Dreamweaver CS3 - Dynamic Learning Series

Reviewed by Robert Pritchett

Authors: Fred Gerantabee & Aquent Graphics Institute Creative Team

http://www.agitraining.com/

O’Reilly

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510572

Released: September 2007

Pages: 416

$45 USD, $54 CND

ISBN 10: 0-596-51057-8

ISBN 13: 9780596510572

Requirements: Dreamweaver CS3, 1 GB hard drive space, DVD-ROM drive, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later or Windows XP or later.

Strengths: Excellent visual and interactive approach to learning Dreamweaver CS3.

Weaknesses: Minor printing errors found – and fixed in the errata page online.

Introduction

“Learning Dreamweaver CS3 is like having access to a top-notch team of your very own instructors. Written by product experts and trainers who have produced many of Adobe's training titles, the book takes you step-by-step through the process of learning to use Dreamweaver X like a pro.

This full-color book is organized into lessons, with easy-to-follow instructions, tips, examples, and review questions at the end of every lesson. Each lesson is self-contained, so you can go through the entire book sequentially or just focus on individual lessons.

Topics covered include:

What's new in Dreamweaver CS3
Dreamweaver CS3 Jumpstart
Creating web sites
Styling pages with CSS
Working with Snippets and library items
Using tables and frames
Adding Flash, video, and audio content

In addition, the book comes with a companion DVD with video tutorials and all of the files needed for the lessons, including final, completed Dreamweaver files. A free Instructor's Guide is available online.”

What I Learned

There is a free online version available from Safari Books online. I took this book on a business trip with me. The book really needs to be used while sitting at the computer and running the included DVD.

I was most interested in the Building Web Forms section in an attempt to provide an interactive feedback section on our macCompanion website, but I ended up dog-earing a number of sections, especially regarding CSS.

Interestingly enough, the book has colorized graphics that sometimes have the Windows-based frames intermixed with Mac OS X frames and frankly, the Mac-based pics look cleaner.

Conclusion

This book follows the perfected format that makes O’Reilly–based publications so good and easy on the eyes. Being able to “see” how things are done in the “Digital Classroom DVD” just puts the icing on the cake and is greatly appreciated.