Essential Macromedia Dreamweaver for Web Professionals

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I am 2/3 finished with this book and am really enjoying using it to learn Dreamweaver. It is much more "reader friendly" than the big reference books, and it covers everything I am hoping to learn in good detail. There are plenty of reference screen shots and helpful tips throughout the book as well.

I definitely recommend this book if you want to learn Dreamweaver.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: I am a CSci instructor at a community college in Minnesota and picked this book as part of my "Intro To The Internet" class. I have been *very* happy with it. The book is well-written and easy to understand. As per the title, the author concentrates on the essential topics in Dreamweaver, the ones most important to understand. The book features an ongoing example website, that grows with sophistication as each new chapter is covered. Sample files for each chapter can be downloaded permitting the reader to start fresh in each chapter without carrying over mistakes from the previous chapter. And I have been particularly impressed with the lack of errors. Many computer textbooks (like the one I used last semester!) are rife with errors that render the book unusable. While not designed as a textbook, it still works well in that capacity (although end of chapter exercises would have been nice). Great job!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: I am a CSci instructor at a community college in Minnesota and picked this book as part of my "Intro To The Internet" class. I have been *very* happy with it. The book is well-written and easy to understand. As per the title, the author concentrates on the essential topics in Dreamweaver, the ones most important to understand. The book features an ongoing example website, that grows with sophistication as each new chapter is covered. Sample files for each chapter can be downloaded permitting the reader to start fresh in each chapter without carrying over mistakes from the previous chapter. And I have been particularly impressed with the lack of errors. Many computer textbooks (like the one I used last semester!) are rife with errors that render the book unusable. While not designed as a textbook, it still works well in that capacity (although end of chapter exercises would have been nice). Great job!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Dreamweaver book.
Review: I am very happy I purchased this book and I definitely recommend it if you want to learn Dreamweaver.

I was looking for a book that taught me how to use Dreamweaver to build and maintain 3 web sites my company owns. I work with many technologies every day, and RARELY do I ever need to know how to do the most obscure task to accomplish my job. Instead, what I try to learn is about 60-70% of a product or technology. That way, when I need to do something more obscure, I have a solid foundation and can find the answer I'm looking for.

The Essential Dreamweaver 4 for Web Professionals covers about the top 85% of the product, and covers each topic in very good detail. The writing style is casual, which makes it easier to read. There are plenty of screen shots but not too many, I think. And, the book explains each task by having you build an actual portion of a web site, which is awesome (I love books like that).

I highly recommend picking up this book. It will probably be the only book you need unless you're doing something really tricky or obscure. And it will save you $$ because it's cheaper than most other books.

P.S. Later down the road, if you need a good reference book, pick up Dreamweaver 4 Bible.

Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Book for Learning Dreamweaver.
Review: I highly recommend this book to learn Dreamweaver!

I finished the book last week, and cannot begin to tell you how easy it was to follow along. The info is explained very thoroughly and does not make a bunch of assumption about what you know (or do not know). I learned everything I was hoping to learn pretty quickly (in about 2 weeks).

The examples are in-depth too, which is always nice.

I definitely recommend buying this book to learn Dreamweaver.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This book is excellent! I am not new to web development, but I am new to Dreamweaver. I really like the fact that this book does not try to cover every single feature of Dreamweaver, because there are too many. Instead, the author chose to cover the features that you use on a regular basis...and he explainins them in great detail.

All of the basic explanations are there, like formatting text and images (things that I figured out easily on my own) but the real value is in the more complex tasks, such as designing a form, incorporating cascading style sheets, and (my favorite) creating a DHTML drop down menu using Dreamweaver's behaviors. There is also coverage on other behaviors, such as detecting what type of browser a user has and redirecting to an appopriate page, based on that information.

Another excellent feature is that the book teaches you each task within the context of building or updating an actual web site, which makes learning the tasks much easier! I ended up skipping the first two chapters because I already knew that information. But when I started on chapter 3, I just downloaded the associated files for that chapter and began working from there. You can basically jump to any section of the book and start working from there, which is great.

This book is, hands down, a WAY better value than the other books I wasted my time buying...and returning.

Rating:
Summary: Just essential
Review: This is a good book on the whole. Very essential and to the point as the title suggests. I have never used dreamweaver or other html authoring tools, but I found that book has enabled me acquaint with the tool quickly.

The only complaint is about the book packing. I had to use one hand to keep the book open, that means, it left me only one hand to type and try out the exercises.

Rating:
Summary: Very, Very Good Book.
Review: This is a very good book for learning Dreamweaver and getting up to speed quickly. The book goes over all of the most used tools and features of the software. I like the writing style...it is casual, yet in-depth...very easy to read and understand.

If you are looking for a book that teaches you 100% of the basics, plus some intermediate level skills, this is the one. And, the price is less than others...