FrontPage 98 for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Apt Title
Review: (written as letter to author) Yes, I bought the frontpage book based on what I saw on your website and the amount of marketing done...I would like to make two criticisms: they might not apply to most of your readers, but definitely did to me. 1. With Photoshop and magazine publishing (from the editorial, not art side, but I have been editor of a magazine so am somewhat familiar with each process) my expectation from a web editor like Frontpage should be that it basically does layout, etc. comparable to other publishing tools. It doesn't, ie it is anything but intuitive. The rudimentary state of frontpage is obviously not your fault but your book does not emphasise this at all, instead you hype the product as something great and finished. From your perspective, frontpage is "better than html", but that doesn't make it a great product, as worthwhile as it might be. I quickly came to realize, while reading the book, that you were resisting from pointing out the myriad of flaws (and arrogance of the product, in that no shortcomings are pointed out in its help command either - such as drawing vertical lines, for starters - conventionally impossible! And quite relevant, don't you think?) that are obvious - once you actually try and design a website. I don't think you were paid by Microsoft, but I definitely felt like I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes by some of your remarks and descriptions. It definitely seemed that Microsoft had paid you or Dummies to write this book in this way, and this should have been disclosed in the book. Everybody likes an Enthusiastic teacher, but nobody likes a used car saleswoman - please distinguish these two characters in your future guidebooks. If a guidebook to San Francisco says something negative, or issues a warning, about that city that doesn't make it a bad guidebook, does it?

2. This is a guidebook! Look, I can't pick at a big-selling author too much, can I? But there are so many supercilious passages included beyond what the reader bought the book for that I literally could not get past them to get the information I really needed. Don't worry about constantly convincing the reader to love internet, love microsoft, think of the whole thing as a superhighway with rest stops etc. or whatever the metaphors, or bond with you, please! These are just products, and I bought your book to learn about them, the book, and the software, I already bought, no need to keep selling half way through, just tell me how to use this stuff quickly and honestly. My loyalty or hatred for Microsoft, Dummies, and you goes as far as they are useful to me, my love is reserved for my family and country. Your appealling personality we can find on your personal website and dustjacket bio for those who need it. If the book was called "Frontpage98 for intelligent people interested in building web sites quickly and need their questions answered honestly" - would your book have been different? I think yes.

Rating:
Summary: Apt Title
Review: (Written as letter to the author) Yes, I bought the frontpage book based on what I saw on your website and the amount of marketing done...I would like to make two criticisms: they might not apply to most of your readers, but definitely did to me. 1. With Photoshop and magazine publishing (from the editorial, not art side, but I have been editor of a magazine so am somewhat familiar with each process) my expectation from a web editor like Frontpage should be that it basically does layout, etc. comparable to other publishing tools. It doesn't, ie it is anything but intuitive. The rudimentary state of frontpage is obviously not your fault but your book does not emphasise this at all, instead you hype the product as something great and finished. From your perspective, frontpage is "better than html", but that doesn't make it a great product, as worthwhile as it might be. I quickly came to realize, while reading the book, that you were resisting from pointing out the myriad of flaws (and arrogance of the product, in that no shortcomings are pointed out in its help command either - such as drawing vertical lines, for starters - conventionally impossible! And quite relevant, don't you think?) that are obvious - once you actually try and design a website. I don't think you were paid by Microsoft, but I definitely felt like I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes by some of your remarks and descriptions. It definitely seemed that Microsoft had paid you or Dummies to write this book in this way, and this should have been disclosed in the book. Everybody likes an Enthusiastic teacher, but nobody likes a used car saleswoman - please distinguish these two characters in your future guidebooks. If a guidebook to San Francisco says something negative, or issues a warning, about that city that doesn't make it a bad guidebook, does it?

2. This is a guidebook! Look, I can't pick at a big-selling author too much, can I? But there are so many supercilious passages included beyond what the reader bought the book for that I literally could not get past them to get the information I really needed. Don't worry about constantly convincing the reader to love internet, love microsoft, think of the whole thing as a superhighway with rest stops etc. or whatever the metaphors, or bond with you, please! These are just products, and I bought your book to learn about them, the book, and the software, I already bought, no need to keep selling half way through, just tell me how to use this stuff quickly and honestly. My loyalty or hatred for Microsoft, Dummies, and you goes as far as they are useful to me, my love is reserved for my family and country. Your appealling personality we can find on your personal website and dustjacket bio for those who need it. If the book was called "Frontpage98 for intelligent people interested in building web sites quickly and need their questions answered honestly" - would your book have been different? I think yes.

