Customer Reviews

Inside Dreamweaver MX (Inside (New Riders))

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although mainly written for the beginning Web design student, I found this book to be a fun review of my own roots in basic HTML and the Web, in general. Also, being new to Dreamweaver's way of doing things, I found the book to be a complete and thorough walk-through of Dreamweaver's every feature.

I enjoy books that take you step-by-step through the process of a thing. Inside Dreamweaver is a great example of that. Each chapter lays the groundwork for chapters to come. At the same time, each chapter (after introductory chapters are out of the way) gives repeated opportunity to learn and solidify skills by doing a fun example.

A fun example? Yeah! I had fun. At least one of the authors (maybe more) has a true flair for simple, yet attractive designs. I've been designing Websites and Web applications (in other programs) for 5 years and I enjoyed the "silent" review of simple design concepts presented-not in words-but in the "good" designs themselves.

I'm glad to see a book, like this instruct it's readers in correct practices. I meet allot of Webmasters who have "known" HTML for years, yet struggle with the "new" standards, such as XHTML 1.0. I scratch my head at this. Not much has changed! Only now the standards are enforced and deprecated code will fail. I've been a big believer in standards compliance since first reading "HTML 4.0 - No Experience Required (Sybex)". And now it's nice to see another book, "Inside Dreamweaver", perform the same service to it's readers by letting them know what is and is not recommended.

"Inside Dreamweaver" will instill confidence in the beginning student and provide reliable and accurate review of sound Web design principles for both the new and veteran Webmaster.

Seriously one of the most incredible reference books I've ever come across!
I chose to follow this book chapter by chapter as there is so much that's new in Dreamweaver MX, but I will keep it near as a reference manual for a long time.
Written in very accessible language, exercises interspersed with the text to break up the long lists of instructions, a CD full of the files that you need to complete the exercises, this book covers everything! Not only did it fully cover Dreamweaver and the upgrade to MX but integrating with Flash, Java, ASP, Coldfusion, Animating Layers... I really could go on for pages and pages here.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly, for anyone who wants to work with Dreamweaver MX, weather you're brand new to the program or upgrading or even just want to really understand all the options that DW gives you for building websites.
You're covered whether you like to code by hand or drag and drop or a little bit of both (I prefer a little bit of both).

Before I got this book, I would have considered myself a power user of Dreamweaver, but I really had no idea - especially with behaviors, extensions and CSS implementation. It's really incredible.
A great book that really gets inside a terrific program - I'm giving this book the highest rating!

This is my introduction to Dreamweaver and web design, so I am not one to comment on the technical aspects (that is, whether the book has the best technical advice). However, I have read and written enough, and have read quite a few pieces of technical writing (I have 2 other books on Dreamweaver), to know that in terms of quality of writing, this is a winner. The book is actually a pleasure to read! (I wonder if that has to do with the fact that 2 of the authors are women!?) I have finished the first part already and everything is organized logically and explained very clearly--unlike many of the tech stuff out there (including some in the Dummies series) which often leave you scratching your head. (I do notice some minor typos here and there--too bad because the writing is superb.)

This is a big book, 1200 pages. It covers everything offered by MX as well as explaining good programming practices. It does this very well. However, I do not consider this a book for experienced users. MX includes so many features that it takes a book this size to just mention them all. Also, the good programming practices takes up almost as much space as the parts on how to use MX. If you are new to MX and to programming this book will give you an excellent start both in using MX and how to develop web projects in an intelligent manner.

Inside Dreamweaver MX is the book that should be included as the manual for Dreamweaver MX. At over 1100 pages long, the extent and depth of material is covered is amazing. It ranges from how Dreamweaver MX is organized (dissecting the workspace, explaining preference settings, setting up the panels, site management, etc), to designing pages in Dreamweaver MX (using Cascading Style Sheets, frames, layers, JavaScript, dynamic pages, etc.) Nothing is left out. Each chapter gives background of the concept at hand. It then has steps to accomplish a given task. Then there are optional exercises (CD contains files) to give you an actual hands-one experience. The exercises really give you confidence in learning the concept.

Both beginners and advanced users will find the book helpful. Beginners can use it to create good, solid professional web pages. Advanced users can use this as a manual to answer the question at hand.

The book is laid out in a very readable and understandable format. Screen shots emphasize what is being discussed. Note to PC users: all screen shots are taken from a Mac. At times there are differences between the two platforms. However in most cases they are the same. Note and tip boxes are scattered throughout for additional reinforcement and consideration about the topic.

