Macromedia Studio MX Bible

Rating:
Summary: Very Beefy
Review: Almost 1,200 pages packed with great information! The authors did a superb job of hitting the most important features of each application with special emphasis on integration.

There are even a couple of new Bible icons in this book, one was to indicate exercises that contributed to the books ongoing project. I could jump into any chapter and have the files needed without doing anything previously. It was a nice way to learn how to use the applications together.

Wonderful resource for learning a lot about each program. I discovered which application was best for which job. For example instead of trying to print my Fireworks logo, I've decided I'm better off doing that in FreeHand when I need cards and stationary and such then bringing the vectors into Fireworks to prepare for the web.

Rating:
Summary: I flunked my Webpage Design class because of THIS BOOK.
Review: I absoutely hate this book. I had to buy it for a webpage design class and I can't understand why the teacher uses this for a textbook. I've never seen an application (computer program) how-to book that left me this confused--and these kind of books don't easily leave me confused as I have learned HTML. Photoshop, and PHP from books (I have several books on each!). As was stated below, this book doesn't give you enough information to understand what the heck you're doing. If you've had no previous experience with Macromedia Studio programs I can almost GARENTEE that you won't make it even halfway through this book (if that) before you're ready to chuck it out the window. It is virtually impossible to understand the instructions and explanations given in the book if you aren't already very familiar with some prior Macromedia Studio program(s) because the language is out of the beginners grasp. It's because of this book that I had to drop out of my Multimedia & Webpage Design class. Thank you Macromedia Studio MX Bible! Do yourself a favor: Don't get this book. Don't waste good money.

Rating:
Summary: UGH!! What a waste of time and money!
Review: I had to buy this book as a text book for a college level class I am taking on Macromedia Studio MX. The book is just about worthless. Instead of trying to work through the tutorials, which all seem to have needed information left out, I ahve been spending my time for free on the Macromedia website doing their tutorials.

Also the books seems to be geared more for the person who is upgrading from a prior version of Studio than to a new user.

If I didn't have to use this book as a text book it would ahve gone STRAIGHT BACK to the college bookstore where I bought it.

Rating:
Summary: 2 Thumbs Up
Review: I purchased the studio and didn't know how to use the programs together in harmony. I really liked how many of the exercises were related to a site that was being built throughout the book. I could pick any topic I wanted and often times make something for the books project.

It has good coverage of each of the studio applications a bit of beginner and intermediate mixed with more advanced (ColdFusion). There is even a bit on Flash Remoting.

Overall its been a good reference when I had a problem in any of the applications. I'm new to Fireworks and it's helped out a lot in learning how to prepare images to use in DW. How to optimize them, slice, export, make buttons and even animations.

If you own the Studio MX package you can't go wrong with this as a reference for all.

Rating:
Summary: Fails to deliver on its ambitions
Review: Samuel Johnson remarked once that learning in Scotland was like bread in a siege town. Everyone got some but none got enough to make a meal. His quip could equally apply to this book. It touches on everything, but doesn't cover anything in sufficient depth. In fact I would tend to view the book as really centered around bringing Fireworks and Freehand into play (contra Illustrator and Photoshop). Freehand and Fireworks get 200 pages each, while Flash gets 90 pages. Dreamweaver gets just under 300 pages, and the surface of many features is revealed. However, there isn't a lot of depth throughout and elaborate examples are avoided. The rest of the book is focused on Cold Fusion (which was not of interest to me).

My personal recommendation is to look at specific books for specific components. Compendium type books, often suggest more than they can deliver.

Rating:
Summary: Fails to deliver on its ambitions
Review: Samuel Johnson remarked once that learning in Scotland was like bread in a siege town. Everyone got some but none got enough to make a meal. His quip could equally apply to this book. It touches on everything, but doesn't cover anything in sufficient depth. In fact I would tend to view the book as really centered around bringing Fireworks and Freehand into play (contra Illustrator and Photoshop). Freehand and Fireworks get 200 pages each, while Flash gets 90 pages. Dreamweaver gets just under 300 pages, and the surface of many features is revealed. However, there isn't a lot of depth throughout and elaborate examples are avoided. The rest of the book is focused on Cold Fusion (which was not of interest to me).

My personal recommendation is to look at specific books for specific components. Compendium type books, often suggest more than they can deliver.

Rating:
Summary: Hit the Button for Me!
Review: Since this book stated it was beginner through intermediate it did provide that for me. There was enough information for me to get a good feel on each subject. On the subjects a bit over my head and the ones I wanted more beginner detail on, I purchased a beginner book specific to that topic. The intermediate topics simply spurred my interest to explor further.

Not only are there a lot of examples but a website was added to with every single application. As far as Flash, there was extra material which was project based on the CD ROM. If Flash were my interest I'd have purchased the Flash Bible.

The book states that it's focus is on integrating the Studio applications together, and in that end, it did an admirable job. It's unrealistic to expect one book to teach everything there is to know about 5 applications--hence the name INTEGRATING Studio MX Bible :-)

I also understand that the Bible is a reference book not a step by step book. I purchase a lot of computer books and have found there are specific types. For people who want a total hand holding experience I'd suggest a tutorial book not a reference book.

For my money, this book more than earned it's $40 I paid!

Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef?
Review: Sure looks like a hefty tome, but where's the beef? This is a fluff of a product overview. If you think you're actually going to LEARN something from this book, you've got another think coming! It attempts the impossible - "Bible" on "Studio MX"? Get real! Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Resource
Review: The only way possible not to find value in this wonderful book is if you already know all the applications. If that's the case then why would you buy it.

Each section was almost a book in itself. You have to be an expert illustrator not to learn a ton of stuff in FreeHand from making vector images to making SWF movies and all kinds of special effects. I learned how to use FreeHand in my workflow with the other apps. For instance how to make my logos and print material in FreeHand so that I only have to design it once for both print and the Web.

Fireworks is another one. I've used Dreamweaver a lot but was unfamiliar with Fireworks. WOW, what a powerful program. I learned how to make all kinds of images, text effects but most importantly several ways to export those images and designs to use in Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver includes basics but moves quickly into more intermediate topics. I learned how to connect to a database and got a good foundation on using CSS along with a lot of the other features.

In the Flash section I got a quick tour of the interface and was quickly making my first simple animation. But I also learned how to add sound. Most of the techniques including some ActionScript were done by making portions of a web site. I make a banner and several E-cards.

ColdFusion was over my head there was too much code involved but the portion I liked was that Flash Remoting was covered. The e-card made in Flash were used in an interface that connected to ColdFusion to deliver the e-cards to send.

To sum it up I enjoyed the book tremendously, learned a ton and now will go back and delve into more of the areas that I am weakest on. I got a great feel for how the applications work together in a real world project that was made. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--there are extra tutorials and movies the authors provided on the CD to expand the value of this book even more!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not show-and-tell
Review: This book spends most of its time providing definitions of words and terms and little of its time providing demonstrations of concepts. What tutorials and exercises there are do NOT always work as seamlessly as the author would seem to suggest. In fact, some instructions don't work at all -- leaving the reader to figure out the inner workings of an application by trial and error. If you'd like to have a book that TELLS you what everything means but doesn't SHOW or tell you how to accomplish it, this is the one for you.