Creating a Web Site in Dreamweaver Cs3: Visual QuickProject Guide

This is that basic, start-at-the-beginning book that I have been searching for. I have purchased literally a dozen books on Dreamweaver CS3 and could not understand how to actually get started building a web site. This is the book to get you started. It's short, so it won't take you through ultracomplex jargon, but it was so easy for me to understand how to build my web site. I love that it is project-based and the author takes you step by step through building a web site. If there is anything left out of this book, I do have all those other tomes to look through for guidance.

Imagine that your new piano instructor starts you out with "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and two minutes later whips into Chopin, just to show you how wonderfully skilled he is and entirely forgetting that his primary task is to teach first concepts to a total newbie. That's the problem with the big, thick manuals (I own all of 'em). I've virtually thrown the big books across the room several times thinking, "why not just show me how to build a nice, simple site, then, AND ONLY THEN, demonstrate to me how I can make it better and more complex by doing more stuff. Just show me step-by-step how to get a web site up and running, then I can more easily understand the more complex variations. Don't first start me out on the complex variations just to stroke your own ego by demonstrating how much you know! For instance, it was only recently that I understood that Tables are not used much any more. So why am I wasting all this time reading about Tables when I should be trying to understand CSS? AP Divs are kind of intuitive, but they align only top and left and some browsers have trouble with them. Why am I wasting my time with AP Divs? I need to learn CSS, but the Big Books bury the relevant info in a ton of clutter. CSS should be at the front of the book and archaic info in the back, not the other way around. That's where this little book shines. It doesn't necessarily show you absolutely everything you need to know, but if you just follow the instructions closely and study the different dialogue boxes and panels, and play around with different commands, the "ah-ha!" moment will come and all of the sudden you will understand CSS and Divs and all the rest. Worked for me. The author begins right out of the box with CSS and later pointedly says that AP Divs won't be discussed. Hoo-ray! I'm sorry to say that this little book was the last of seven books I bought on Dreamweaver CS3 because I thought the small size denoted little value or seriousness. Wrong. Small keys unlock big doors. Now for the first time I clearly understand what CSS is all about. Buy this book to get you started, then buy a Big Book to explain it in more detail.

This book turned out to be a life saver for me. I took a multimedia design class in school and one of the projects was designing a web site using Dreamweaver. Our teacher thought two short class days was enough to teach us everything and sent us on our way. I went and bought this book to supplement what she taught us and learned so much. I was even able to help other students in class finish their projects. This book is a great entry level guide to Dreamweaver. If you're looking for advanced techniques you won't find it here, but if you're looking for a basic walkthrough of the the most commonly used features, this is the book for you.

Without this little gem I would still be at the starting gate. It provided a kinder simpler description of what to do to get started and then some. The emphasis being on the some. I now use it with its companion copy the bigger PeachPit Dreamweaver CS3 guide. It all makes more sense, and saves time and frustration. A little miracle!

Nolan, I just wanted to tell you that this book was extremely helpful and will continue to be helpful to me. I have taught myself dreamweaver for the past year and when I picked this book up I just wanted to see what I could compare to what I had already learned. I was surprised to find that your tips and visual lessons were easy to learn and greatly improved my ability in a matter of an hour or less when I sat down to read your book. Thank you for your efforts and for writing such a simple and helpful book. Gabe Arnold