Dreamweaver MX Weekend Crash Course

Rating:
Summary: Unfair reviews
Review: I am not reviewing this edition of the book. I am writing this because of a few unfairly negative reviews I see here. When I started learning Dreamweaver 4, Wendy Pecks "Dreamweaver 4 Weekend Crash Course" was the single best book I used for getting up to speed on Dreamweaver. I'm sure this book is very similar. It should be noted that I am a long time HTML handcoder who has started using Dreamweaver in the last year.

As far as those reviews who discredit it because it doesn't cover the more advanced features.... What do you expect from a crash course book. This type of book is aimed at getting beginners up to speed quickly, and it does this admirably. After that you go to on to more advanced, and in depth books.

I am always disapointed to see mac users give a bad review just because a book is not mac specific. The differences are minor. You have a couple of keys in the exact same place with different names on them, and you have to use two hands to do what we can do with one (right clicking). So what. How hard is that to deal with. I learned the most about the pen tool in Illustrator from a Mac book that was two versions older, (6 versus 8). This was substantially harder because menu choices had changed places in the newer version of Illustrator. It was still worth it because the author gave the best instruction I had come across on understanding the pen tool. When Apple allows me to build a computer from competetively priced hardware of my own chosing, I will think about giving the Mac OS a try. Until then I am happy building my own custom machines for less money with the setup that I want on them.

Wendy Peck is a very good author with a great sense of design. Check out her articles in the graphics section of webreference.com if you want to see for yourselves.

One last thing. Her section on liquid table design in Dreamweaver was the single best instruction I have read on the subject. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is that I haven't read this particlular version of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Unfair reviews
Review: I am not reviewing this edition of the book. I am writing this because of a few unfairly negative reviews I see here. When I started learning Dreamweaver 4, Wendy Pecks "Dreamweaver 4 Weekend Crash Course" was the single best book I used for getting up to speed on Dreamweaver. I'm sure this book is very similar. It should be noted that I am a long time HTML handcoder who has started using Dreamweaver in the last year.

As far as those reviews who discredit it because it doesn't cover the more advanced features.... What do you expect from a crash course book. This type of book is aimed at getting beginners up to speed quickly, and it does this admirably. After that you go to on to more advanced, and in depth books.

I am always disapointed to see mac users give a bad review just because a book is not mac specific. The differences are minor. You have a couple of keys in the exact same place with different names on them, and you have to use two hands to do what we can do with one (right clicking). So what. How hard is that to deal with. I learned the most about the pen tool in Illustrator from a Mac book that was two versions older, (6 versus 8). This was substantially harder because menu choices had changed places in the newer version of Illustrator. It was still worth it because the author gave the best instruction I had come across on understanding the pen tool. When Apple allows me to build a computer from competetively priced hardware of my own chosing, I will think about giving the Mac OS a try. Until then I am happy building my own custom machines for less money with the setup that I want on them.

Wendy Peck is a very good author with a great sense of design. Check out her articles in the graphics section of webreference.com if you want to see for yourselves.

One last thing. Her section on liquid table design in Dreamweaver was the single best instruction I have read on the subject. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is that I haven't read this particlular version of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Great for task step-by-step
Review: I did not use the book as a weekend crash course. Instead, I discovered it was perfect for on-demand learning. For example, I wanted to understand how to do some tasks with form design. Well, I was able to jump to that lesson and I got a good basic understanding of what needed to be done.

I tried about 4 Dreamweaver MX books. This is the one I keep by the computer.

Rating:
Summary: Hands on Dreamweaver training
Review: I have tried several of the 5 star rated Dreamweaver books and found them of less value than this book. You must actually work with Dreamweaver to learn it and this book forces you to do this. To really work through this book will take awhile unless you have 100% free time, but it is really better this way. You will make errors and the book has some errors (which makes you think-you can work through these) and there are a few omissions. These issues are not a big deal. Peck's writing style is pleasant and down to earth. Yes, it doesn't cover everything, but it covers most aspects of Dreamweaver (I don't have MX). Actually, this is an advantage for beginners since it is not overwhelming. After you work through this book, you will be able to construct your own website. If you want advance features like transactions and databases, you will need additional references, but you must get the basics. Templates and CSS (basic aspects) are covered. Best of all, Peck has the practical experience to give you what you really need to know.

Rating:
Summary: ignores latest developments
Review: The first review by MX Wizard, although harsh, struck a chord and so I checked to see how well the author's web site is coded. These days, it's important to design web sites that can be used by anyone and any kind of browser. The author's site does not do this and does not validate using the w3c validation program. The MX tool includes a validator for ensuring modern best practice - it's one of the main reasons that those of us who need to code for legal compliance upgraded to MX.

And as for 'A reader' from Mauldin: 90% of all those using google last month were using some type of windows OS. Are you seriously suggesting that any web site that does not render properly for those 90% is acceptable?

Rating:
Summary: Great tool for Dreamweaver & general site building
Review: This book is a very well written guide to building web sites using the great time saving and "global design" features that are found in Dreamweaver. It does not delve into the dynamic/database site building features that are the carry over from Dreamweaver Ultra Developer (the author mentions that in the introduction); but if you are new to site development and Dreamweaver, this is the book for you. It is not just a rehashing of the Dreamweaver instructional material that comes with the program (as so many books are) but a book written by a person who cares very much about guiding people to use the most powerful aspects of the program to author web-safe, well designed sites that will be easy to update and manage. There are many self proclaimed "Webmasters" out there that should read this book just to know how to properly organize their web sites. Thanks to the author for writing a book that can not only do exactly what it's title claims, but do it in a way that will still apply when you've been using the program for years. Great job.

Rating:
Summary: Two-Week Crash Course for the Lazy
Review: This is only the second tutorial that I've given 5 stars.

Every time I thought I caught the author at an error, I found it the error was either mine or Dreamweaver's (a couple of times, I needed to restart the program to get results). The CD and instructions were perfectly in sync. And the book was well-organized and well-written. (I caught no typos or grammatical errors.)

I wish the CD ROM contained the exercises at various stages of completion for those couple of times when things went radically wrong due to my misstep. As I knew the error was mine and that I really didn't need to re-do my work to understand the exercise, I would have appreciated the ability to pick up with a perfectly correct page so I could take it from there.

It took me more than 15 hours to get through the exercises. I'm sure with a little more concentration and a lot more motivation, I could've completed the book in a weekend. Instead, I took my time.

Don't pass up this book if you're trying to learn how to use Dreamweaver and are reluctant to buy this one because it's one of the first Dreamweaver MX tutorials out. It's a good book for a newbie to the program and I wouldn't waste my time waiting for the publishing of other books.

Rating:
Summary: Crash Course that doesn't Crash!
Review: This is the first Wendy Peck book that I have read. Her style is easy to follow and the book is generously spiced with hands-on tutorials. I recently switched to DMX and found her book helpful and effective in doing just as advertised. My only "complaint" is that she piqued my interest so many times, I kept getting distracted, only to find myself delving deeper into DMX's many features and capabilities. Needless to say, I certainly did not manage to finish in the allotted 15 hours! I sure wish some of the more advanced tutorials were as effectively written and stayed on-topic as well as this one did. A small but very helpful feature was her including a PDF version of the book on the CD. How much more comfortable it was not to have to juggle a book while working! This feature should be a STANDARD. I'm spoiled now. Well done, Wendy! Thanks!