Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A great book for beginning to intermediate Dreamweaver CS3 users.
Comment: I've found this book to be a fantastic learning tool for anyone who has interest in beginning to learn Dreamweaver CS3, or those of you like myself who have used past Dreamweaver versions and wanted to get up to speed on the latest and greatest. I was somewhat schooled in Dreameaver MX, back when CSS was beginning to be integrated into the software. Now that Adobe has ahold of the software, it's become much more complex with increased usability and features.
I originally wanted to start teaching myself CSS. I'm not a web professional by any means, I only do it as a hobby for my own personal site that is visited by a select few. As I was looking at CSS books at the local bookstore, I ran across this Dreamweaver CS3 book, looked through a few others, and decided that I needed to get back into the basics of my chosen web page editor before learning CSS. What a great decision this was.
I hadn't used Dreamweaver in a couple of years, so this book really helped me get back into the flow of things. It was easy to read without having to be in front of a computer at all times. I loved the layout of the lessons, it felt like a natural progression of what you'd want to do. You would be taught the basic layout options, then a chapter about basic CSS would come along to show you how to implement everything you've already learned. You would then be shown some more advanced features of Dreamweaver, then some advanced CSS. These CSS chapters have really helped me get a basic understanding of what CSS is, why it exists, and how it's used. It gives me a huge step up to learning CSS a bit more indepth instead of going into it blindly.
The tool tips scattered throughout the book are awesome additions to the material at hand, and gives you nice extra info that otherwise didn't fit in the instruction. Snapshots of the program are available all throughout the book, and provide a great visual so you don't have to try and decode what small button the text is trying to describe. The extra chapter on the new Spry java features is a welcome addition to understanding this great set of tools added to CS3. I appreciated the addition of chapters towards the end on dynamic webpages, but they seemed to be a bit beyond the scope of the book. However, Dreamweaver CS3 includes what looks to be great tools to work with these types of sites, so he has to cover them regardless.
Overall, great, great book. It's highly recommended from a novice such as myself. I've just ordered the CSS Missing Manual to go along with this book. I purchased this Dreamweaver CS3 book on a Tuesday, and I had my new site up and running, complete with external style sheets, on the following Friday. Not too shabby for a man who works full time during the week.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Dreamweaver CS3 Book I've Seen
Comment: I've purchased many Dreamweaver books, glanced through most and completed a few. I'm quite a ways into McFarland's book and I must say it's the best I've read. It's very informative and he seems to touch upon every detail. You're virtually guaranteed to become a Dreamweaver expert after finishing this book. I'd advise beginners and intermediates to go from cover to cover. I've picked up so many things so far that other books have left out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very informative
Comment: As a newcomer to Dreamweaver, I found this book very informative and easy to understand. The tutorials were well set out and easy to follow.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BEST How-to book EVER
Comment: I can't stop talking about how GREAT this book is! I've been trying to figure out how create a dynamic website for a couple years now, and I finally found a book to walk me through the process from start to finish- I practiced on my son's school track website- Thanks to Mr. McFarland, I got a dynamic site up and running!(With password protected admin forms for the coaches to update the data themselves!) I had no previous experience with MySQL or PHP, and didn't even know that I needed them, or how to get them (he gives you the links to do it for free)... I noticed that some people found the references and repeats to other sections irritating- Not having time to read everything, I found them essential, and appreciated him taking the time and effort to do that. I skipped to the sections I needed and found EVERYTHING I needed at my finger tips. (Who has time to read almost 1000 pages before you get to work!) His real world tutorials, and step by step instructions were EXACTLY what I needed to get my site up and running! He was logical, thorough and entertaining- I've been looking for a book like this for several years and am thrilled that I finally found it. I'll have to go back and read the chapters I skipped, and get his book on CSS (The missing manual)Then I will be a real expert.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not for my personality....
Comment: This is a verbose, somewhat unorganized book that could easily have been condensed to less than half the size the book. It has you referencing later in the book while mentioning something early in the book I think in an attempt to be cohesive but I found it irritating. I like bullet points but found it mostly in lengthly, overly wordy form. Just not my style. Now, with that said, once I am fluent, so to speak, in DW CS3, then perhaps I may refer to it and it may hold value to me then...not sure.
I won't mention this problem without a solution that fit for me. I bought Dreamweaver CS3 Video Training with Garrick Chow. This was an outstanding solution for me! Perfect. Everything you need to get started from start to finish with DW CS3.
I am absolutely new to Dreamweaver, and must note that as it may contribute to your expectations of what you want/need in supplemental materials to the DW program.
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