Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe GoLive in 24 Hours follows the series' usual structure of 24 one-hour lessons and seeks to make the content manageable for readers who are new to Web publishing with GoLive.

The book teaches the reader how to use GoLive to do everything from designing a simple Web page, to plotting Web site navigation, to adding interactivity, to publishing and administering a completed site.

Customer Reviews (9)

Excellent for beginners and intermediates!
This is an excellent book for getting up to speed quickly on GL 6.I would not call it for the advanced user, but it's excellent for beginners or intermediates with Golive.The tutorials are clear and concise, and the book is exactly what it advertises itself to be - it gets right to the point.

I wish there was also a good advanced book on GoLive that covered using scripting such as Java and CSS and dynamic content in detail, unfortunately there are none yet that are any good.Maybe Sams can do that too?But for beginners or intermediates with GL 6 who want to start using the software today, this is the book to get!

Very Good Start
I found this book to be a very good introduction to Web design using Golive 6. The lessons are short but well presented, they are fast, and they can be used immediately to my own practice projects. Although the GoLive interface seemed so unassuming when you first open the program, it can get filled up quickly once you begin working. The authors made sure that you don't get lost amidst the plethora of palletes. There is also the confidence that I am reading the work of competent Golive designers who can actually communicate what they know and teach an unknown audience cleverly. Sam's formula, if I may venture a guess works well for this book: plain English, competent authors, short but lively presentation and an exciting software. In only a few hours, I was already making my own web pages and amazed my friends. This book is a very good start in Web design using Golive 6. It is one of my best and most useful books!

Great Book!
I had never used GoLive before and was kind of freaked out when I first opened the program. Then I went to an Adobe seminar and one of the authors of this book was a presenter. He was really excellent and knowledgeable, so I decided to buy the book. I'm glad I did! I've now created two Websites and am starting my third. This time I'm getting paid! I know I still have a lot to learn, but this book got me up and running FAST. The best thing about GoLive is the way it works with my Photoshop files. If you haven't used this yet, check out the convert to banner trick!!!! Saves you tons of time!!!!!

Read it again!
After reading some of the reviews here I was afraid I'd made a poor choice because I had picked up this book in a store, but that couldn't be farther from the truth! The book is really easy to follow, laid out logically and the steps worked perfectly for me. Could it be that maybe some readers are new to computers and just don't understand the basics? Anyway, I created a Website using GoLive templates and couldn't be happier. All I have to do is update the template and Poof! my whole site is updated, too. Thanks to this book I learned this and lots of other great tricks. I especially like some of the tips in the book that relate to the Web in general. I like it. Anyway, that's my input. Hope it helps and thanks for listening.

So So
This was a So so book for the beginner and not as organized as Classroom in a book.I was a bit disappointed as a beginner. ... Read more

Product Description
The only full-color book on Flash, the Web standard for vector graphics and animation, Teach Yourself Flash® 5 VISUALLY® shows visual learners how to add pizzazz to Web sites. Hundred of oversized screenshots with concise captions show you how to create pulsing musical tracks, monster sound effects, gorgeous animations, innovative interfaces, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

An excellent book for beginners
This is a book for someone who knows absolutely nothing about Flash 5, like me at one time. It has a lot of cool and colorful images that show you the step by step processes of creating an animation. This book was a life saver in a class where I could not understand the professor who was teaching me Flash. However, by using this book I was able to get a better understanding and knowledge of the program. I was able to complete several class assignments with the help of this book. But be clear this is a book for beginners only. If you want to go more in depth on the capabilities of Flash 5, you must get a more advanced book.

