Customer Rating:  
Summary: Helps Dreamweaver Live Up To Its Name
Comment: I only rated this book a 4 because although I've read dozens of software books, the only other book on Dreamweaver I'd read was a no-frills intro. Tarin's book delves deep into the hard-core details of this annoyingly complex, but increasingly necessary set of tools. This book is actually fun to read - I liked that. It is also irreverent - I REALLY liked that. The examples are crisp and easy to follow, if you think them through. I especially liked Chapter 10 on converting Excel and Word data to HTML, as Dreamweaver has a way of shrinking them to acceptable file sizes - a pain to sort out on your own. Dreamweaver's complexity can give you nightmares. This book, will let you count sheep instead. Good work Tarin.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not very clear, sometimes confusing
Comment: Being able to follow directions well is not good enough for this book. This book was recommended to me by teachers, but it is useless and should not be used at all. I don't like that the visuals are old, and it is worse if you are using a MAC because they are mainly for PCs. The instructions are not straight foward - for instance I tried to upload my site images and half way through his instructions I was lost--I coulnd't find the windows he was referring to. I struggled for hours and finally, feeling defeated, I googled what I needed and found a web site that had more straight forward instructions. If I ever wanted to throw your computer or a book out the window, this was the time. Also, he seems to abbreviate his instructions to emcompass all the how to's in short sentences, but it gets too abbreviated that there seems to be steps missing -- he does this through out the book and uses names of windows this way as well. To my opinion this is definitely a waste of money and I regret buying it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Companion web site not there
Comment: The companion web site mentioned in the book is not there. When I typed in that URL, I got redirected to Peachpit's advertising site of this book, but no "links", "tools", nor "examples" mentioned in the book at all!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Boring textbook
Comment: I had to buy this book for a class. It is an extremely boring read and I struggle to keep myself awake while reading it (as does the rest of the class I am told). It does tell you about Dreamweaver though and I suppose that is its purpose. One thing that I do not like is the way the author is constantly bashing Internet Explorer and other isp's. His personal opinions are a real turn-off and unnecessary.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Falls down where needed most - at the beginning
Comment: As a training aide, this book started off badly and got only slightly better. For those who know nothing about Dreamweaver at all, a better initial learning source is needed.
The text spends a great deal of time going over redundant items that it would seem anyone with a modicum of Windows experience would know already; this is mainly a matter of navigating the basic Windows interface. This is not a bad thing, in and of itself, for those with limited experience but it gets infuriating when something a little more advance, actually using Dreamweaver, is attempted. At that point, readers must make leaps of faith and, all too often, the general descriptions given have only a passing resemblance with what appears on the screen. I get the impression that the book was written for an earlier product and that the updating process was not complete.
The matter of the screen shots is another problem area. The book is full of them. Unfortunately, many of them are so small that discerning any details is often problematical. That is bad enough with my 41 year old eyes but my nephew's 16 year old eyes did not fare much better.
The explanations as to the process of setting up a site are the most infuriating at all. The author admits that this is where most people have the most trouble. That is a clear signal to pay attention. The job is then bungled. Looking in other books made it clear.
The book is not without its strengths. Later on, when things like dealing with frames, images, styles and such are presented, the explanations are for the most part clear and intelligible. The screen shots are still too small to be useful but the text generally made the reading worthwhile.
If you already know the very basics, this book might help. I think it would be better to look for another one though.
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