Rating:
Summary: Apt Title
Review: (Written as letter to the author) Yes, I bought the frontpage book based on what I saw on your website and the amount of marketing done...I would like to make two criticisms: they might not apply to most of your readers, but definitely did to me. 1. With Photoshop and magazine publishing (from the editorial, not art side, but I have been editor of a magazine so am somewhat familiar with each process) my expectation from a web editor like Frontpage should be that it basically does layout, etc. comparable to other publishing tools. It doesn't, ie it is anything but intuitive. The rudimentary state of frontpage is obviously not your fault but your book does not emphasise this at all, instead you hype the product as something great and finished. From your perspective, frontpage is "better than html", but that doesn't make it a great product, as worthwhile as it might be. I quickly came to realize, while reading the book, that you were resisting from pointing out the myriad of flaws (and arrogance of the product, in that no shortcomings are pointed out in its help command either - such as drawing vertical lines, for starters - conventionally impossible! And quite relevant, don't you think?) that are obvious - once you actually try and design a website. I don't think you were paid by Microsoft, but I definitely felt like I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes by some of your remarks and descriptions. It definitely seemed that Microsoft had paid you or Dummies to write this book in this way, and this should have been disclosed in the book. Everybody likes an Enthusiastic teacher, but nobody likes a used car saleswoman - please distinguish these two characters in your future guidebooks. If a guidebook to San Francisco says something negative, or issues a warning, about that city that doesn't make it a bad guidebook, does it?

2. This is a guidebook! Look, I can't pick at a big-selling author too much, can I? But there are so many supercilious passages included beyond what the reader bought the book for that I literally could not get past them to get the information I really needed. Don't worry about constantly convincing the reader to love internet, love microsoft, think of the whole thing as a superhighway with rest stops etc. or whatever the metaphors, or bond with you, please! These are just products, and I bought your book to learn about them, the book, and the software, I already bought, no need to keep selling half way through, just tell me how to use this stuff quickly and honestly. My loyalty or hatred for Microsoft, Dummies, and you goes as far as they are useful to me, my love is reserved for my family and country. Your appealling personality we can find on your personal website and dustjacket bio for those who need it. If the book was called "Frontpage98 for intelligent people interested in building web sites quickly and need their questions answered honestly" - would your book have been different? I think yes.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reference book
Review: But not too good in the "how to" department. I bought a different book to get me through the things this book didn't bother to cover. I'd recommend it for beginners, but not otherwise.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reference book
Review: But not too good in the "how to" department. I bought a different book to get me through the things this book didn't bother to cover. I'd recommend it for beginners, but not otherwise.

Rating:
Summary: It's the best FrontPage book ever written!
Review: FrontPage 98 For Dummies is an excellent book for the FrontPage beginner, which I am. I had experience with other HTML editors, but no clue of where to start with FrontPage. Asha Dornfest has written a very technically accurate guide, with warnings about possible trouble spots... as well as making the book hilarious to read. I think that makes all the difference. If you have to learn something, you might as well enjoy it. :)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent content, and funny too. :)
Review: FrontPage 98 For Dummies is an excellent book for the FrontPage beginner, which I am. I had experience with other HTML editors, but no clue of where to start with FrontPage. Asha Dornfest has written a very technically accurate guide, with warnings about possible trouble spots... as well as making the book hilarious to read. I think that makes all the difference. If you have to learn something, you might as well enjoy it. :)

Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference, but a poor "how to" book.
Review: I bought this book thinking it would help me build a webpage of my own using Frontpage 98. Unfortunatly, The book was almost as confusing as the program. Frontpage 98 is not as intuitive as most of Microsoft's products. As a result it is necessary to have a step-by-step "how to" book to help us "dummies" find our way. In the first chapter the author even explains that the book is better used as a referance. He was right. I was just as lost in the book as I was in the program. There are simpler books out there for the Frontpage uninitiated. Find them.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Gem of a Book!
Review: This book is really good. It's actually not for "dummies," because it's a not step-by-step guide. But it has everything about FrontPage 98, and has things that I have not found anywhere else (for example, linking to another FP web, or making a web the Root Web). I recommend this book 110% to everyone who uses FrontPage 98.

The writing style is excellent, too, which means the book is very easy to understand. But again, if you are totally new, buy this book but be sure to read Microsoft's manual first.

Rating:
Summary: Reading Frontpage
Review: This is a good introductory Frontpage book and it is good for people who want to know Frontpage right away. However, if you want to learn it, you have to buy another ones. I would not recommend to buy it because it is kind of wasting money and time to read the whole book since you can get the same information if you buy a better one.