Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Office FrontPage® 2003 Inside Out (Bpg-Inside Out)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I judge all technical books based upon return on investment. If a book saves me time, that has value. I assess the value at $25 per hour of time saved, so I break even on a $50 book if I save 2 hours. I broke even on this book before I left the bookstore. I chose 5 topics, looked them up in the index, and read the reference. I learned something new and useful on 2 out of the 5 topics, enough so that I immediately was able to accomplish a task that had stumped me. I looked at four other books while I was in the store and none addressed my 5 topics. I've had the book for a week and it's helped me move along on many other issues. Before I had the book, I was using online help, Microsoft's materials at the FrontPage site, and other sites around the Web, none of which helped. 'Inside Out' is a winner.

I have been pushing the envelope of FrontPage's capabilities for the past several years on my website, www.TrainingCity.com .

Over the years I have become very familiar with FrontPage. When a friend asked for a recommendation for a FrontPage book that could take a person from "beginner to expert" I looked at a number of possible texts.

After reviewing several I came to the conclusion that this text was the overall best book to buy and keep. It covers everything Frontpage can do and provides a very well written set of explanations and examples.

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.

Fantastic Reference. I would call myself an intermediate user of Frontpage 2003. I run 5 websites and I use this book almost everytime I get stuck with an issue. It has not failed to cover anything I have needed knowledge on. I now use online forms, thanks solely to the information provided in this book. Those sections alone on forms and databases make it worth the money I paid for this book. I find that MS FP 2003 was a great upgrade from 2002 and I find that this book was the perfect learning tool and reference to go along with it. For the beginner, it is easy enough to use to understand and follow along and to grow with. I did check out several other books on this topic and none come close to this one.

I found this book very helpful. I am new to web design (fairly large amount of prior computer experience) and have found that with your book, I have been able to get up and running very quickly in FrontPage. I am well on my way to developing a website for my existing bricks and mortar business and a site for a new web-based business, all in a few days working between my other obligations. Thanks for a great product.

I can't say enough about Jim's book. I have both FrontPage 2003 Inside/Out and FrontPage 2003 Special Edition and if you only have monies to purchase one, FrontPage 2003 Inside/Out is the best.

I consider myself an expert on FrontPage, having been involved with it since its Vermeer roots and the developer of numerous FrontPage components and add-ins, but this book has taught me a thing or two.

It covers the full spectrum of FrontPage 2003 design yet it is laid out so that the novice can jump right in and be productive. But that is not the end, as your skills increase this book will be right there on your refrence shelf to help you go to that next stage. This is "The Book" for FrontPage 2003 web design.

Well done, Jim!

I learned FrontPage 2003 using 'How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003', which is a very good book to start with, but as I developed some skills, I started asking myself questions about how I might go a little further or why some things were the way they were with the program. I found 'Inside Out' gave me a lot of answers to big and little questions that I never saw explained in any other published text (I have five FrontPage 2003 books). Each chapter stands alone, so that you don't have to build up your knowledge to understand any particular chapter by having only read from the beginning. I am using the book right now and improving my website every day. A very good resource. Much better than the FrontPage 2003 Bible, which I checked out from the library. If you are familiar with FrontPage 2003 and want to make FrontPage 2003 your best friend, this is the book to do it! ;-)

I'm in no way finished with this book since I haven't had it very long, but I know right now it's going to be an invaluable tool and reference for learning FP2003. I have no prior knowledge of any FrontPage product. So I purchased 3 books on FP2003 from Amazon: one was very easy and I will definitely "outgrow" that one; another is middle of the road and presented in lesson form; this one I classify as a little more advanced but I still understand most of what is being explained. It's definitely not written in total computer-ese!

Everything is explained in such a way that as a person with what I feel are decent intermediate computer skills, I don't feel like I'm being talked down to. On the other hand, I also don't feel totally lost. If the book refers to something I don't know or a feature I probably won't use right away, I can just skip to something else. Each section does a good job of telling you what's going on and you can follow along in the book, making a fictional website or actually trying out what the chapter is telling you about.

I like the cross-referencing which lets you read more about a particular feature or subject. I also could look up something I didn't want to wait to read--in other words, it's not a book you *have* to read in order, although I intend to. Very nice job, Mr. Buyens!

T. Hann, Ohio, USA

This book provides a terrific manual for FrontPage 2003, good not only as a first book and introduction to the program for a new user, but also for more experienced authors looking for advanced instruction and advice for using more sophisticated techniques. I find it to be an invaluable reference as I expand and add features to my website.

As an experienced Frontpage user I was looking for lots of info on new Frontpage 2003 features that would show how "great" this new release is according to the hype I've heard... Anyway, this book doesn't even acknowledge the existence of Windows Server 2003 and really offers very little (if any) info on the integration of ASP.NET into Frontpage 2003 websites.

Basically, I'd say this is for new users - not advanced users. Even for new users - I didn't find it particularly well organized at all. I get the impression it was rushed to print.