general

I started learning about web design and developing one year ago as an absolute novice. I read quite a few other books regarding Dreamweaver Mx and Flash Mx. Most of them are quite tedious but I forced myself through because I didnĄŻt know better. I wasnĄŻt able to put a web site together till I found the Hands-on Training series. I got acquainted with Garo GreenĄŻ book and followed every step illustrated in the book to build a model site bansaihut.com. Within 3 months I was able to put together a sophisticated site (with the help of using Flash MX as well). Garo GreenĄŻs humorous style makes a daunting task of learning web building from scratch simply a fun enjoyable process. Matter of fact, his book is so effective that I easily adapted to using Dreamweaver MX 2004. Out of curiosity, I purchased this 2004 book just for reference even though itĄŻs too easy for me now. Now I am a certified Macromedia Dreamweaver developer, I found Marc CampbellĄŻs Developer Certification Study Guide a must read for my current level.
I donĄŻt regret spending time reading other books. In fact, itĄŻs best to read a few books regarding the same subject and learn something new from different authors.
IĄŻm not saying other books are of lesser value but itĄŻs this very book ¨C the Hands-on Training that gave me the ability to create a live functional web site.

I should warn you up front that MX 2004 is the first version of Dreamweaver I've used, and this is the only book on Dreamweaver I've gone through. Veterans of Dreamweaver may have a different perspective on this book.

That said, the book isn't wearing well for me. I have so far worked through Chapter 7, and taken frequent peeks at the chapters to come. At first, I was impressed by the detailed and numerous screen shots, but then I began noticing all kinds of small discrepancies between the text and the screen shots.

Furthermore, I'm using the Mac version of the software. If you only read Chapter 1 in the bookstore, it looks as if Mac and Windows screen shots get about equal time. In point of fact, don't expect to see any Mac screen shots after Chapter 2, and some of the ones that are included are misleading and/or mislabeled. I realize that there must have been great time pressure to get this book out near the release date for the software, but it would have been nice to have a Mac user work through and proofread this book.

Finally, I find the writing style irritating. There are lots of smileys in the text, which make it seem much less professional to me, and the author tries to keep a conversational tone, but it often just seems too cute.

This book is good if you are a beginner and dont know the software at all but...if you are looking for some advance learning this book is not for you.