Customer Reviews

Photoshop and Dreamweaver Integration (One-Off)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The most widely used advanced software for creating web pages is Macromedia's Dreamweaver. Similarly, the most widely used graphics software is Adobe's Photoshop. One component of Photoshop that aids in creating web sites is Image Ready. Many people creating websites integrate Photoshop's output with Dreamweaver to make the best possible websites. But since there is no direct interface between the two, the site maker often encounters significant problems. It is this situation that this book aims at improving. (This problem may lessen with the proposed merger of Macromedia and Adobe.)

The author's method is to take a project, the creation of a web page, and follow it through the process from creation to completion. He suggests that if the reader has a similar project he can follow along with the book to create that project. Along the way, he offers additional tips on using the two pieces of software and finishes up with a few applications not covered in the project.

I followed along with a project of my own, trying to create and insert some new navigation buttons into my website. I had actually created buttons before, but I thought I would use Smith's method to make sure he covered all the steps.

The results were frustrating, primarily because Smith's project is relatively simple and mine slightly more complex, and because Smith provided no information on using some of the more advanced features of the software. For example, in my project my buttons were to have names on top of them and to feature a rollover effect, where the buttons would change color. Experienced users of Photoshop will recognize that this requires use of the type tool and styles. There was no discussion of the type tool and little discussion of styles. There certainly was no indication that once a style was created, it could be used again by saving it in a styles window. When it came to creating the rollover effect I had to read the section eight or nine times to understand the instruction, and then I only understood it because I went back to several other references.

Another problem I faced was that I was looking to upgrade an existing page. This meant that after I was finished constructing my project in Photoshop, I had to paste the HTML created by Photoshop into the existing page in Dreamweaver and move the new buttons to the Dreamweaver site. I found no help in the book for this task, which I would think would be fairly common for people upgrading their site.

I noticed that the book did briefly cover creating a website in Photoshop. I have found it extremely useful to create a new website this way, and to then import it into Dreamweaver. There the site can be personalized and updated. There was no mention of how this could be done in the book.

I note that the book used Photoshop CS and Dreamweaver MX 2004 for its software. They have been upgraded to Photoshop CS2 and Dreamweaver 8, but the techniques covered in this book are probably still applicable.

In summery, if you want to create a basic site using Photoshop as your main design tool, and then add some enhancements in Dreamweaver, this book will prove helpful. But you probably will have to refer to other references if you want to construct a more complex site.

This is an awesome resource for anyone who is serious about building a web site. Colin teaches the basics and then gets into the more advanced techniques for web design, integrating two of the industry's leading web-building programs, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. As always Colin writes in a smooth easy-to-understand manner, carefully explaining each tool and technique.

Another great thing about this book is that it teaches "good" web design, as opposed to flashy, fancy, dancing teddy bears. You learn how to set up your page from header to content. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to design a web site.

These two packages are hands down the first choice among professionals for web design. Photoshop is easily the most popular image editing and creation application, and has enjoyed the unrivaled position at the top of the design industry for years. Dreamweaver is the favored took for taking all these beautiful graphics and arranging them for display on the web.

This is about a two (maybe three) day book, if you already have some knowledge of Photoshop. Add another day or two if you do not. One really strong point in the book is its concern with things like how fast the web page loads. So many earlier web sites were so extensively graphics oriented that people got tired of waiting for them to load. The site being designed in the book uses small but carefully designed graphics to add eye appeal.

A review of some random chapters for the book Photoshop and Dreamweaver Integration by Colin Smith.

Chapter2
UNDERSTAND AND USE COLOR AND
IMAGERY TO REINFORCE THE MESSAGE

Everything to do with color, talking with color, color anatomy, choosing colors.
An in-depth look into Photoshop's color palette/picker and creating your own colors.
It also explains to you why you should still be using "web- safe" colors, the swatches pallet and building your own color palette.
Some very good information on color combinations and colors that complement each other for the beginner and I would say for the more advanced user also.
And what about choosing a texture to add to your entry page, I never thought to do that, very neat idea.
This chapter also explains about tiled backgrounds, creating tiled backgrounds, and creating seamless backgrounds in photoshop.
The last part of chapter 2 is giving you some good advice on choosing the right images for a web site.

Chapter7
STREAMLINING THE PROCESS-
USING CASCADING STYLE SHEETS AND TEMPLATES

To simplify the process of building a web site, learning to create Cascading style sheets (CSS) and Dreamweaver templates are essential.
This chapter explains how to create CSS in Dreamweaver, attach a style sheet, modify one, and the advantages of creating your own CSS style in Dreamweaver.
You are also shown how to create templates, use them, modify, add content, create hyperlinks, change appearance of a hyperlink, and convert a page to a template.

Chapter11
ADDING THE COOL FACTOR

This chapter kicks off with using frames to create an image gallery in Dreamweaver. You make a left frame for thumbnail images and make a main frame to show a larger version of the thumbnail image.
You get involved with setting frame properties and creating pages to load into the frame.
Targeting the frame so that the right image/page loads into the right frame. Considerations in using frames.
This chapter also shows you how to make a picture gallery using photoshop automation tools.
I was pleased to see in this chapter creating an iframe. Boy did I have fun and games when I first did an inline frame (iframe). Not many Dreamweaver books show you how to do an iframe the easy way.
I'm pleased to say this is the second book that shows you how its done the easy way.
Rolling along its creating pop-up windows and jump menus. Many people think these are the same. They are not as you will find out. If you ever wanted to know how to stretch a website to fit the browser then the "Building a Liquid Site" is what you want.

