Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book by Adobe Creative Team
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Book Reviews of Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book
Book Review: Good not Great
Summary: 3 Stars
Having been a Go Live user for a while I needed something to help me make the change to Dreamweaver. Usually, the Classroom in a Book series are brilliant, this one not so. As a self-confessed dummy when it comes to technical things like using Dreamweaver, I found there were at least three chapters where I couldn't complete the exercises as shown. Generally very good. I would recommend it but only if you bought a companion book like Dreamweaver CS3 for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guide)to fill in the gaps. It was good, worthwhile, not great.Book Review: Frustrating but somewhat useful.
Summary: 3 Stars
The book does introduce a novice user to many features of Dreamweaver but often when following written instructions my example does not look like it does in the book. The instructions are often wrong or incomplete, causing frustration. They need an associated site and/or telephone number that a user can contact for help. Adobe should have checked these projects much more carefully before publishing this book.Book Review: Could have been better.
Summary: 3 Stars
First part of the book is pretty good. The further into the book,the errors start showing up. The publishing deadline must have been approaching. Chapter 9 "Integrating Ajax with Spry" lesson did not even work (running Windows Vista).
It is a good basic book. Looking forward to other books that are soon to be released.
Book Review: A very good start
Summary: 3 Stars
The book has very simple instructions, and clear pictures. It is very basic and light on information. It is good for beginners. For example, the book teaches you how to build a form into your page, but does not go into how to process the info gathered.Book Review: Just what it says ... minus the ability to ask the teacher questions
Summary: 2 Stars
I had written my original webpages (many years ago!) with Adobe PageMill. I finally had to upgrade my computer, and thus the software. Getting Adobe CS3 Design Premium was a no-brainer for my situation, but when I opened Dreamweaver, I found it was terribly foreign to me. Figuring Adobe would be a good place to start my self-training (and seeing that the reviews here on Amazon were all over the map), I purchased Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book.
Just like a beginning computer class at your local community college, the book follows a prepared lesson plan for "hands-on experience". Unlike such a class, there's no way to ask for clarification, more examples, or get lesson material errors corrected. Although I started out learning things I definitely needed to know, I soon stalled out when I tried to generalize what I'd just worked through to a real-life creative effort. The book simply is not a resource, but a series of pre-determined exercises to get a person actually doing a few things with the program. It's value is definitely transient, not lasting, and thus not worth the purchase price by any means.
Also rather disturbing were the incorrect keyboard shortcuts and directions in general for Mac users. In fact, I experienced a repeated freeze-up when using a particular set of shortcut instructions (the "normal" command path worked fine).
I ended up browsing other Dreamweaver texts at a local bookstore (where I could see layout and formatting of each book) and selected "Visual Quickstart Guide -- Dreamweaver CS3" as a result. In it, I learned a LOT more about what I could do with Dreamweaver, and it's laid out in a way that promotes its use for reference during my learning curve. I tried to finish off the last lessons in Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book after that ... I lasted only a few pages before I closed the book in disgust. Once the toolbar, panels, and workspace became familiar, the rote exercises lost all usefulness.
I'm sure that Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book has an audience out there, but it's not me -- someone with no Dreamweaver experience and just a smattering of website design experience. It's definitely not going to suit previous Dreamweaver users, either. Unless you're very certain that your experience level and needs line up exactly with the few folks who gave out 4- and 5-star reviews, you'll be better off finding some other vehicle to learn Dreamweaver.