Need to learn Flash quickly?
If you need to learn Flash to complete a project quickly, you'll like this book. It provides a nice visual layout to give you a screen-by-screen walk-through of Flash. Even better, it actually numbers all the steps occurring for each screen.
The book explains how to work with objects, layers, symbols, instances, imported graphics, animation, sound, video, events handling, and other types of interactivity.
I would've preferred that the 'Importing Graphics' section was placed at the beginning, because I rarely build objects *within* Flash. Also, the rollover effects are rather simplistic. There is not enough information about building events-based effects. For example, what if you have several menu buttons and you want each button to show 2 different behaviors when you roll over the button with the mouse? What if you want a more complex animation associated with each of those behaviors? These are common practices, and yet, the book does not go into that level of detail. Still, aside from these shortcomings, this book will probably help you come up to speed quickly on the basics.

"Flash in small bites" good for beginners.
Small Bites: This book is one of a series of Teach Yourself Visually books, each with the tag line "Read less, learn more." Its audience seems to be those who suffer from Fear of Flash, or are spooked at the idea of the Internet or multimedia in general. Information is doled out in bite-sized chunks, as tool operations, panels and processes are patiently explained (sometimes in excruciating detail). It doesn't try to be a reference book, or a must-read for animation gurus...it is designed to be a painless introduction. If you want to learn intricate ActionScripts and interactivity, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Like the other books in the series, the top of each page is elaborately illustrated with slick (if often soul-less) 3-D renderings.Some of these illustrations are helpful, and others are gratuitous and overly cute, obvious space fillers designed to plug holes in the format. Each page bottom is reserved for screen shots and step-by-step instructions.

Upside:

Information is presented in logical order, and Flash terms and definitions are explained well. The 13 chapters will take most beginners around an hour or more to complete. The Animation Terms Appendix is too short, but what there is of it is good.

Downside: The book would be a better aid for the beginners it's aimed at if the publishers offered some downloadable online files. Nothing beats dissecting files when you're a Flash novice. And, with no mention of Photoshop, Fireworks, ImageReady, Dreamweaver, or the Mac OS anywhere in the book, it's as if the author thinks Flash exists in a vacuum in a Windows-only world. Even browsers, the delivery vehicle for most Flash animations, are given very little ink. It may be that auxiliary programs, alternate OS keyboard commands, and core concepts are tough to wedge into this format. In that case, an author should ask if the format is the tool or the master.

Bottom Line: All in all, this book is a good choice for beginners who want to learn Flash basics with minimum stress. You won't master the program with the book, but you will get a solid foundation in the tools and processes. But you may not get a firm grasp of Flash's core concepts...the chunk-by-chunk approach is better at showing the trees than the forest. Consequently, some beginners who finish this book may end up feeling like a kid who has finished the classroom portion of Driver's Education, but has little behind-the-wheel experience.

Still pretty good, though a little bit disappointed
If you have never learned Flash before, you should definitely check out this book. Its contents are very clear and extrememly easy to follow and it is perfect for any beginner. However, this book will not teach you how to do any of those 'cool' stuff that one usually sees on the web. Flash is a very powerful program and this book literally addresses only the pinnacle of the iceberg. I really love the way instructions are laid out in the book, but i just feel that if the authors could use more real life complexed projects as their examples, it would really help someone to learn how to laid out a project and how to put all those great tools together to churn out a cool final product.

Excellent reading to hit the ground running!!!!
First of all, I am a Certified Web Designer, Certified Technical Trainer, and I do Web Design for a living as a consultant. if you really want to have an all in one book, wait till April 10th, 2001 and buy Flash 5 H.O.T. by Garo Green. He cowrote Dreamweaver 3 H.O.T. with Lynda Weinman. They know how to teach you quickly, clearly and in a very fun, enjoyable way! The kind of training books you can't put down! YOU WILL NOT REGRET BUYING THAT BOOK! I was allowed an advanced copy from a trade show. It will be the best book out for all levels - beginners and experts. If you can't wait, get this book and play with Flash 5 until it does come out! I also highly recommend checking out the training materials available at Lynda.com. You cannot go wrong with them. OK.....This book is strictly for those who know nothing about Flash or have read and been confused or got lost in other more complicated books!!! This is not for the intermediate or expert. Duh! It is obvious, but there is always one idiot that complains a book does not have enough for advanced users! This book, like all Teach Yourself Visually books gets you into the program, learning and using it in no time. It is a quick, colorful read. You do not need to be in front of the computer to learn either, though it is better to be hands on!This book will give you a great start while preventing you from getting frustrated and losing your enthusiasm! If you need to learn this for work or for career, you will need to get another, more advanced book later to build your skills. You can blow through this book in a day or two tops, then go back and use it again to reinforce what you learned or go over what you forgot, all within minutes!!! Best of luck ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself Dreamweaver X in 21 Days teaches the reader all the skills needed to learn how to effectively develop database-driven Web applications with Macromedia Dreamweaver X.The tutorial approach aids the reader in learning the basics quickly and then moves on to the more advanced features and concepts.

