Customer Reviews

The Joy of Dreamweaver MX: Recipes for Data-Driven Web Sites

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book teaches Dreamweaver MX by using actual examples, by providing step by step instructions and finished code.

Unfortunately, there are tools (third party extensions) that are recommended and used in the tutorials but are not available for use. They are either available at additional cost or are just not compatible with this version of Dreamweaver.

This leads to nothing but frustration as key concepts cannot be explored. I am referring to concepts such as file uploads and adding records to table (with identity key). I purchased this book to bring me up to speed so that I could implement a project I'm currently working on and due to it's shortcomings I feel inclined to return it as I cannot follow the examples that I really need.

In an attempt to be fare I'll continue by saying that the author does state that the book is not for novices and that it's shortcomings can probably be worked around by reviewing the finished code. But that, I think, defeats Dreamweaver Mx's main purpose of providing server side behaviours without (much) coding. Also the code generated by MX is not the easiest thing to make sense of.

As I developed a whole website with the receipes of this book, I cannot understand the negativ comments on this book. Either these people did not do what was written or they did not understand the concept. With me all examples worked and I got all needed extensions for free. It deals with ColdFusion and ASP, not with PHP or JSP. For this you need another book.
As I do webdesign for several years and wanted to start with data-driven websites, I needed a book with many good, practical examples. I found it with this book. All examples are explained that everybody can understand it, though I would say it is not for beginners in webdesign. Though the example website from a designers standpoint is not very inspiring, it has many good features which are essential for dynamic websites. It shows the whole concept of databases and the needed environment for development. It shows in a quick way the relational concept of the databases and then starts with the first examples for a very practical contact form and goes on with other easy examples, all with the functionality of ColdFusion or ASP. Then it shows extensively the use of a database for dynamic data on a website: Reading, writing, deleting records, creating overview and detail pages and so on.
In short, this book did teh job I bought it for: It helped me to get familiar with data-driven websites. Now I don't hesitate anymore to use the functionality ASP (I did not use ColdFusion) provides. On the contrary, now I always use these features to improve the usability of my websites.

I found this book to be exactly what I needed (and had been looking for for quite a while): information that capitalized on my UD4 experience and helped make the transition to DWMX, concrete examples that led to building two great sites, a side-by-side comparison of Cold Fusion MX to help me figure out what all the CF hullabaloo was about, and a sense of humor in the writing.
As mentioned by an earlier reviewer, there is one time where the book calls for an extension that must be purchased ... and a couple of times where extensions must be utilized which reportedly do not work with MX (they do work-the author's book support site tells you how to make very minor code tweaks). This should not be enough to make anyone decide not to purchase the book. The author's book support site ... is truly supportive and helped me with above issues very quickly.
Buy the book. It's absolutely essential.

I was really disappointed when I got this book. I opened it up and it was written exclusively for Windows users. :-( I wouldn't have ordered it had I known.

Additionally, the projects are not anything I will likely ever do and some of the step-by-step instructions are somewhat on the basic side and a real waste of space. (I already know how to fill a rectangular selection with colour.) Plus, the necessity of other third party softwares (which are also Windows exclusive) left me with nothing to gain from this book.

I will not be able to say enough about this book in a single review. Dreamweaver MX is an absolute treasure chest and a developer's dream, but before I bought this book, I had no idea. I have used Dreamweaver for years, but Dreamweaver MX is an altogether different beast. First and foremost, the author has a very engaging writing style. I was not bored or worse yet, overwhelmed by the coverage. Second, he has put together some very cool applications. He walks you through the development and deployment of every application, allowing you to get up and running with Dreamweaver MX in no time. If you know Dreamweaver, you can use this book to take advantage of the new MX functionality. If you don't know Dreamweaver, buy this book, and the author will teach you to build practical web applications. This is a solid 5-stars.

This is a nice book for those of us who are familiar with Dreamweaver and web application development in general. Beginners may have a difficult time. The projects are decent and the code available for download is complete.

I actually changed my rating.

This is an excellent book and I am learning alot.

I still do not like the Cold Fusion/ASP overlap and would have preferred two books, but now I think that is a minor flaw.

Not recommended for beginners, this book covers form-based database interaction. The examples cover only ASP and Cold Fusion, however, which was disappointing ...

This is definitely not a bad book, if used in conjunction with several others. The real estate site seems to work but lots...lots of steps are missing along the way. Apparently the author knows what he is doing but forgets that we don't, hence that's why we bought the book.

Good content, 'Horrible' instructor/author.

This is the book that I was waiting for during the UltraDev 4 series, which never materialized. Great examples covering many areas rather than the typical, owner's manual type books that are the norm. This book goes beyond the simple stuff and gets you into the nitty gritty. Grab one of the other 'For Dummmies' type books to show you where things are. Get this one to show you how to actually USE the program effectively. One minor gripe which I share with another reviewer...the mish mash of Cold Fusion and ASP. Would have been nice as two separate books.