaining why the author chose to use an underscore as part of the name of the folder he created, or a whole page dedicated to the installation status bar. I bought the book for more detail on a few different aspects of Homesite and got absolutely nothing out of it. I wasted my money.

While this book made it simple to practice using HomeSite's features, I found many typographical errors throughout. One in particular appears on page 189, in the "Caution" sidebar. Instead of listing the title and author of another Prima Publishing book, the text reads, "... be sure to check out TITLE HERE, by Author Name ..." Ouch! Overuse of commas also is prevalent throughout this book. I purchased HomeSite 4.5 Fast & Easy Web Development because of its hands-on format. It's disappointing--and a poor reflection on Prima Publishing--that this book couldn't have been edited better.

I have met John W. Gosney, I know John W. Gosney, John W. Gosney is a friend of mine. I don't know about the quality of his books (I'm a sales guy, not a techie) but I do know he has a truly massive forehead.