Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Office FrontPage® 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Step by Step is an entry-level training book made for people who are able to navigate the Windows operating system without any hassles, but have little to no experience with programming languages, HTML coding, or FrontPage.

If that description sounds like you, and you feel overwhelmed by the massive reference guides at your local bookstore, this is probably a good place to start, because it's quick, easy, and serves as a stepping stone to more in-depth training and reference guides.

The lessons in this book will take the average user about an hour a piece to work through, making the entire course (11 lessons covered in 288 pages) a breeze to finish. The book spends time explaining the various menu and pane choices, which helps the user understand why they're clicking all those checkboxes.

While the lessons do not go in-depth into the intricate features of FrontPage 2003, the most important (in other words, the most used) features are covered, and give the user a very quick and effective overview of the program's capabilities and intuitive features.

The book also takes some time here and there to give the user some basic web design pointers regarding what to avoid, how to most effectively present information, and other tips of the sort.

A problem that many first-time users (the core audience) will encounter with this book is the fact that in later chapters, it relies heavily on the user having access to servers with Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions/SharePoint Services installed. If the user does not (many basic homepage servers don't provide this), publishing and observing how certain key features work will not function correctly, and the user is left having to skim the chapter tutorials, trying to "learn by not doing". For the purposes of this book, Microsoft should have set up an adequate server that users could log on to and practice on.

Additionally, some of the general paragraph text in the book was somewhat hard on the eyes (not true for the tutorial steps themselves), and should have been printed in a slightly bolder font. Also, with the paper being so firm, it was hard to keep the book open to the right page without having to bend and damage the spine.

Overall, this is a very unintimidating and effective hands-on introduction to FrontPage 2003, featuring tutorials that are very easy to follow, with a good quick reference section for making your own webpage creations.

Advanced users, however, should steer clear.

I had absolutely no experience with building a website before purchasing this book and using it's lessons to learn Frontpage. After a weekend doing all of the lessons, I was able to set up the structure of a website for my department (a large radiology department), which I've been refining since. I plan to use the Frontpage 2003 Inside Out book to add more depth to what I already know.

I agree with the last reviewer that the paragraph structure could be improved--I tended to lose my place going back and forth between the book and the monitor. But this is a minor complaint. The point is that if you are an absolute beginner, this is a great way to learn enough to get started, which is often the most difficult part. Other more detailed references can be used later once you understand and can work with the basic concepts. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment when you are able to see the results of your work in fairly short order!

I actually bought 3 books: Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Step-by-Step, Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Inside-Out, and Que Special Edition Using FrontPage 2003.

Step-by-step is a very useful starting point, but you'll soon run out of this book. By far, the best of the 3 is Que's Using FrontPage 2003 - it is excellent! FrontPage 2003 Inside-Out is good IF you're interested in Active Server Pages.

But all in all - if you want to buy just one I recommend Que Special Edition Using FrontPage 2003. The format lets you learn by solving problems that you run into. For example, you want find out about Banners, the book not only answers your questions but gives you the background and advise on using the feature. And the author is very candid about suggesting when to use and NOT use a particular feature. The authors obviously have used the product for real-world web sites and really wanted to share their experiences and knowledge.

I knew nothing about FrontPage 2003 before going through this book and now I think I know about 20% of what I need to know. Even having 28 years of experience in mainframe and PC programming experience, I am still having a problem getting my head around creating web sites. I could easily follow the exercises in this book but all I was doing is following the exercises. When I went back to try one again, I found out that I had saved the completed exercises over those provided on the CD. I had to uninstall and then re-install the CD to have the ability to re-work the exercises.

The index is seriously lacking in content. I tried to create my own web site, rather than use the ficticious ones used in the exercises, and I came up short when I tried to add links to my personal pages. I looked to the index for help and couldn't find any.

In one of the exercises I was supposed to add some photos to a web page. When I opened the folder that was supposed to contain the photos, it was empty!

All in all, the book is OK...but I will need a more in-depth book to help me complete the creation of my personal web page for my small business.

I have been creating web pages with other tools for about 6 years and thought I would try Frontpage.

Pros
Examples are basic, but the book touches on quite a few Frontpage topics
There are tutorial files for each lesson, meaning you can jump from topic to topic without having to perform the steps of a prior lesson

Cons

Did not think the book explained the automated page banners and shared borders well, an important feature that distinguishes Frontpage from some other products
It took me a long time to understand the directory structure employed by Frontpage and the tutorial files
Other than the tutorial files, none of the files on the CD amount to much

Would not recommend this book to anyone. The step by step approach might be effective in a class, if there was an instructor to fill in the gaps.

For those wishing to customize a SharePoint site, FrontPage is one way to go. The authors, Online Training, produce excellent materials and this book is perfect for the novice FrontPage user. The material covered and approach is what a new user needs to get started and feel that they are making progress toward developing a web site. While other books overwhelm the user, this book serves up topics (with great hands-on exercises) in small manageable and logical sections. If you are new to FrontPage, this book is all you need to get started. Experienced users are better served by Jim Buyens' FrontPage Inside Out book.

I purchased this book while taking a HTML course to design our office webpage. It is a great book to use for learning Frontpage and I would highly recommend it.

Dana Robertson
Practice Coordinator
www.drperna.com

Even though I bought 2 other good books on FP 2003, I'd probably recommend this one to someone who could only purchase one book. Especially if you're like me with no prior FrontPage experience at all.

The book comes with a CD that has a fictional website on it so you can practice. You install the CD and all the files are right there for you. Just follow along in the lessons and make the changes to the Garden Company website, learning as you go.

You definitely get plenty of practice with basic commands of opening and closing sites, opening to folder view and other commands that just playing around with it myself, I couldn't remember how to do in FP2003.

I've only completed the first few lessons but found them very enjoyable and educational. I may not use all the features that are explained. I might even decide to import my current site which is already up and running into FP, just so I can have more control over it. But at least I am learning different ways to build a site with this program if I do need to start over. I like that several different methods for doing things are presented. You practice each and decide which will work best for your situation.

The lessons I've done so far are broken into digestible pieces. If you're short on time and can't complete a lesson in one sitting, just close the fictional site where it says to, mark your place and start again when you have time.

Even after I've deleted the fictional website and started a real one, I know I'll refer to this book quite often. It may not be for experts or people who know FP like the back of their hand, but it's definitely a good thing for beginners like me. I don't feel like I'll outgrow it very soon!

I bought this book to help me build my own web page. I learned how to follow their directions to build a fictional webpage. When it came time to build my own, however, I was at a loss. The exercises were easy to follow, but if your information or needs are different this book is really not of much help. I do have a nice website for their fictional company... now I need to purchase another book to build a website for my own.

Does not provide directions for "Step-by-Step" creation of your own original web site. It continously refers to the example on the included CD so you recreate that website.

Poorly written and confusing. Do not waste your money if you are trying to build a custom website.