By the end of the 21 days, the reader will know how to create Web sites with dynamic content, develop a browser-based sales and inventory management system, create a discussion forum, develop a complete e-commerce solution, write custom validations and extend functionality with JavaScript, design enhanced navigation of the Web site, and make an informed decision as to which server platform is the right one for the project at hand.

Customer Reviews (5)

Great Basic Learning Tool
Very good content.It definitely still gives a good basic understanding of working with dynamic Dreamweaver. Easy to read, doesn't get bogged down in the technical rambling some books like this do.All of the online tutorials that go with the book are stillfound (4/2008) online at Sam's Publishing site. Worth a look.

DO NOT BUY THIS WORTHLESS BOOK!
It may be well written, but thecrucial part-- the ability to download components from the internet for hands-on training -- is no longer available.That website is GONE. Without it, it is virtually impossible to get ANYTHING out of the lessons. Avoid this book!

First book for Dreamweaver MX database design
I am a newbie of online database appication and want to learn this technology in a short period. This book gives me a clear understanding about how Dreamweaver is working with database. I think this is the MUST book for those want to learn this technology.
The reason I give this book 4 stars is that there are some mistakes that need correction. And some description might be a little vauge without supplemental graphics.

Great Overview - Step-by-step needs improvement
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author is knowledgeable and presents ideas in a logical flow that is easily understood.Within days I mastered fundamental concepts of web site creation, database integration, and more.The only reasons that I did not give the book 5 stars is that the exercises were sometimes difficult to follow since the instructions are embedded within "theory" paragraphs. I would have found it much easier if the step-by-step instructions were listed more clearly (e.g. Step 1, Step 2, etc.).Additionally, the sample database files (as of 3/29/03) were not password protected, although the book instructs the reader to enter a user name and password when connecting to them. I was at my wits end trying to get the files to work until I tried the exercises leaving the user name and password blank. Then, presto!

Excellent Book for Us Newbies
This book does what it says effectively and efficiently. Although it appears as a rather large book, it reads very easily and is well documented visually. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it provided me with the tools necessary to getting the most out of Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX. I highly recommend it for those just getting started with this product, you won't be disappointed and it's worth every penny. ... Read more

Product Description
In just 21 days you'll have all the skills you need to design, create, publish, and enhanceprofessional-quality Web sites with Microsoft FrontPage 2000. After completing the first seven days of lessons you'll have a fully functional Web page, complete with images, links, and tables. In the second week of lessons you'll get your fingernails dirty with detailed information on how to enhance your pages with style sheets and eye-catching special effects. And in week three you'll find out how to exploit the full power of FrontPage with forms, custom HTML, and advanced Web technologies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Probably the finest book for beginners
This book is excellent for beginners. It goes step-by-step, including every detail you want to know about FrontPage. It is very well written and organized, and easy to follow.
The only thing that was a negative for me, is that some of the examples, talked about in the book, can not be find on the CD....so that was quite frustrating at first. But then again, you dont really need those.

ah can't believe this is from Sams
All I can say about the book is that I can't beleieve that this book is bySams Series. Cause I used to tell every one to buy Sams series cause theyare just Great.

