Dreamweaver 8 - The Missing Manual
Let me start by saying, “I’m a designer not a programmer”. This in-depth book is over 900 pages and slightly intimidating in it’s scope as well as it’s heft, But Dreamweaver 8 - The Missing Manual is not a book to read cover-to-cover. This book imparts a good deal of knowledge in the basics of web development and web technology, making it a useful reference for experienced Dreamweaver developers and complete beginners such as I.
Dreamweaver 8 is the latest version of the popular web design and development application used to create some of the world’s best websites. To give you a little background, I just finished the layouts for a project of creating my first website. I’ve owned Dreamweaver since version 2 (1998) and although they changed naming conventions (MX, 2004, etc.) I still never got the hang of creating even a simple website. Now, with the help of this book, I hope to finally get up to speed in the web game.
As far as web development software goes, it is the gold standard and has recently been bought by Adobe from Macromedia. Most graphic applications today do not come with a printed manual and usually get one in PDF format on the CD, but who would print out a 900 page book? This book fills that gap.
The author, David Sawyer McFarland, begins with the basics of how to navigate the software as well as the basics of web design and progresses to advanced features like database integration, CSS, XML, and XSLT. For the novice user like myself, it gradually steps them up to the ability to make full-featured high quality websites. For experienced users, the book is compartmentally designed to provide quick access to the information you are looking for. Because the book covers not only Dreamweaver functions, but web design basics and other background skills, it can easily be used as one-stop-shopping for anyone wanting to be proficient in web design.
The tips and notes provide useful information that isn’t readily available elsewhere and tutorials help readers develop and learn the skills as they read along. The author is particularly helpful in pointing out not only the lesser-known shortcuts and tips, but valuable extensions available to make the developer’s life easier. The writing is short and to-the-point and the book is well-written and easy to access, making it an indispensable desk reference for novice and experienced Dreamweaver developers alike. Now, if it would only finish my project for me.
4 out of 5 dogcows
Dreamweaver 8 - The Missing Manual