Customer Reviews

Joseph Lowery's Beyond Dreamweaver

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I must admit this is the first Dreamweaver book that I have purchased since 2000. During the past two years, I couldn't find a Dreamweaver book worth buying. I have been using Dreamweaver almost daily since 1997 and I found that I have reached the point where I didn't need to buy a book with each new release. I just read about the new features in the Dreamweaver manual.

Now, like this book's title suggests, Joe Lowery has taken Dreamweaver far beyond the information found in any previous book or manual. Like a skilled mechanic, Lowery opens up Dreamweaver MX's hood and takes us on a journey through the program's vast javascript and xml classes and libraries. He shows how to use Dreamweaver to import and export XML templates, cascading style sheets, and how to template navigation systems. This is information that you won't find in any other book or even on Macromedia's manuals or website. If you are an experienced Dreamweaver developer and want to know more, this is your guide to all the nooks and crannies in this great program. No where else can you read about extending Dreamweaver with javascript interfacing with C++.

Still, this book isn't perfect. I wonder why Lowery bothered to devote a chapter to SMIL. SMIL is a multimedia language that has been around for years, and it has never gained a following. SMIL's biggest drawback is that it requires the user have either a RealMedia or QuickTime player installed. Most developers who are serious about multimedia will use either Flash or DHTML, which doesn't require a special player (Note that the Flash player comes standard on newer Microsoft and Apple operating systems). Yes, the Dreamweaver editor can be used to create SMIL applications, but this chapter should have been used for something more useful.

Nonetheless, this is a great read for the experienced Dreamweaver developer who is looking to expand their knowledge. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.

Joseph Lowery has a love affaire with Dreamweaver dating back to 1998 and version 1.0; that's why this book is more than just an expert writing about a piece of software, Joseph is passionate about Dreamweaver and the result is a real work of love. The book contains 10 chapters, covering different topics; each chapter stands on its own, allowing the reader to pick only one topic at time, there is no need to read from cover to cover here. The vast majority of the material available here is simply not available elsewhere; Mr Lowery covered things that may surprise even a seasoned Dreamweaver veteran like me. If you enjoy pushing Dreamweaver to its limits you can't miss this one

If you have been working with Dreamweaver for some time now, and are ready to take your skills to the next level, Beyond Dreamweaver is the perfect resource. Through a concise and straightforward writing style, the author takes you on a broad exploration of development possibilities beyond Dreamweaver's "everyday" usage.

The book begins with an excellent chapter on the ease of integrating Dreamweaver MX with Content Management Systems. While this chapter may not seem as relevant to developers since Macromedia's introduction of their content management system - Contribute, it clearly demonstrates the extensibility of Dreamweaver. In doing so, it opens the reader's mind to virtually unlimited possibilities for creating custom integrations. Additionally, it continues to be a valuable example for developers using other Content Management Systems such as Interwoven or BlueMartini.

The next chapter provides an excellent overview of Section 508 website accessibility requirements. It also discusses new features available in Dreamweaver MX that will assist developers in ensuring that their websites are accessible.

Beyond Dreamweaver goes on to provide a great introduction to XML. Examples clearly demonstrate how to use Dreamweaver MX, both to export template content to XML and import XML into Dreamweaver templates.

The next few chapters present a variety of techniques that will enhance productivity. You will learn how to build Sequential Navigational Systems for both small and large scale websites; about Dreamweaver's ability to cross-integrate with other Macromedia products such as Fireworks and Flash; and how to go beyond Dreamweaver's built in capabilities and actually build your own custom cross-product extensions.

If you are interested in creating your own extensions, Beyond Dreamweaver explains how to use the standard classes and libraries that ship with Dreamweaver as a starting point. And if you really want to dig in and explore under the hood, it gives you an excellent example of how to take this even further by using C++ to create your own extensions to JavaScript.

The chapter "Making Flash Connections" was of particular interest to me as a designer/developer who specializes in Flash site development and dynamically generated database driven websites. A valuable example that was provided demonstrates the ability to pass data - either static or dynamically generated - from a Dreamweaver coded page to a Flash .swf file. Additionally, a second example demonstrates the new Flash Remoting features which allows Flash to send and receive more complete data structures. I particularly enjoyed exploring the possibilities of combining the Macromedia tri-product MX powerhouse - Flash, Dreamweaver and ColdFusion. Quite a combo!

Beyond Dreamweaver does not extensively delve into any one topic. Instead it provides the reader with a broad range of examples that can be used as a springboard for further exploration.

