Rating: 
Summary: Obsolete- only covers up to 7.0
Review: Don't expect this to help much if you are planning to use the current version 8.1, as things have changed a great deal from 7.0 (and SP3 about to be released changes the content mgmt functions entirely).
Rating: 
Summary: From a Beginner's Standpoint
Review: From someone who had never programmed using servlets, jsps or web logic, I found this book to be most useful. I was able to build and deploy a fully functional web portal within 10 days start to finish using this book as my guide.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: I found nothing in the book that I can't get for free from BEAs e-docs and I find the e-docs to be very well written. Plenty of screenshots with examples that exactly mimic the tutorials already provided by BEA. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the book.
Rating:
Summary: Self aggrandizement at its worst
Review: I found the book to be a good overview of the BEA Weblogic Portal. It was easy to follow with good examples that helped me understand it.
Rating:
Summary: Good Overview
Review: I found the book to be a good overview of the BEA Weblogic Portal. It was easy to follow with good examples that helped me understand it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I'm a very senior person drawing a high salary but my skills have become outdated lately. I had to ask myself why my company should pay 90 - 100k for me when they could get the same thing for 40-50k. In short, I'd become 'sloppy'. Although my company continues to pay an annual bonus and has not yet reduced benefits, they are- afterall- running a business here and have to be conservative. So I decided to step up and meet expectations.
I recently acquired this book and have found it extremely useful! This is the direction the industry is going. Not very many companies out there are doing this stuff. I would rate myself a beginner with J2EE technologies, but a mere 20 minutes into the book, I was able to follow the thorough, well documented examples and create a fully functional portal. The authors clearly demonstrate it doesn't have to be a rocket ship.
I found this book to be a very easy read, clearly, concisely written with an appropriate touch of humor here and there. Most computer books are so dry and boring. The point is- how useful is that if you can't even stay awake reading it? Am I right or am I right? I found the prose here refreshing and resplendent. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is just starting out with J2EE development, is tired of having to write the same old Java code over and over again and would like to leverage the power and flexibility of the WebLogic Portal 7.0. This book provides thorough, accurate examples of how to master this latest technology! High five to the authors!
Rating:
Summary: Self aggrandizement at its worst
Review: Mr. Block continues his series of poorly written books with his latest addition on BEA. The wording was poor and the overall organization of this book made me contemplate the inner workings of the chaotic mind that came up with this book. It is difficult to follow any theme that might have been intended in this book. Thankfully Block brought on some more collaborators to help the book along and perhaps it is the collaborative effort that makes this book less attrocious than Block's normal fare. ...Fortunately this won't get the traction he might have received from his Silverstream book because this one actually has competition. Don't believe the reviews written on the SAME DAY. They are obviously fake, probably written by someone very close to Mr. Block.
Rating: 
Summary: Only if you are a Beginner
Review: This book is good for someone "Brand New" to portal development. I like how the information is condensed and in some cases presented. This book provides a good explanation of portal concepts and terminology which if you are new to Weblogic Portal, is extremely helpful. Also, I like the sections on Java and Ant. Ant is an essential build tool in any J2EE development and can be very helpful in Weblogic Portal Development.
However, this book is poorly organized, the writing is weak and the examples are terrible.
The writing in this book is very unprofessional and way to casual for a technical publication. This book was written as though the author was having a conversation with a co-worker or a friend. This makes the book extremely difficult to follow in places.
Also, do not try the examples. This is the first book that I have ever said please do not try the examples. They are poorly planned and organized. Also, the instructions are pathetic at best. There is one section where all of the instructions refer to other parts of the book. Your frustration level will go off the charts, but I can say that if you work through these examples you will understand the concepts and materials much better. I honestly think the book could have been much better if the examples were more helpful. For example, you should have built a portal from start to finish that included much of the functionality that was referenced throughout the Portal.
Additionally, the visuals do not follow the book very closely. More than one section the images do not correspond to the material and it is extremely confusing.
If you have looked at the BEA documentation I would not recommend you buy this book. The BEA documentation covers all of these subjects and terms in much greater detail and they are free. But don't take my word go to BEA's edocs website and compare.
Rating:
Summary: This book is pretty bad
Review: This book is pretty horrible, but since it is the only one out there dedicated to weblogic portal I gave it 2 stars instead of just 1.
Things wrong:
This book isn't organized well at all
Numerous errors that should have easily been caught (screen shots that are the same, things that say: create this domain named "1" now start domain "6"... and you are like, wtf?)
Too many screenshots (I'd say about half the book is screen shots) Just plain bad. Things that really make me mad are things like this: In the best practices section they state that you should always use the WL taglibs (obviously), and thats all it says. In other words, they tell you to do something that is very important but don't give you any more info about it or even provide a url to a weblogic website on taglibs. Only get this book if you are tired of staring at docs on your monitor.
Rating:
Summary: This book is pretty bad
Review: This book is pretty horrible, but since it is the only one out there dedicated to weblogic portal I gave it 2 stars instead of just 1.
Things wrong:
This book isn't organized well at all
Numerous errors that should have easily been caught (screen shots that are the same, things that say: create this domain named "1" now start domain "6"... and you are like, wtf?)
Too many screenshots (I'd say about half the book is screen shots) Just plain bad. Things that really make me mad are things like this: In the best practices section they state that you should always use the WL taglibs (obviously), and thats all it says. In other words, they tell you to do something that is very important but don't give you any more info about it or even provide a url to a weblogic website on taglibs. Only get this book if you are tired of staring at docs on your monitor.
| 
