Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Complete Reference, Second Edition...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 992 pages
• Published by: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
• Edition: 2nd Edition December 30, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0072229438
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0072229431
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Weighs: 3.5 pounds

Product Description
Tackle any Web site project with help from the most informative, authoritative, easy-to-digest reference on Dreamweaver. Master Web page basics such as adding text, creating hyperlinks, and HTML coding. Plus, learn all the advanced features that make Dreamweaver so popular and so powerful, including implementing style sheets, forms, frames, layers, and even programming dynamic pages.

Back Cover Copy
The Most Comprehensive Resource Available on Dreamweaver MX 2004!

Deliver a well-organized Web site in a fraction of the time it once took. This thorough reference will help you master amazing features for constructing and deploying Web sites. Discover how to bring your operating system, Web server, application server, and database together into one Web application. Support key technologies such as SQL, ASP.NET, JavaScript, and more, and take advantage of improved support for Cascading Style Sheets. Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Complete Reference, Second Edition is your one-stop resource that delivers information on every aspect of this powerful tool, helping you accomplish more than you dreamed possible!

• Streamline your workspace with customizable toolbars and tabbed windows
• Integrate with Flash, Fireworks, Contribute, and other external applications
• Understand the data structure that supports HTML pages
• Use new layout tools and CSS standards
• Create dynamic Web sites using templates and Application Objects
• Incorporate ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, PHP, and JSP applications
• Build sites and applications that support XML and Web services
• Master sophisticated techniques for managing Web sites

CD-ROM contains a trial version of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 for Windows and Mac OS, and project files from the book Ray West is the Vice President and CIO of WorkAble Solutions, Inc., a company specializing in the Web-based administration of health care alliances. He uses Macromedia products to build enterprise-level Web applications. Thomas Muck is the Web Application Developer for Integram, where he is responsible for the development of the front- and back-end e-commerce capabilities.

Reader Reviews
This book is entitled "Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Complete Reference", but a more accurate title would be "Making web sites with Dreamweaver MX 2004 and a bunch of other tools: The Incomplete Reference". The situation is that the authors do not focus exclusively on Dreamweaver MX 2004. They include lots and lots of information about many other things, but they don't go into anything in the depth necessary. Most of the things they cover can be considered an appetizer or introduction, but if you are going to use that particular tool then you will need to buy a book that really covers that tool. For example, there's a chapter about PHP that is 42 pages. This is just enough information to allow you to become dangerous, i.e., you could end up making your web server vulnerable to hackers. The authors tell you how to install the CGI version of PHP but not the module-interface version that has fewer security issues, and they don't discuss the various security problems inherent in PHP in any depth. Only 5 of these 42 pages have anything to do with Dreamweaver. My advice: If you're going to use PHP then get a book about PHP. Similarly, there is a two-page discussion of how to install Microsoft IIS 4.0! There are whole books describing how to install and run IIS! It would be much better if the authors simply said, "If you need to install IIS then consult the Microsoft documentation or get a book on this subject." Of course, IIS 4.0 is now obsolete, but that's not the point. The point is that the authors try to cover much too much and end up with a few random facts and no in-depth coverage of anything. A later part of the book discusses the WebDAV protocol briefly (one page), but the authors don't mention that Dreamweaver cannot use WebDAV with IIS, even though Microsoft claims that IIS does support WebDAV. Part V of the book consists of 8 chapters (200 pages) and is called "Adding Database Features to your Site". There are chapters on database design and on the SQL language. Once again, this is a good introduction to the subject, but what does it have to do with Dreamweaver? Occasionally one gets the impression that information has been added to this book simply to increase the page count in the hopes that potential buyers go for the book with the most pages. For example, there are three pages about the history of the Internet! Despite all of the above negative stuff I did find this book to be a good introduction to the many things it discusses. If the authors had given the book a more accurate title, for example, "A Comprehensive Introduction to Building Web Sites, Featuring Dreamweaver MX 2004", then I would have given it four stars. But I thought I was buying a book about Dreamweaver MX 2004, and as such this book is disappointing. Rennie Petersen