Being a Dreamweaver author, instructor, and avid user, I see the amazing power that the tool has to offer on a day to day basis. Most people will agree that Dreamweaver's complexity ranges far beyond that of simply creating layers, attaching behaviors, and working with style sheets. This book dives right into the complexities that most people never see or use but probably should. Accessibility, XML, extension development, and content management are all covered within this book, in a way that only Joseph can captivate users.

Beyond Dreamweaver MX is for designers and developers looking to take full advantage of the power of Dreamweaver MX. Instead of attempting to be a complete Dreamweaver reference, the book focuses on providing experienced users with tools to solve some common real world problems. In addition to addressing specific issues such as integrating with a content management system (CMS) or creating accessible sites, Beyond Dreamweaver MX provides so much great general information concerning customization, extensibility, templates and Flash/Fireworks integration that it seems certain to be useful to almost any user who is looking to increase productivity. This makes Beyond Dreamweaver worthwhile for developers who have specific needs as well as anyone just looking for ways to make their workflow smoother.

What makes Beyond Dreamweaver different is not so much the features and topics it discusses, but that it covers them from a developer's perspective and places them in a real world context. There are other books that touch on the features mentioned in this book, but Beyond Dreamweaver presents some compelling real world reasons for utilizing these features as well as some helpful examples of how you can put them to work to make your life easier.

Joseph has written a very good book covering a bunch of topics that are sure to be useful to about anyone.
I found the Fireworks section of particular use in my upcoming releases of my commercial Dreamweaver photo galleries (inTensa, inTensaLite and the new Augwa). The class and library usage helped clear up a couple of questions I've had on those items. Other sections of the book will come in handy as I've taken some ideas from each section on developing to the fullest extent that Dreamweaver will allow.

Many users will find the 508 compliance, dynamic 2 static page generation (esp. useful now that Contribute is out) and Flash connection very handy. Windows users will be able to further explore the C++ integration in extensions as the final chapter of the book. A few good read.

DreamweaverMX is an incredible product, with features for almost every aspect of web design. Unfortunately, it's also an incredible product, with features for every aspect,etc...in other words, it's hard to find all that good stuff!

Joseph's book is an invaluable reference for advanced users who want to use all the power of DreamweaverMX. In particular, diving into the details of the extension layer, where almost all of Dreamweaver's functionality can be exercised, is very useful. His book also has some excellent information on the use of templates in advanced techniques.

I'm one of the developers of DreamweaverMX. I think Joseph has done a great job of exploring this product.

The Web is so varied now that one program can't do it all. However, Dreaweaver and its extensibility API tries very hard to allow you to do all that you need from within its programming envrionment. If it isnt' built in, Beyond Dreamweaver can give you direction on building it in for yourself.

From incorporating Dreamweaver into your current workflow, be it a CMS, accessibility, or streaming media, to integrating Dreamweaver closely with Fireworks and Flash, then through creating your own JavaScript and C++ libraries and objects, Joseph Lowrey expands your knowledge of Dreamweaver well beyond what is detailed in the program's documentation. By using pointed examples and line-by-line code analysis, Beyond Dreamweaver took me on a learning journey that left me with ideas popping out of my brain on how I could use my new found insights to make my life easier when developing and creating content.

This book isn't written for those that have just picked up HTML, but more focused on those developers that have experience with Dreamweaver and creating/developing content for the Web. If this is you, then you need to get this book. The more experience you have, the more this book will help you recognize how Dreamweaver can help you achieve your goals, easily and efficently.

Beyond Dreamweaver covers one of my favorite things about Dreamweaver, which is its open-endedness. Web design is all about pushing limits -- of our own knowledge, of HTML, of browsers -- and Dreamweaver gives its users lots of room to push. So you want to adapt Dreamweaver to work with your company's Content Management System? This book shows you how. You want to work with the latest, greatest XML-based language out there, even though Dreamweaver doesn't *officially* support it? Dreamweaver can support just about anything you throw at it, and this book shows you how. And each chapter is written from a problem-solving, why-would-I-want-to-do-this perspective that makes it quickly useful.

This book will show you what you didn't even know you need to know. I am a medium to advanced Dreamweaver user and I learned so much from this book, starting in the first chapter. I think this book is perfect for people who have used the software for a while, but don't really push it to its limits. Mr. Lowery shows you important things in two general categories: how to accomplish things you couldn't before and how to streamline your workflow to be more efficient.