How to Do Everything with Dreamweaver

I had never used dreamweaver 8 or any other similar program prior to getting this book. It was very helpful when used as a reference while completing some of the Macromedia/user's guide tutorials. CSS and layers explained well.

Great book and easy to follow.

A few weeks ago I switched from Adobe GoLive to Dreamweaver 8 and bought this manual to help me make the transition. I've been working with the book (and Dreamweaver 8) for two weeks now. There isn't anything that I expected to be able to do that I couldn't find instructions for in "How to Do Everything". When I began I literally has never even seen Dreamweaver in action. I looked up how to create a site - there it was. I looked up how to create new pages, found instructions and ran into some template pages Dreamweaver included. Easy. It was a bit scant on creating the functioning of forms, but most consumers will ask for help with forms anyway. Next, I want to dive into adjusting the CSS (what MS Word calls "styles"). I see the chapter in "How do Do..." and will tackle that next week! I should also note that I'm using Mac OS X and not MS Windows. There's a disclaimer at the beginning of the manual stating that all the illustrations are for Windows, but so far I haven't found anything that didn't line up exactly with the Mac version. Overall, it's a helpful book with enough information to guide me through building and publishing my first Dreamweaver site in only a few days, but not too much information that I'm lost looking for anything. Buy this book if you're looking for an easy guide to producing and publishing your web pages in the industry standard: Dreamweaver.

This is a great reference guide for new and experienced users of Dreamweaver. Being familiar with HTML and other web design applications, such as Frontpage and GoLive, I found the transition to Dreamweaver much easier with the help of this reference. The book includes all the steps needed to walk through a beginner, as well as great coverage of the tools that help to expedite the advanced production (templates, style sheets, multimedia). The tips throughout for best practices on good web design and the knowledge gained throughout each section will go a long way in minimizing the burdens associated with changing the look of a website, collaborating changes with others and publishing/maintaining the live site.

The author has hit his mark with this work. Targeted to the beginner through intermediate, this is an excellent work. The problem with most technical writings is that one needs to know the material in order to use the reference. Not this one. The content, sequence, style, and illustrations employed in the presentation of Dreamweaver should speed comprehension of the material. Shortcuts and tips help shorten the time to real work. Once proficient, save the book for later reference.