Dreamweaver 8 for Dummies

What a great book for someone who just learning how to use this program. It has been extremely helpful and it is easy to follow, very user friendly.

Having just started a new job in which I need to begin developing web-based training very soon, I reserved every book I could on Dreamweaver through our local libraries. This one is my favorite. I think one reviewer complained about the 'cutsey' stuff, and let me say that this is not your typical "Dummies" book - I was almost to page 50 before I came across one comment about her spouse, and I think there was one more such comment later on. I will also say that as a trainer, instructional developer, technical writer, and journalist, I tend to judge computer books with a critical eye (and I read a LOT of them). I found the pace of this one to be just right -- I am rather impatient and I didn't have a lot of time to waste, so I didn't want something that proceeded slowly, but I was also new to Dreamweaver, so I didn't want something that proceeded at a breakneck pace. This book does what it claims to do. It doesn't claim to be a Dreamweaver book for those who are already power users. It does not propose to be an exhaustive reference, as perhaps does the other Dummies title that describes itself as being nine books in one. The all-in-one is a nice enough book, but I didn't have time to read 900 pages before beginning to develop my projects. Speaking of 900-page books, I chose this book over Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual, because the latter one, albeit much larger, did not present the information as concisely, and I found myself reading three paragraphs to get the amount of content that I could get from one paragraph of this author's book. This book does, in its 400 or so pages, give a reasonably good foundation from which one can learn more about advanced topics, if desired. In that sense, it gave me a good road map of the territory ahead, such that I can converse intelligently with those in my office who are way beyond my level, and it positions me to be a good consumer of more advanced books/material. This author's book more fully fleshed out the topics that I needed to know about than did How To Do Everything with Dreamweaver 8. Again, that was not a bad book, and in fact the screen shots of the toolboxes and menus and such were more clearly done in How To Do Everything with Dreamweaver 8. I did learn some new things from it. But overall, I got more bang for my buck from Warner's book. This book differs from the Dreamweaver Design and Construction book -- which gets good reviews -- in that it does not focus (nor propose to focus) on the principles of designing a website. This book's agenda is to teach the reader how to use Dreamweaver. This book does not propose to be a tutorial, as does Dreamweaver 8 Hands on Training, so it is a matter of being aware of the way that you learn best, and picking a book that fits with your learning style. Speaking of, I am a visual learner, so I used this book in tandem with "Teach Yourself Visually Dreamweaver 8" -- and some time later realized that both were written by the same author. "Teach Yourself Visua

There are certain software packages that have simply become the standards by which others are compared. Dreamweaver is one of those packages. When you go talk to professional web workers, most of them use Dreamweaver. When you want to put 'web designer' on your resume, you want to put down or be able to tell them 'Dreamweaver' at the interview. This book is an excellent introduction to the Dreamweaver software package. It's written in an interesting combination of tutorial and reference format. It says that it's intended for the complete beginner, but I think that might be just a bit much. Some idea about how the web works, even a little bit of HTML background will be a big help. One point I consider weak. There's a chapter on using Flash. Obviously Flash, also put out by the same software publisher, has to be included. My suggestion. A lot of us hate Flash. It's slow, it requires a download, and it puts cartoons on your site. Most of the big sites used flash at one time, they don't any more. If you have to use flash, put a prominent 'Skip the Cartoons' button on the page. Two points I consider strong. One, her treatment of CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. This is something you simply have to know. Two, her treatment of building database driven sites. She gives an excellent introduction - but lets you know that this is just the beginning and you have a lot of other things to learn. I'll add -- If you're going to do a dynamic web site of average size, don't even think of doing it without Dreamweaver.

Janine Thank you so much for coming through for me again. You have been a god send with this book. The book is so detailed, that it has allowed me to learn Dreamweaver in a very short time. To be honest, your work is some of the best I have ever seen. Being an educator and looking for good content when most of it is created for the business market is hard, so finding your stuff was a god send. I honestly dont know what I would do without your hard work and dedication towards your work in this book. So for all you do, this one is truely for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you and a great big thank you. By using this book, I have improved my skill level to such a degree that I have been asked to participate in various projects in my school, that has resulted in a nice promotion. thanks Renaldo

I have a terrible time with any how-to,whether a program manual or a "dummies" type book. However, when I got stumped on a web design issue, I went to Janine's website, sent her an e-mail and she answered my question within 24 hours. Her advice helped me fix the problem I was having and she followed up to be sure I'd been helped. She also took the time to go to my web site and look at what I'd done. If you have a hard time finding what you need, check out Ms. Warner's web site and e-mail her with your questions directly. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.