Adobe Dreamweaver CS4: The Official Training Workbook from Adobe Systems [With CDROM]

Just started using this book today. It's easy to follow the step-by-step instructions. It has less unnecessary text than a lot of other beginner books on Dreamweaver CS4. The accompanying CD has assignments that let you create actual webpages using photos, text and graphics that are already provided. It gives you a chance to actually build the website and learn techniques by hands-on doing rather than just reading about it in a vacuum. The book tells you how to manipulate the files in the CD to create actual web pages. You work on your computer using the files and photos provided as you follow the step-by-step instructions. Kind of like cooking as you read a cookbook. I wanted to give this book only three stars because for some inexplicable reason the text is TINY, smaller than that for an instructional book of this type. It's very hard to follow becuase while you're working on the computer and trying to read the book at the same time, you have to stop what you're doing on the computer and hold the book about five inches from your face to read it. For that, I should give this a three-stars rating or less. But when I compare the substance to other books I've browsed through, this seems the easiest to follow for beginners and I didn't want to discourage people from buying this good book just because of the text size, which really is a big problem and which they should fix.

I found this to be the best step-by-step tutorial introduction I've ever used. The book is extremely precise and clear on what to do, step by step. It shows expected results. It takes nothing for granted. The associated files let you do each lesson "stand alone". So while all the lessons take you through the construction of a single (simplistic) travel agency website, you aren't "stuck" if you don't finish a lesson or you messed up a prior lesson. They even include "finished" files to show you what your work will look like when properly completed. When things went "wrong" and I didn't get the result shown I could always go back and find the error - and invariably it would be mine. I find introductory tutorials that have subtle mistakes, or are half a version behind the product VERY frustrating, so I really appreciated the attention to detail in this book. I usually fill the margins of training books with errors and edits of unclear sentences. I found less than a dozen unclear places in this book - and several were simply where they gave only the MAC menu choice ("choose") rather than also including the Windows "OK" command. I have virtually NO current experience with HTML, though in the past I've done serious C programming. I agree with another reviewer - you don't need to be a coder to use DreamWeaver, but it sure helps. Dreamweaver is a tool that generates code. There is a VERY complex set of dependencies between .CSS .HTML and .JS files in various directories to make a site work. Dreamweaver lets you flip between designer view and code view - and this book even lightly introduces you to that world. In a week, this book got me started using Dreamweaver well enough to build two web sites from scratch. HOWEVER, this book alone was not enough to do everything I wanted on those sites. Once this book had given me a mental model of how Dreamweaver works, I switched over to using "Dreamweaver CS4 - The Missing Manual" (McFarland). I've found that to be the perfect companion for serious work. Full disclosure - I finished the entire CIB book (11 lessons) in 8 days, spending about 3 to 4 hours per day. About 3/4 of the way through the CIB lessons I started using the "Missing Manual" book to read more about threads of special interest to me - like preparing photos for web use. However I never needed to use outside resources to figure out what CIB was trying to teach. The Classroom In a Book is VERY basic in what it covers. It does NOT wander off into details about anything - this meant I could actually complete the book in a reasonable time and get a broad view. If I could change one thing, it would be to add about 5 chapters. It would be extremely valuable to go back over the site created and "tune" it, adding features and making it more real-world, including things like nesting s, integrating graphics, formatting tables, creating page layout using CSS, and perhaps even setting up formmail. These lessons would help complete and cement one's understa

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Classroom in a Book Very useful book for beginners as well as more experienced users. You won't be sorry you have it when you find yourself puzzled. Much easier than searching the web for tutorials.

This is an excellent resource for anyone looking to learn how to use Adobe Dreamweaver CS4! The exercises within are very helpful in learning the application and perfect for new or very experienced web designers. It's a great tool to have on the side, or for a class.

This clearly written logically organized book explains in no nonsense terms some of the key concepts in using Adobe Dreamweaver. Lessons from the source is the best way to learn about web design software. In eleven (11) important lessons, the Adobe Classroom in a Book training teams takes the reader through Dreamweaver's essential design interface. The book includes a "Quickstart" chapter for those who want to jump right in and start designing web pages. Eleven chapters later, the book discusses publishing on the web. So weather you're looking for a Quick Start or a primer on everything from Cascading Style Sheets (Chapter 2) or Lessons about working with text and graphics, this book could be the introduction you're looking for. Some of the other topics include: Working with Navigation (Chapter 5); Adding Interactivity (Chapter 6); Creating a Page Layout (Chapter 7); Working with Forms (Chapter 8); Working with Flash (Chapter 9); Increasing Productivity (Chapter 10); and, finally, Publishing to the Web (Chapter 11). By the time you finish reading this book, you'll have an understanding of the interface and web page design concepts of using Adobe Dreamweaver.