Customer Reviews

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide

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The word "Advanced" in the title may be a little misleading, but that's the worst thing I can say about this book. I am, by trade, a system administrator who wants to dabble in web frontends for databases. I think that makes me a beginner. Specifically, I have a simple Excel spreadsheet I've converted to a simple SQL 2000 database, and I want a simple frontend to update and query its records. Oddly to me, I could not find any direction from any of the Dreamweaver MX books with "Fundamentals" or "For Beginners" or "Introducing" in the titles. Some might say database connections is an advanced feature of MX, but I don't think so. Before I read this book, I didn't even know what ASP or VBScript was, really. The beginning of the book explains the different web technologies AND database technologies (wish I had used PHP and MySQL). Now I know the difference between JSP and Java and Javascript. After that introduction, they walk you through connecting to your database and setting up dynamic forms. It's all making sense now. I don't think you could depend on this book stand-alone without good ASP, HTML and SQL references, but it has been the best resource in my collection so far.

Could have a bigger variety of examples, not only products and clients. There are some intellectuals who use the web too. It left me with questions about certain matters that could be answered by the book easily.

Having worked with Dreamweaver since version 2, I went out looking for something to get me beyond the basics that every tutorial covers. I saw "Advanced" and thought, ah-hah! I've found it!

Nope. The topics it covers are about as in-depth as the Dreamweaver manual (which, of course, is free with your copy of Dreamweaver). If you are looking for how to create your own objects or behaviors, or how to really take advantage of the server scripting capabilities, this isn't your book.

What it does cover, it covers clearly, so if you are just starting out with Dreamweaver, don't pass by the book based on its title. By the time you are ready for advanced, you won't need it.