Dreamweaver 4 Bible

Author: Joseph W. Lowery, Kevin Lynch List Price: $49.99 Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price ISBN: 0764535692 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (01 May, 2001) Edition: Paperback Sales Rank: 11,651 Average Customer Rating: 3.55 out of 5

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Customer Reviews

Firstly, the writing is appalling. Here's are a few example (at random):

"The term cascading describes the capability of a local style to override a general style"

"Although you can design the most beautiful, compelling image possible in your graphics program, if it's intended for the Internet, you need to view it in a Web page."

"Checkboxes enable an option to be selected or deselected, so the only information that a function needs from a checkbox is whether it has been selected."

Argh! Why use 5 words when 15 will do? I also get the impression that Lowery is paraphrasing the Macromedia Tech guides. And his book is riddled with errors. Consider this howler:

"For instance, rather than just specifying Palatino - a sans serif font common on PC's but relatively unknown on the Mac - you could insert a tag such as the following ..."

Not only is Palatino a *serif* typeface, it has been included as a system Macintosh font since the 1980's - it's a default install on every Macintosh sold! I emailed Lowery about this, and to his credit he replied within 24 hours. His response?

"Okay - how about I change it to Verdana next time ;)"

Joseph, I think you're missing the point.

In his defence, the tone is paternal and he seems to be a well-meaning buffoon. But I've found the book terribly confusing and, after shelling out £40 for the doorstop, ended up getting most of my Dreamweaver help from the web.

I find it incredible that such a third rate manual gets published, let alone gets a high customer ranking. Steer clear, you can do better.

tag) which I skipped straight over but which a beginner would find useful (although there's plenty of other books that cover this material). For the more advanced user there's some great info on how to make your own Dreamweaver extensions, cross-browser compatibility issues, and incorporating the Beatnik plug-in into your pages to make interesting sound effects.

The accompanying CD-ROM is full of useful Dreamweaver extensions (although you could have downloaded these from various websites), as well as trial versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash. Also included is the complete text of the book in PDF format.

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