Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Osborne Complete Reference Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good book but CD is skimpy
Review: The book keeps mentioning code to be found on the CD but the CD does not have most of the examples. Only 11 out of 36 chapters have sample code and usually just one example even when a chapter covers mutliple examples.

The Osborne web site has no errata page nor download page to correct this. This book came out in December 2003 and by July 2004 it was already being sold by bookstores specializing in discontinued books. It is not "complete" as it frankly admits that it will not be covering any server-side code to handle forms, email, threaded discussions etc.

Lots of little errors such as stating that absolute positioning will place a layer exactly inside any container. This is what relative positioning does. It also has chapters on HomeSite, PHP, Contribute and e-Commerce, which while interesting, are not really part of Dreamweaver.

If you bought Dreamweaver MX STUDIO 2004, you need a different book.


It is "complete" in what it covers but does not cover the "complete" Dreamweaver.

J. Leonard - Woodinville

Rating:
Summary: Covers too much, and doesn't cover anything in depth
Review: This book is entitled "Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Complete Reference", but a more accurate title would be "Making web sites with Dreamweaver MX 2004 and a bunch of other tools: The Incomplete Reference".

The situation is that the authors do not focus exclusively on Dreamweaver MX 2004. They include lots and lots of information about many other things, but they don't go into anything in the depth necessary. Most of the things they cover can be considered an appetizer or introduction, but if you are going to use that particular tool then you will need to buy a book that really covers that tool.

For example, there's a chapter about PHP that is 42 pages. This is just enough information to allow you to become dangerous, i.e., you could end up making your web server vulnerable to hackers. The authors tell you how to install the CGI version of PHP but not the module-interface version that has fewer security issues, and they don't discuss the various security problems inherent in PHP in any depth. Only 5 of these 42 pages have anything to do with Dreamweaver. My advice: If you're going to use PHP then get a book about PHP.

Similarly, there is a two-page discussion of how to install Microsoft IIS 4.0! There are whole books describing how to install and run IIS! It would be much better if the authors simply said, "If you need to install IIS then consult the Microsoft documentation or get a book on this subject."

Of course, IIS 4.0 is now obsolete, but that's not the point. The point is that the authors try to cover much too much and end up with a few random facts and no in-depth coverage of anything.

A later part of the book discusses the WebDAV protocol briefly (one page), but the authors don't mention that Dreamweaver cannot use WebDAV with IIS, even though Microsoft claims that IIS does support WebDAV.

Part V of the book consists of 8 chapters (200 pages) and is called "Adding Database Features to your Site". There are chapters on database design and on the SQL language. Once again, this is a good introduction to the subject, but what does it have to do with Dreamweaver?

Occasionally one gets the impression that information has been added to this book simply to increase the page count in the hopes that potential buyers go for the book with the most pages. For example, there are three pages about the history of the Internet!

Despite all of the above negative stuff I did find this book to be a good introduction to the many things it discusses. If the authors had given the book a more accurate title, for example, "A Comprehensive Introduction to Building Web Sites, Featuring Dreamweaver MX 2004", then I would have given it four stars.

But I thought I was buying a book about Dreamweaver MX 2004, and as such this book is disappointing.

Rennie Petersen