Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

Database Design

Dreamweaver MX 2004 for Dummies

Format: Paperback
Author: Janine Warner
ReleaseDate: 20 October, 2003
Publisher: For Dummies
Rating:

Thanks from a beginner
The other books I bought were way over my head and I found myself lost before I even got started. I bought a couple of books about Dreamweaver and I want to thank you for creating one that even a beginner could follow. I guess if I get more advanced I may appreciate some of the other books, but as someone who is new to Web design, I want to thank you for helping me get started. I couldn't have done it without you.

Covers the Basics
Still, I decided to look into a how-to book for dummies like myself. Having only once created a webpage on FrontPage, I thought I was a bit ahead of the game.
Fortunately, I had also purchased the Dreamweaver bible. If you want to do more with your site than just pictures with text and tables. . . then this is a great book.
I found myself having to look at the Dreamweaver Bible to make my site better.
As for content presentation, I would have preferred if they include Cascade Style Sheets with the inital introduction to HTML. The flow would have been much better.
This book does a bad job covering <META> and Keywords.
So, yes, it's ok for the PLAIN basic of all basics. I recommend it merely for the fact that it introduces you Dreamweaver Menu Items and helps you get around the workspace. But it is not the only book you will need- unless you're just interested in creating a little site with little pictures of your little puppy. Even then, the authors do not cover on getting your website on search engines and finding it once it is up there.
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A rush job
A lot of space wasted on mechanical clicking around the interface. The first 75% of the book deals with plain HTML, forms and other buttons and takes one from 0 to 5 on a scale to 1000. Explain the menus and options and how to use them and don't need to walk through each one as if I've never seen a mouse. Now, if all you want in a web site is a bunch of words, links and pictures, all you need is MS Word and then Save as HTML. So, I imagine the fun part is when you have a database, to make the site smart. . . The database examples have missing steps and built in assumptions, no clue as to what could go wrong, etc. Needless to say, I spent many hours searching the net to fill the missing spaces left by this book. To my surprise, I found Macromedia's ONLINE UltraDev help a much better resource, with better explanations and a lot more graphics. Thanks Jannine, but no thanks!.