graphic design

I purchased Dreamweaver MX 2004 not knowing a thing about web design/programming. After 1 day with this book, I was able to create basic pages. After finishing the book in 1 week, I feel that I have a very good BASIC understanding of Dreamweaver. This book was very beneficial to me.

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004: Training from the Source is a project based book with the goal of learning Dreamweaver 2004 in a hands on approach. There are 17 lessons and other resource material. The topic is lighthouses. Each chapter builds on past concepts taught and progresses in a logical manner. Each chapter contains very concise step by step directions. Screen shots are abundent. The additional tips and notes are very useful. The production techniques are valuable. After finishing the book I went and visited two of the lighthouses. Excellent!

In college I used to do some freelance web design using Dreamweaver/Fireworks 4. Then I moved on to other career paths, and 3 years later I want to get back into web development. I got a demo of Dreamweaver MX, and I was totally lost. At the recommendation of my local Macromedia User Group Admin, I checked out this book. It was a perfect combination of review (the small amount of things I remembered from 4) and all of the great new functions.

I really liked how the author integrated all of the lessons within the framework of the "Lights of the Coast" website. (Even though I catch myself getting really tired of lighthouses by the time I was done). The lessons were the right length to get a firm understanding, without overkill or boring me to sleep. The steps for the most part we straight forward, and in bold type. There were a few sections where I was confused if the author wanted me to perform an action, or if it was just a side note (not in bold type). A couple extra screenshots through longer lessons could have relieved some confusion if I was really doing things correctly.

I am surprised the author spent as much time with frames and tables, and only one chapter on CSS. But I also understand that this is a basics book, and they wanted to cover the major functionalities. Luckily most of the lessons did not require the previous lesson to be complete, so the reader is able to jump around. (Skipping frames didn't stop me from learning about forms). And even if they did the completed lesson files were already available.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to any newcomer or out of practice user like myself. The lessons were organized with quality content. The ability to pick and choose from topics is essential. I'm sure I will read this book a few more times before I move on. I also look forward to reading more "From the Source" books, especially the Flash and Dreamweaver w/ PHP, Coldfusion. 5 out of 5