Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies by Janine Warner
Book Review By Howard Berenbon
If your goal is to master the art Website design, either for business or just personal use, then one of the best tools you could use is Adobe’s Dreamweaver CS4. It’s a high-powered professional program for designing that perfect Website. But, if you’ve tried Dreamweaver, you know you can’t just jump in and quickly create a professional looking Website. Harnessing its power requires some study time and patience. It’s not an easy program to master because it has so many features on so many levels. Fortunately, Adobe offers lots of free text and video tutorials online to help you get up to speed. But for me, I like to have a good book in hand and curl up on the couch for some leisurely learning. And in my search for the best book on programming in Dreamweaver, I found a gem in Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies by Janine Warner. I usually don’t buy the “Dummies” books series because they can be too elementary. But I made an exception because I wanted to learn the Dreamweaver basics so I’d have a foundation for the more complicated design features. Then, after reading the introduction and scanning the table of contents, I knew it was the right book for me, and not just aimed at the beginner. In fact, the author advises the experienced Dreamweaver designer to skip basics and jump ahead in the book . So, I was really on my way to creating that professional looking Web page.
Once you scan the table of contents of this 492 page guide you’ll find it covers a lot of ground including all the new and improved features of CS4. You’ll find 17 chapters in five sections packed with everything you need to know to create that professional Website. In fact, Part I is called “Creating Great Websites,” so the author had my attention immediately. If you’re already proficient in Dreamweaver, but need help on a specific feature, you can scan the index for that information.
Here’s What’s Inside
Part I: Creating Great Web Sites
Here in Chapters 1 through 4, you’ll get the basics of Website design, choose your design options, build a multimedia site and then publish online.
Part II: Appreciating Web Design Options
Chapters 5 through 7 details information on using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) , which is today’s best way to build a professional site, and using HTML tables, a somewhat older page building technique. Chapter 8 gives information on using frames and Chapter 9 details template design applications.
Part III: Making It Cool with Multimedia and JavaScript
This section covers Chapters 10 through Chapter 13. In chapter 10 you’ll learn how to Behaviors, those program scripts for running special effects like roll-overs and pop up windows. In Chapter 11 you’ll learn how to add multimedia, audio, video and Flash animation to your pages. Chapter 12 covers everything you wanted to know about creating forms. And Chapter 13 covers AJAX, a feature using JavaScript and HTML for creating fast interactive pages with drop-down menus and tabbed panels.
Part IV: Working with Dynamic Content
Chapter 14 and 15 cover Dynamic Websites, which are interactive Web pages connected to a data source or database.
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 16 covers some important information every Website designer should know like how to register a domain name, keeping track of your site traffic and protecting your e-mail address from spammers. And finally, Chapter 13 gives you 10 timesaving tips including “design for your audience” and “backup your work.”
Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies by Janine Warner sells for mere $16.49 and is an excellent step-by-step instruction manual for building professional Websites using Dreamweaver. Not only is it clearly written, everything is defined so you understand the features and concepts before you work with the examples. And, once you read through Chapters 1 through 4, you should know enough to build a professional looking Website. In fact, I think Adobe should consider including this book with Dreamweaver. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com.
