Dreamweaver 8 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) (Paperback)

by Janine C. Warner (Author) "Welcome to the wonderful world of Dreamweaver 8..." (more)
Key Phrases: color swatch box, frameset file, definition dialog box, Site Definition, Cascading Style Sheets, Internet Explorer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Ever visited a knockout Web site and wondered, “How did they do that?” Wonder no more. Odds are, they did it with Dreamweaver. Completely updated to give you the scoop on all the cool new tools in the latest version, Dreamweaver 8 For Dummies will have you designing dynamite Web sites in no time. In fact, by Chapter 2 you’ll dive right into setting up your Web site, creating your first Web page, and adding text images and links. This guide starts with basic Web page design features and progresses to the more advanced options for DHTML and database-driven sites, with step-by-step instructions for every function plus lots of screen shots. It walks you though:

• A tour of the desktop, covering the toolbars, menu options, the Insert bar, the Document window, the Properties inspector, the Vertical Docking panels, and more
• Popular features such as sophisticated template capabilities and Library items Tracing images, the Quick Tag Editor, Design Notes, and the History palette
• Making the most of Dreamweaver’s site management features, including a Testing Server, the Check IN/Out feature, integrated e-mail, Design Notes, Site Map Layout and more
• Using HTML tables to create page layouts
• 14 different benefits of using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and how to capitalize on them

Dreamweaver 8 For Dummies includes tips to save you time and money so you can create a Web site that makes a big impression without spending big bucks. Whether you’re a beginner who wants to get started or an experienced pro who wants to enhance your skills…whether you want something simple like a site to promote a quaint bed & breakfast or something wild to catapult your rock band to the big time, Dreamweaver gives you the tools and this guide helps you make the most of them. When you’re ready to tackle more complex sites, it covers:

• Using Fireworks with Dreamweaver to automate your workflow, optimize graphics for Web use, and create sophisticated animations, fancy rollovers, and special effects
• Showing off with multimedia: creating Flash buttons and text; adding Flash movie files; working with sound and video files; getting familiar with Java and ActiveX control
• Integrating forms into dynamic, interactive sites and creating shopping cart systems, guest books, contact forms, search engines, chat rooms, and more
• Building a simple database-driven site
• E-commerce basics

With Dreamweaver, you don’t have to be a techie to design and create a terrific Web site. So get this book and get started!

From the Back Cover
Your site can look like a million — even on a budget!

Use Dreamweaver's cool new tools to design a site with interactivity and style

Whether you're facing your first Web site challenge or taking an existing site to the next level, this book could be your dream come true. Here's how to develop a powerful site that's attractive, functional, and dynamic, and even weave in eye-popping effects with Shockwave® and Flash®.

Discover how to

• Design pages and set up Web server access
• Create layers and tables
• Modify sites created in another program
• Add dynamic effects
• Work faster with templates
• Use CSS and DHTML

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Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; illustrated edition edition (October 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764596497
• ISBN-13: 978-0764596490
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #341,204 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creating your web master piece, May 29, 2006

By	M. A. Filippelli "Marc12074" (Elk Grove, CA, US) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What this book does in basic terms is walk you through the process of website conception to managing your website once it is on line and everything in between. It covers all of the information that you will need to get your site up and running. Some of the the subjects are covered very well like the use of CSS, adding graphics, flash animation, design elements, templates, HTML, Meta tags and the use of graphics. All subjects are covered in ample detail.

She has included helpful hints along that way with the use of side bar items that like "Tip" used to discuss a feature with in Dreamweaver that pertains to the subject that is being covered, "Technical stuff" used to describe technical aspect of the operation that you are preforming and "warning" that warn you of the consequences of you action or inaction to a Dreamweaver prompt.

Janine Warner writes in a nice easy writing style. The formatting of the book is excellent with the use of different font types and styles to help the reader. This helps greatly when skimming through a pages looking for a website reference or HTML coding examples. As Ms. Weaver explains this is not a cover to cover read but more reference material. It is also very well organized.

This book is a great starting point for Dreamweaver but I would recommend that while this book does a great job covering CSS you should go get a book dedicated to CSS because of the complexity of CSS.

The only prerequisite here is that you have to really want to learn Dreamweaver. When working with Dreamweaver it is important to know what you want your site to do before you start to use Deamweaver for the first time other wise you can get caught up in the many features that may or may not be helpful to you. There are so many things in Dreamweaver that do almost the same thing but not quite. This book provides some good insight into doing just that. Dreamweaver which is a great program but can be a daunting task at times. Thankfully this book takes the daunt out of daunting.