My thoughts on the chapters
The content of the chapters are truly amazing and no doubt should please the majority if not all.
The mix of Photoshop with Dreamweaver I feel is well balanced, especially with the importance of both programs. The handy tips and notes throughout the book are essential, I feel a good book. In a nutshell these chapters are perfect.

I received this book on Tuesday , took me two days to finish it !

I enjoyed the Photoshop Most Wanted editions and I learned a lot from 'from photoshop to dreamweaver' ....

I couldn't resist to let him show me some more tricks!

Nice work, really nice explained (some knowledge of PS & DW is a plus), but it really fits the previous mentioned books to make stunning websites !

If you are a seasoned graphic designer wishing to be able to create web pages as well print design, this book may be a good place to start. Designers fluent in Adobe Photoshop should have no problem creating the buttons, backgrounds, and other visual elements for the web pages you will create with this book. It's a totally different approach to creating a web site that I found pretty interesting--as in planning to make my own thumbnails and comp page for an upcoming project. I suspect this is a more intuitive way for designers to approach web design. Smith's approach is more that of a designer than a programmer. As a graphic designer myself who moved into web design a few years ago, I find Smith's approach more natural. The layout is straightforward and fairly easy to use.

Even if you are not a print graphic designer, I do want to point out that Smith's method of creating thumbnails and a comp page are extremely valuable anytime you are creating a web site for someone besides yourself. Comp pages allow your client, boss, or committee to see your creative ideas for the site BEFORE a huge amount of time is spent in creating a whole web site. Print designers are used to using comps for projects, it's a wise practice for web design as well.

I just started designing webpages back in May 2005 (its now Sept 2005).. I did alot of online research to design my first website using Dreamweaver. I sell funny t shirts and wanted to sell online and wanted to learn how to make my own website instead of paying someone else to do it.. I like things my way and so doing it myself would give me that freedom! Just from online research I was able to create an entire website that actually works and sells.. My site was lacking certain updated features and designs and although it worked, it wasnt exactly what I wanted.. I heard about designing webpages using Photoshop which led me here to look for a book.. This is the only book I could find that explains designing in photoshop and then transferring your designs into Dreamweaver.. Since I already knew how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver this was the book for me!

You dont need to be a master at photoshop to understand this book although you must have some basic knowledge of it.. (I recommend Classroom in a Book for Photoshop if you know nothing about it!) You dont need to know Dreamweaver either to understand it.. The book walks you through designing your site in easy to understand words utilizing examples that you can stray from without getting lost.. In other words you can make your own site instead of creating the same thing the author is doing, but with your own personal touches.. Slicing is covered pretty well in the book, but I must admit it took me 3 tries to succesfully slice my first webpage.. (Those stray slices will complicate things so follow the book closely!) After I finally grasped slicing things fell into place.. The book also shows you how to do more advanced things like rollovers, animations, and even pop-up windows which will come in handy for me so I can show enlarged images of my shirts! Anyhow you can take these reviews however you want to, but the proof is in the pudding! Check out my site www.absurdatees.com and see this book in action!

Prior to reading this book, I was familiar with its author, Colin Smith, from the PhotoshopCafe.com and some of his other books. He did not disappoint me with this book.

I had been looking for some time for a book that addressed both Adobe's Photoshop and Macromedia's Dreamweaver in one book. Normally, I develop the graphical part of the website in Photoshop, later to bring it into Dreamweaver to add the functionality. However, I had never found one book that had an author that understood both products and was able to explain them clearly. Smith did just that in this book.

When I read the book, I was amazing at the volume of good information he was able to squeeze into only 308 pages. The examples were right on target and the full color images mirrored exactly what I saw on my own computer screen. What's more is that Smith not only teaches you the features of these products, but he also teaches good, solid design methods as well.

I found that certain chapters were extremely helpful to me personally. In Chapter 2, Smith discusses not only how to use the color editing capabilities of Photoshop, but perhaps more importantly, he discusses some of the theory behind using color. I've always thought I was somewhat "color impaired" when it came to selecting and manipulating colors in Photoshop. Now, however, my confidence has been renewed in this area.

Chapter 7 will also be particularly helpful for those web designers who are moving away from tables and more towards using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to format their pages. Smith explains the advantages of using CSS within Dreamweaver to streamline your processes and to develop more uniformity of the pages within your website.

This book also covered some areas which I was particularly interested such as how to create animated GIFs (Chapter 9), creating forms (Chapter 10), integrating simple ecommerce with PayPal (Chapter 10) and using iframes (Chapter 11). Chapter 12 may be a help to beginners because it explains how to acquire hosting, setup a domain and upload the web pages from Dreamweaver to the new website.

If you've been searching for the "How To" scoop on using Photoshop with a web development application, in this case Dreamweaver, look no further. Using a series of practical and well thought out examples Colin Smith takes you on a start to finish tour of website development that anyone with a beginning-intermediate level of Photoshop/Dreamweaver experience can follow. Recognizing the potential this book provides for making high impact/quality websites I worked through the book with the objective of porting an existing clients website into my "practice" development exercise. The end result is a website that I'm extremely proud of and an already happy client that's even happier. If you're intimidated by web development tools such as templates and cascading style sheets, fear no more. Colin has a gift for taking the mystery and techno-babble out of a topic and replacing it with well documented/illustrated easy to follow step-by-step instruction. This book is a must-have for anyone wanting take their web design skills from plain-vanilla to high-impact.

This book should be taken out of print if it hasn't already, it has some useful points but is sooo outdated that it might as well be used as a door stop because the information is much too old and based on much older versions of the software which has evolved beyond the book.
Either update the book, which may have been relevant when first published, or do buyers a favor and upload the stock to the second hand books market.