Rating: 
Summary: Could've been written in 20 pages
Review: I bought this book based on all of the glamourous reviews it received about 5 months ago, upon its release. When I read the book, I was really skeptical about its integrity and ability to teach the subject. I'm a very experienced web-developer and programmer, so I typically gobble up computer books with a great understanding. This one, to be honest, was really hard for me to follow. I went through the entire book, and yet I still don't feel comfortable using templates. To be honest, in many ways I am more confused. I used to use templates all the time in DW4 and that was all self-taught by simply reading the online Macromedia help. However, since DWMX added a slew of new template features, I decided to buy this based on all the feedback I read here, as well as the official DW message board.I really think the authors have a hard time communicating their thoughts. They are very technical people, and often technical gurus have a hard time conveying information in a concise, useful manner. There are many steps that are so poorly worded that they have to be read a few times to get a good understanding. Also, I was really disappointed that they didn't cover more on Nested Templates. That was really the main reason I purchased this book, and yet, it was barely covered. Also, they didn't cover ANY template usage with dynamic server languages (ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, etc.), and I think that may have been really helpful. Here's my big problem with this book. Although I only rated it "2 stars", I would still buy this again. Why? Well, unfortunately, it is the ONLY book that covers Dreamweaver Templates with some form of detail. Other books (such as Dreamweaver MX Bible, Inside Dreamweaver MX) just touch on templates. To make matters worse, you can't rely on Macromedia's help because it is full of errors (some have been fixed), and is also incomplete and confusing. So, unfortunately, if you can put with the long-winded explanations and need to know templates, then I would recommend this book. It is the only book of its kind. Obviously, these writers were paid by the page, because this could have been written much better in about 20 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: no stars
Review: I bought this book hoping that this book would shed some additional light on Dreamweaver MX templates. Mistake!!!! I found that the first 150 pages are very technical and would have been more useful if there were some excerises to augment the explanations. I have been using lots of Dreamweaver MX books lately and this is one of the poorest that I have come across. The authors are writing in a way that is hard to understand. I have also purchased Dreamweaver MX Magic and I found that much easeir to learn from mainly because the points that the authors are trying to make are made through supporting exercises. I was forced to rate this as one star but i feel that this book doesn't deserve any stars.
Rating:
Summary: DreamON
Review: I bought this book with some hesitation, but decided to give it a shot. I really want to learn more about templates, and be able to use them on future sites. What a big dissapointment!! I received the book today and just finished reading the majority of the book. I followed the examples, did the exercises, but to not much avail. The book makes vague references such as see previous chapters, when refering to instructions such as "spawning child pages." Rather difficult to understand!! Perhaps I will give it another try, but for now, I am going back to Dreamweaver 4 and the previous versions of templates. Definately not recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: DreamON
Review: I bought this book with some hesitation, but decided to give it a shot. I really want to learn more about templates, and be able to use them on future sites. What a big dissapointment!! I received the book today and just finished reading the majority of the book. I followed the examples, did the exercises, but to not much avail. The book makes vague references such as see previous chapters, when refering to instructions such as "spawning child pages." Rather difficult to understand!! Perhaps I will give it another try, but for now, I am going back to Dreamweaver 4 and the previous versions of templates. Definately not recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: ........
Review: i can't believe that created an entire book on templates. it's true that templates' scope have expanded somewhat in dw mx, but trial and error would have done just fine.
there are some useful tips that i did not think of, but the majority of the contents in this book, as with most books, i can figure out on my own. waste of time. considering some of the tips i can gain and have this book clutter up our already complex lives(if you're normal, life isn't that simple), i would opt to get rid of this book asap.
Rating: 
Summary: Make MX even more powerful
Review: I contributed to this book, and I'm one of the Dreamweaver engineers who wrote the template feature. Templates is a very powerful new part of Dreamweaver, giving you the ability to do huge amounts of page customization without a dynamic server piece. Brad and Murray have done an excellent job explaining this exciting new feature - this book is a must have for people who are interested in exploring the power of MX!
Rating:
Summary: Two Books In One
Review: I've been using Dreamweaver Templates since I started using Dreamweaver two years ago; they just make sense to the way I work. With Dreamweaver MX & Dreamweaver MX Templates I can really tap the power that templates possess. This book is great; it's a mini-reference and a project all in one. The authors (Brad Halstead & Murray R. Summers) present the material in such a way that you can understand it, and use it. When they hit a topic that is beyond the scope of the book, they tell you where you can go and find out what you need. They explain the benefits (and draw-backs) of Snippets, Library Items and Templates in such a way that developers can utilize these tools. The project section of the book really shows the power of templates. If you are looking for a reference book or a project book, you get both! I just thought I was using templates... now I can really use them.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have book for any serious Dreamweaver MX user
Review: If you are an avid Dreamweaver MX user and rely heavily on templates for your site design, Dreamweaver MX Templates is for you. You may already be using templates to save time in web site design, as you may have done in previous versions of Dreamweaver. However, you may not be getting the most usage our of your templates as you could be. This book shows you a side of templates within Dreamweaver MX that you may never have known to exist previously. Dreamweaver MX Templates thoroughly covers not only basic template usage, but also the programmability features of templates. It shows you how to manipulate the template programming language to create extensive template pages with a handful of code. All in all, the book is very well laid out and easy to understand. There's tons of information packed into the book with plenty to "wow" the reader with a lot of "I didn't know Dreamweaver templates could do that". If you're serious about tapping deeper into Dreamweaver MX templates, this is the book to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed...
Review: If you're like me, you upgraded to Dreamweaver MX with these awesome new template features, and then you couldn't get all the new features to work. You did what seemed logical, but still couldn't figure out certain aspects of the templates. Well, wander in the wilderness no more. Murray Summers and Brad Halstead have more than "come to your rescue." There's more to this book than meets the eye. They not only cover the templates in detail (including editable, repeatable, nested and conditional regions), but also snippets and library items. I particularly enjoyed the explanations around the process of planning the site and creating the various templates and child pages. And then, once you've learned how to customize the syntax and expressions, they walk you through building an entire site... Good stuff!
Rating:
Summary: LOVE IT!!!!
Review: One of the first books of its kind. Love the style of the instructor!!!!With this book I have takin my Dreamweaver work flow to a new level. Many thanks for this book!!!!!
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