For the true beginner to Dreamweaver this is a five star book. For those with experience this is probably a 3 star book. The intended target audience is the beginner to intermediate user which is how I came up with my rating of 4 stars.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my top pick among the intro books, March 23, 2007

By	a reader "_a_reader" (Southwest USA) - See all my reviews

Having just started a new job in which I need to begin developing web-based training very soon, I reserved every book I could on Dreamweaver through our local libraries. This one is my favorite.
I think one reviewer complained about the 'cutsey' stuff, and let me say that this is not your typical "Dummies" book - I was almost to page 50 before I came across one comment about her spouse, and I think there was one more such comment later on. I will also say that as a trainer, instructional developer, technical writer, and journalist, I tend to judge computer books with a critical eye (and I read a LOT of them).
I found the pace of this one to be just right -- I am rather impatient and I didn't have a lot of time to waste, so I didn't want something that proceeded slowly, but I was also new to Dreamweaver, so I didn't want something that proceeded at a breakneck pace.
This book does what it claims to do. It doesn't claim to be a Dreamweaver book for those who are already power users. It does not propose to be an exhaustive reference, as perhaps does the other Dummies title that describes itself as being nine books in one. The all-in-one is a nice enough book, but I didn't have time to read 900 pages before beginning to develop my projects. Speaking of 900-page books, I chose this book over Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual, because the latter one, albeit much larger, did not present the information as concisely, and I found myself reading three paragraphs to get the amount of content that I could get from one paragraph of this author's book.
This book does, in its 400 or so pages, give a reasonably good foundation from which one can learn more about advanced topics, if desired. In that sense, it gave me a good road map of the territory ahead, such that I can converse intelligently with those in my office who are way beyond my level, and it positions me to be a good consumer of more advanced books/material. This author's book more fully fleshed out the topics that I needed to know about than did How To Do Everything with Dreamweaver 8. Again, that was not a bad book, and in fact the screen shots of the toolboxes and menus and such were more clearly done in How To Do Everything with Dreamweaver 8. I did learn some new things from it. But overall, I got more bang for my buck from Warner's book.
This book differs from the Dreamweaver Design and Construction book -- which gets good reviews -- in that it does not focus (nor propose to focus) on the principles of designing a website. This book's agenda is to teach the reader how to use Dreamweaver.
This book does not propose to be a tutorial, as does Dreamweaver 8 Hands on Training, so it is a matter of being aware of the way that you learn best, and picking a book that fits with your learning style.
Speaking of, I am a visual learner, so I used this book in tandem with "Teach Yourself Visually Dreamweaver 8" -- and some time later realized that both were written by the same author. "Teach Yourself Visually Dreamweaver 8" is a good companion because it gives an overview of the concepts, such that I already had a mental framework for what I would learn. I preferred it over the Dreamweaver 8 Visual Encyclopedia, which uses a typeface and layout that I found more difficult to follow.
I also own the Quickstart guide for Dreamweaver 8, which I keep beside me at work and consult when I need to see how to complete a specific task. The QuickStart guide is great for this purpose, but it is not, in my opinion, as good as Warner's book if a beginner wants to sit down and read a narrative about how to use the program. The QuickStart guide would move too quickly for that purpose.
Warner's book shows sensitivity to the learners in that it does not use terms that haven't yet been explained; it sequences the topics well; and I haven't found any errors in the book. It has not in any sense been a frustrating or incomplete read. The writing is clean and effective and doesn't draw attention to itself. It has a rather conversational tone without being inefficient.
I think she did a great job with it and I will be on the lookout for her name when I look for books on other computer topics.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to a Complex Software Package, January 8, 2006

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are certain software packages that have simply become the standards by which others are compared. Dreamweaver is one of those packages. When you go talk to professional web workers, most of them use Dreamweaver. When you want to put 'web designer' on your resume, you want to put down or be able to tell them 'Dreamweaver' at the interview.

This book is an excellent introduction to the Dreamweaver software package. It's written in an interesting combination of tutorial and reference format. It says that it's intended for the complete beginner, but I think that might be just a bit much. Some idea about how the web works, even a little bit of HTML background will be a big help.

One point I consider weak. There's a chapter on using Flash. Obviously Flash, also put out by the same software publisher, has to be included. My suggestion. A lot of us hate Flash. It's slow, it requires a download, and it puts cartoons on your site. Most of the big sites used flash at one time, they don't any more. If you have to use flash, put a prominent 'Skip the Cartoons' button on the page.

Two points I consider strong. One, her treatment of CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. This is something you simply have to know. Two, her treatment of building database driven sites. She gives an excellent introduction - but lets you know that this is just the beginning and you have a lot of other things to learn. I'll add -- If you're going to do a dynamic web site of average size, don't even think of doing it without Dreamweaver.