This book has not many but too many holes, they havestarted many things and without giving solutions shifted to new thing andthen leaving the other one incomplete too.

The Cd works but there isnothing in it that you can say it is worth. I mean there are many thingsmissing that have been mentioned in book that they are there.

Buying thisbook is going to be wasting money and nothing much more, so find some otherone for Frontpage.

What has happened to SAMS series
I did use to recommend many people to buy only SAMS seriesbooks but now after reading this one I don't think I am going too.

This is the worstbook I have ever read for FrontPage. Nothing is working, I mean the Samplesare not is CD, and the author never replies. Please Please find some otherbook for Front Page learning not this one.

Database conectivity iscovered the wrong way or it is not going to be wrong to say that it isPathetic, it confuses all your concepts there.

Clarifiacation of all the buyers
The CD in the book does not contain all the sample chapters mentioned in the book. Those chapters did not contained can be found...Just go into it and click the "Frontpage2000" book cover and you can see a download sectionappear on your screen. The download files contained all the sample chaptersyou need! If you ask me what the hell is going on of that book, I cannotgive you an answer. Perhaps the Sams Publishing got some mistakes..., however, thisbook is a quite good instruction to the beginners of the Frontpage 2000,whether he or she has any experience using Frontpage series products.

Horrible
This book is poorly written, poorly supported and does NOT contain the sample files needed to complete the tutorials.It is a complete waste of time and money. I also attempted to write Sam's about the poor quality ofthe product and received an error message.I'll think twice about buyinganother product from this publisher. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed to help you build and develop Web sites using Dreamweaver3 in just 24 lessons of one hour or less using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, with each lesson building upon the previous one, allowing you to learn the essentials of Dreamweaver from the ground up.Softcover.Amazon.com Review
Building contemporary Web pages isn't easy, but using a tool like Macromedia's Dreamweaver makes it easier. Learning to use a tool like Dreamweaver isn't always easy either, but going through the lessons in Teach Yourself Dreamweaver 3 breaks it down into bite (byte?)-size chunks that anyone can digest.

Although oriented toward the new user, the book does not go into historical detail about the Internet or Web browsers, nor does it talk about how computers work. Dreamweaver is the only topic discussed, and no time is wasted in climbing the curve.

Chapter 1 is dedicated to the Dreamweaver interface and getting around the program. The different palettes (Object palette, Property inspector, etc.) are explained briefly, along with almost all menu items. The main window and new features of version 3 are also described. This is a critical chapter, so you really shouldn't skip it. Because of the conciseness of the writing, this chapter, like the others, covers an enormous amount of material quickly. A skipped paragraph will result in questions later on.

Subsequent chapters cover the basics of page construction and adding graphics, links, and other features to a page. The chapters advance rapidly to important topics like navigation via image maps, using tables, getting information through forms, cascading style sheets, using frames, and assigning behaviors.

Even if you're already using Dreamweaver, the lessons in this book will acquaint you with shortcuts and techniques you may not know about. And because concepts are presented with such clarity, you may find yourself learning and using advanced features that seemed too complex before. --Mike Caputo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Neither a book for the beginner or advanced
Im a beginner at DW3. I get lost reading this book. It doesnt explain enough and I find myself using the builtin Help tutorials and user guide when the book itself doesnt give any step by step instruction. For example, the book will tell you about a feature but doesnt tells you where to find and click that particular menu, etc.

Not the best book in the Teach Yourself in 24hours series
I must admit that I was a little bit dissappointed with this effort after being pleasantly surprised when i bought myself a copy of teach yourself frontpage2000 in 24hours which was a great book. I had difficulty in defining sites following the instructions listed in this book, I ended up using the instructions from the manual that came from the software and found that worked.

All in all it is not a bad book and does what it sets out to do, mostly except for a few minor errors, the only other critcisms that I have is that is that there are not enough illustrations of the processes described in the text, the links to her site where a big dissappointment since she pulled it down before the book was released and her email address is not valid.

