Disappointing
I've read each Dreamweaver Magic book since the first one. I was hoping this version would recapture some of the magic from the dreamweaver 4 book. I was wrong. Each year, the page count has grown thinner as has the subject matter. How could I have expected 12 projects to be given adequate coverage in 190 very sparce pages?There is nothing in this book that is not available in free tutorials at various prominent sites such as macromedia.com; alistapart.com; projectseven.com; and others.
Foti's project had potential but was not developed nearly as much or to the extent it should have been to be really usable.
Buraglia's menu is very poor. In this day and age of standards and accessibility, she does a menu that is invisible to non-javascript browsers. Moreover, it's invisible in Dreamweaver and requires a convoluted dreamweaver workaround and extra style sheet that is not even explained.
The CSS switcher is not bad if you care to use server technology. But the technique does not seem sufficiently efficient from similar techniques I've seen in online tutorials and the there are no engaging samples of what one could actually do with it. Actually, the page designs used throughout the entire book are not very engaging or inspiring at all.
The CSS styling chapter rehashes information that can be found in dozens of free tutorials. There is nothing special about it and this disappointed me the most. I really enjoy CSS and from the promotional information was looking forward to this being the centerpiece of the book - something new and stimulating. The author did not at all seem comfortable with the subject.
While there may be some material that would appeal to beginners, I cannot recommend this book to anyone but a beginner. It's a Mulligan stew of disparate thoughts and techniques.
New Riders: You're killing what should have been a great series
Hands on for all levels - workflow
If "hands on training" via projects is your perferred method of learning this book is sure to please. Excellently documented and written in easy-to-understand language, the beginning Dreamweaver user should feel right at home here. And thanks to the large number of subjects covered, experienced Dreamweaver users should find something here for them as well.I think it's also worth mentioning that in addition to giving the reader all the how-to information, the book does a great job of demonstrating 'effecient workflow' in Dreamweaver which can sometimes be the most difficult thing to grasp - especially if you are just starting out. That said in addition to teaching the reader how to build better web sites, this book may just make the process for doing that seem a whole lot easier, too.
It gives you something to do
Ok...sure...I'm a big fan of the new Dreamweaver MX 2004 because it's based on Cascading Style Sheets...bravo Macromedia! But if I'm somebody new to Dreamweaver and CSS, how I am I going to wield this mighty power newly given me by Macromedia?? I'm going to buy this book and be tipped off by the best folks in the business...that's what I'm going to do.Dreamweaver MX 2004 Magic is a great book with great ideas from great people. These are stepping off points--ideas to get you going that should help you teach yourself more. There's a CD-ROM, too, that does what it says it will--walk you through each of the projects.
This book is about empowering you to work the magic of which DW is capable. I'm not a big fan of the cookie-cutter, packaged up "put this on your site" approach that many Web sites use to deliver the bells and whistles folks expect of a modern Web site. What I do like is a book like this that teaches people how to create their own bells and whistles...stimulates the creativity to make something new. This book has interesting material for the newbie and for the pro...it's worth a look.
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