Customer Reviews

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX for Windows & Macintosh

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

 

 

While this review is still basically correct it needs to be ammended because the appendeces on the web are not complete. When looking for an appendix Q, which was referred to in the book, the online appendeces only included A - N. The publisher referred me to the author, but the email addresses given only return errors. Very disappointing. The rating has dropped from 5 stars to 2 for this reason.

...This is called VISUAL QUICKSTART. When I want depth I look at publishers like MacMillan Technical, Wrox, and O'Reilly. When I want some help doing a project with software that is unfamiliar to me, then I look first at these guides. They are reasonably priced and get me working quickly.

I haven't found anything that claims this book is for advanced users, it is clearly marked beginning to intermediate. Nor is it a tutorial. It is 700 pages of direct instructions that are grouped by task that are well indexed with a complete table of contents. And it is all to the point, I don't have to wade through dross to get to the silver. It also has a companion website that provides extensive appendices, along with links to other sites that the web developers that I know recommend - webmonkey, killerwebsites, pagesthatsuck and more.

I would say that this book is for beginners at Dreamweaver, not new computer owners. I am comfortable technically, I want to put up a site with Dreamweaver, and this is a book that will keep me busy and learning new things for a long time. Since I am not a developer, along with the website it may well be the only book I will ever need. However, the online references need to be completed.

I really like this book. I'm pretty good at computers but I was stumped when trying to learn Dreamweaver on my own. The book breaks learning down in to easy to follow steps, and includes information for MAC users as well, although not as frequently as I'd like. Ms. Towers has tons of personality, and it comes through in her text. Unlike the other reviewer, I like how the book is organzied. It is written very sequentially so that the reader builds upon thier skills, even if this means not learning everything there is to know about a function until a later chapter. The author always notes this, and tells the reader where to skip ahead to if they need the advanced stuff now.

The information contained in this book is all available in the tutorials which come with the program. What's more, it is laid out in such a confusing way that it is next to useless. I'm going to check out Macromedia's *Dreamweaver from the Source* -- I was very impressed with their Freehand guide. As for this book, all I can say is "read the title ... and save your money."

As with other Visual Quickstart Guides, this book had me working in no time at all. It covers everything you need to know to get started with Dreamweaver MX and even goes a little deeper for more advanced users.

I got started with Dreamweaver 4 using the prevision edition of the Visual Quickstart book that I checked out from the library. I dislike online help because I get frustrated figuring out what to lookup. If you're a starter, you most likely have no clue about the web design lingo. I learned, without much pain, how to do navigation bars, library items, layers, timelines, tables, and frames. This is a great book for starters, but I won't buy it because it's a repeat of Dreamweaver 4's Visual Quickstart, and I am no longer a starter.

I've been using this to help learn Dreamweaver and while it's a good resource for basic information, it's definitely a mixed experience.

It seemed that every time that the book started heading toward a subject I found useful (timelines, animations, hotspots), the book would direct me to the appendices on their website. This was extremely frustrating. Plus some of these appendices were completely missing, like timelines and animations (Appendix N). I wanted to create an image slideshow -- advanced but not overly so -- but since the book was missing this subject completely, I had to patch together the information from a search on google.com.

And sometimes it's helpful if a book tells me what a program CAN'T do, so that I don't spend hours wasting my time on something won't work anyway. This book fails to do this, unlike the excellent Missing Manual guides.

I had a good experience with Peachpit's Photoshop 6 book, but this book has really turned me off from their products.

MacUsers you have all this information built in. If you have Dreamweaver MX go to the HELP>Welcome to open the Welcome panel and from there you will be accessing the OSX help for Dreamweaver MX. Same content, it's all there.

This title is almost as disappointing as the VQS for Golive (5 or 6). It's nothing more than a showing of how to press buttons in the UI.

Don't get this book unless you need a really quick reference book. This is not a quick learn book. Many times while reading and working in this book you will find your self in a place only to be given direction to get online and check the books website. Excuse me? Why did I by this book for, to get online or to have the information right here.

Yeh, thanks.

with illustrations and concise explanations for designing/publishing an outstanding web site - for beginning to intermediate designers, and the price is right!

Deamweaver can be a complicated program, but from what I heard from other reviews this book breaks it down. Dreamweaver is like Frontpage only it is a bit more complex. My Web Page Class starts learning dreamweaver next quarter so, this book will be a life saver for me.

This book is basic. If you are new to Dreamweaver and want an entry-level book to get your feet wet with, this will do it. However, if you need more than that, you're going to have to buy additional material. This falls short.