Customer Reviews

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 for Windows & Macintosh

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

 

 

I had not been using Dreamweaver for very long before obtaining this manual-and as many of my associates can attest to, I was ready to hit "uninstall" several times per day. I found Dreamweaver to be very cluttered and difficult to navigate. I am happy to report that Ms. Towers' book prevented the uninstall process as far as Dreamweaver was concerned. By following this book from the first chapter and working through the tutorials, even a beginner can successfully configure Dreamweaver and begin designing fully functional and aesthetically pleasing web sites.

However, I did find a few areas too lightly covered, such as making and working with custom templates. Also, being aware that this book is focussed on a Macromedia product, I would have liked to have seen more information for working with or importing work from, other applications such as PhotoShop and Image Ready. Understandably Ms. Towers covered a bit more about integrating Dreamweaver with Macromedia's Fireworks, but even working in the design field, I personally know very few people who use Fireworks as opposed to PhotoShop.

There were a few other areas I would have liked to have seen handled differently or perhaps laid out in a different format. I found that when trying to learn how to use Dreamweaver's CSS tools, I had to do a fair amount of chapter jumping to get the information I needed. Personally I would prefer to have like functions grouped together for ease of advancement in that area.

The illustrative examples are numerous, well-labelled and relevant to each page's content. In many areas, I found the illustrations to offer a better explanation of how to accomplish something than the textual instructions. In my opinion, one of the best sections in this book was that on managing web sites. Gone are the days when the majority of websites consist of one page of information and perhaps a few graphics. Even a simple personal site can easily encompass several pages of content. The tips on managing everything from a small domain to a large network are very practical and invaluable.

I would have liked to have seen some quick reference tables and or appendices in this book; while there are many such resources online, I still find Dreamweaver to be somewhat cluttered and it's easier to be able to look up a reference table than it is to find what I need somewhere in the programme. Besides, some of us still like books. Overall I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this book to anyone who is just starting out with Dreamweaver, but I would hesitate in recommending it to someone new to both Dreamweaver and web designing, as many areas of this book seem to assume that the reader is more than a novice as far as web coding knowledge is concerned.

As a training aide, this book started off badly and got only slightly better. For those who know nothing about Dreamweaver at all, a better initial learning source is needed.

The text spends a great deal of time going over redundant items that it would seem anyone with a modicum of Windows experience would know already; this is mainly a matter of navigating the basic Windows interface. This is not a bad thing, in and of itself, for those with limited experience but it gets infuriating when something a little more advance, actually using Dreamweaver, is attempted. At that point, readers must make leaps of faith and, all too often, the general descriptions given have only a passing resemblance with what appears on the screen. I get the impression that the book was written for an earlier product and that the updating process was not complete.

The matter of the screen shots is another problem area. The book is full of them. Unfortunately, many of them are so small that discerning any details is often problematical. That is bad enough with my 41 year old eyes but my nephew's 16 year old eyes did not fare much better.

The explanations as to the process of setting up a site are the most infuriating at all. The author admits that this is where most people have the most trouble. That is a clear signal to pay attention. The job is then bungled. Looking in other books made it clear.

The book is not without its strengths. Later on, when things like dealing with frames, images, styles and such are presented, the explanations are for the most part clear and intelligible. The screen shots are still too small to be useful but the text generally made the reading worthwhile.

If you already know the very basics, this book might help. I think it would be better to look for another one though.

I started with this book because I decided to do an independent study of dreamweaver at my high school and it was the only one the computer lab had. I may not have chosen it if I was picking one for myself, I don't really know, but it's worked out quite well for me. It goes over everything I really needed to know, it wraps up concepts fairly well in their respective chapters so I could skip to or over what I wanted not to bother with or get to quicker withou too much trouble. My only complaint is really minor and only because I use computers quite a bit. It goes over, sometimes in some detail, even basic functions such as renaming a file by clicking, waiting, and clicking again or write clicking. It explains how to save and how to click from one window to another when they're both up on screen anyways. It was a bit frustrating at times, sort of funny at others, but skipping over those it taught me quickly what I wanted to know and now I've got dreamweaver MX at my house and I bought the same book because it was quite useful and I know how they write it. They include pictures of the menus and functions pretty much every page as well to help you out.

I only rated this book a 4 because although I've read dozens of software books, the only other book on Dreamweaver I'd read was a no-frills intro. Tarin's book delves deep into the hard-core details of this annoyingly complex, but increasingly necessary set of tools. This book is actually fun to read - I liked that. It is also irreverent - I REALLY liked that. The examples are crisp and easy to follow, if you think them through. I especially liked Chapter 10 on converting Excel and Word data to HTML, as Dreamweaver has a way of shrinking them to acceptable file sizes - a pain to sort out on your own. Dreamweaver's complexity can give you nightmares. This book, will let you count sheep instead. Good work Tarin.

Being able to follow directions well is not good enough for this book. This book was recommended to me by teachers, but it is useless and should not be used at all. I don't like that the visuals are old, and it is worse if you are using a MAC because they are mainly for PCs. The instructions are not straight foward - for instance I tried to upload my site images and half way through his instructions I was lost--I coulnd't find the windows he was referring to. I struggled for hours and finally, feeling defeated, I googled what I needed and found a web site that had more straight forward instructions. If I ever wanted to throw your computer or a book out the window, this was the time. Also, he seems to abbreviate his instructions to emcompass all the how to's in short sentences, but it gets too abbreviated that there seems to be steps missing -- he does this through out the book and uses names of windows this way as well. To my opinion this is definitely a waste of money and I regret buying it.

Great reference for those who would like to develop more web sites. Although it is not easy to absorb all the details in a short period of time. Give yourself adequate time to learn and absorb all the information while working on your samples. The Internet is now becoming a common media being utilized by universities and educators. Online learning has become more accessible 24/7 in any part of the globe. The lessons delivered through the Internet are more interesting if they are carefully designed and allow student interaction.

The companion web site mentioned in the book is not there. When I typed in that URL, I got redirected to Peachpit's advertising site of this book, but no "links", "tools", nor "examples" mentioned in the book at all!

I had to buy this book for a class. It is an extremely boring read and I struggle to keep myself awake while reading it (as does the rest of the class I am told). It does tell you about Dreamweaver though and I suppose that is its purpose. One thing that I do not like is the way the author is constantly bashing Internet Explorer and other isp's. His personal opinions are a real turn-off and unnecessary.