For those who want to venture into creating dynamic pages, there's an entire section on using Dreamweaver to this end. This includes an introduction to dynamic site. What follows is a chapter dedicated to creating a website based on each of the various application servers. (ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, PHP, and JSP.) The exercises for this section include a small database to use. Step by step you put the pieces together that Dreamweaver MX utilizes in order create pages based on a database.

Bottom line: whether you're just beginning or a serious developer, you will want this book on your shelf. It's thorough and can be used as either a tutorial or a resource. No matter what's your level of expertise, you will find Inside Dreamweaver MX very handy.

Don't be fooled by people who may have read "Inside Dreamweaver MX" but didn't actually follow any of the step-by-step instructions. The three authors must have written the book using a beta version of Dreamweaver MX. Numerous commands that you are instructed to choose simply aren't there. Also, files you are instructed to copy from the CD aren't there or you have to be creative because the reference in the book doesn't match the name of the file on the CD.

It is painfully apparent that the collaborative efforts of the three authors failed (in my opinion). As a technical writer/web designer who is an expert in HTML, CSS and JavaScript but new to Dreamweaver, I read very carefully and follow instructions. When they repeatedly don't work as written, I place the book along with the others in my archives (I don't have the audacity to sell the used, poorly written copy to some unsuspecting fool on Amazon[.com] or eBay).

Bottom line? If you buy this book, open the package and immediately put it into the strongest vice you have. When you're through compressing the ten-pound volume, you might end up with one pound of accurate information. The last book of this magnitude that I bought online had 26 pages of errata on their website.

In summary, for those of you who are appalled because you gave "Inside Dreamweaver MX" 5 stars, my advice to you is, "follow some of the step-by-step instructions" and maybe you will feel my pain.

Inside Dreamweaver MX is an absolute must for novice Dreamweaver users and professionals alike. It's direct and uncluttered approach makes for a book which is both suited to reference and cover to cover reading.

As a user of Dreamweaver since it's conception I didn't expect to find much here that would interest me, but I was pleasantly surprised. In particular the 'Under the Hood' chapter and the 'Appendixes' proved a great read. The authors have managed to cover pretty much all bases, and I was pleased to find that the chapters on building dynamic sites, were not just in ASP, but also ASP.NET, ColdFusion, PHP and JSP. Many authors would have settled at covering this topic with just one language example!

Novices will be pleased to know that the authors also offer some valuable advice on managing projects and sites as a part of your Dreamweaver 'workflow' and comment from leading community figures backs this advice nicely. The book also covers the newer features in Dreamweaver MX (such as the extended templates functionality) extensively where other publications simply skim the surface.

I used to be quite pessimistic about the value of books which 'seemingly' acted as an alternative to the product manual, but Inside Dreamweaver MX really goes the extra distance.

Since the book was published in 2002 and I was working with Dreamweaver MX 2004 there were some differences in the directions and what I actually was able to do. This could be the reason for so many differing oppinions on this book. However once I was able to adjust from 2002 to 2004 we were off and running great.

This book was able to fill in the blanks of what I already knew in web site design and taught me new advanced features; while teaching me Dreamweaver. I am now sold on using Dreamweaver instead of just scripting all my code as I have been doing.

This book has good structure and the ability to build each chapter in such a way that each level up seems easy and quick to master. I would read the chapters and then follow the tutorial directions. Each chapter felt as easy as the first even when I was learning completely new material.

I am an experienced JSP and PHP programmer. I recently need to do some web design by myself. I have dreamweaver installed on my computer for a long time, but have never go a chance to explore the rich capabilities of this software. So I bought this book as a used one from Amazon market place for $11.

To my surprise, this turns out to be a very good book. Not only does it explains practical uses of the software, it teaches design principles as well. I spent 1 whole day and I finished 500 pages already. Most of examples are easy to follow. I think within 3 days, I should be able to work smoothly with Dreamweaver.

To whoever still doing handcoding HTML, I recommend this book.

An outstanding resource for anyone serious about learning as much as possible about DWMX within one title. It does a great job of explaining technical tasks and terms without coming across as technical. If you are a current DW designer, this book will take you beyond interface design issues and kindly introduce you to the developmental support that DWMX has become so robust in. If you are currently a developer, this book will give you good reference as to how MX handles ColdFusion, JSP and other common developmental tasks.

Of course, if you are altogether new to Dreamweaver, Inside DWMX is a great place to start. I can't recall a single title that was so comprehensive and yet geared towards novices and experienced users alike. It's not the most artistic book out there, but it is full of good no-nonsense tasks and explanations... more than enough to get you up and running without a bunch of unnecessary eye candy.