This is quite an average book in comparison to the rest of the books in the sams teach yourself series it is still worth a look though.

Does what it says!
Very good book. Teaches you Dreamweaver step-by-step. That's what it issupposed to do, and it does it well.It has extra tips to show you thisand that. As an intermediate self-taught Dreamweaver user, I really didfind this book helpful. Showing me exactly how and why things work as theydo. Things I had to try to figure out on my own, beforehand.As a NEWDreamweaver user, this book would have been invaluable.

BTW, the 24 hourthing. This book actually has 24 lessons that are supposed to take an houreach to go through. They actually take less (sometimes as little as 20minutes). So, you can finish it in a few days, total less than 15 hoursactual reading work. Good book!

Comprehensive
I've used other web tools and am just learning Dreamweaver. This book is not only a great tutorial (although I skipped some of the chapters) but is a comprehensive reference too. Recommended!

A Good Book on a Great Program
This is a really great book for someone who is just starting out in Dreamweaver.However, if you do not have knowledge of HTML or web designing, you may want to find an html primer first, because, like anygood editing program, Dreamweaver requires a good knowledge of webpages andhow they work.

This book is also not for the professional user.Whilethe book does touch on quite a few of the new features in DW3, many of thetutorials can seem "old hat" to anyone but the novice user.

That said, here is a good starting off point for the beginningDreamweaver user who already understands HTML.The book is concise, wellwritten, and easy to read.

However, if given the option between thisbook and "Dreamweaver 3 for Dummies" I would recommend thelatter.Despite the title, it is simply a more comprehensive study. ... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself Visual InterDev in 24 Hours quickly empowers you to create database-driven dynamic web sites and web applications. Tom Archer skillfully guides you through the VI user interface and enables you to build your first web site after only one hour. As you progresses through the lessons you will understand how to take your web sites to the next level by using Visual InterDev built-in design time controls to add database connectivity to create dynamic web applications. In addition, you will receive lessons on topics such as integrating multimedia, creating client and web server scripts, creating Active Server Pages, tracking and maintaining user information, creating database queries and stored procedures, and Web site security. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

Very good book
It's a shame that every time someone makes a name for themselves, others come out of the woodwork to tear that person down. I started with this book over a year ago and am now developing Web sites for a living making quite a nice living. I won't say I learned everything from this book. However, I can state unequivocably that this is the book I started with and the one that got me going with Visual InterDev. With apologies to Sprite ignore the people that have personal vendettas against Mr Archer and obey your thurst for knowledge. This book has always been and still is the BEST BEGINNER-LEVEL book on the market.

Little to offer for beginners or pros
As an experienced developer looking to get a quick jump on a new ASP editor, I thought this book was the ticket. Unfortunately, the author couldn't decide to whom he was writing. One minute I'm bored with a "hello world" snippet, and the next I'm frustrated with a (too complex for a beginner) non-functioning scriplet. Visual Interdev has a lot of slick features, but this book did very little to emphasize them--too much time was spent introducing new concepts and technologies, and not enough time was spent on the guts of a great application. That being said, I would have rated this higher had the book at least done a good job introducing the aforementioned technologies--but it fell short in that, too. Spend a little more time, and read Visual Interdev Unleashed--great chapters on the data environment and the scripting object model, as well as some good reference material.

Great book!
I have to admit that I'm way late getting into the Web development thing, but this was the perfect book to get me started. It really showed me the tremendous advantages that VID provides for a professional developer above that of an HTML page markup toy like Front Page. I would like to have seen much on ASP. However, I understand that the focus wasVID and the book did a great job of showing off all that it can do! I would also recommend as a follow-on to this book, the Teach Yourself ASP in 24 Hours by Christoph Wille. These two books together will get you going in on time.

The very best - book & author
This book is *easily* the best VID book on the market! I hate it when a high-profile author like Tom Archer gets slammed by "reviewers" that obviously have a personal bone to pick with the often-outspoken Archer. However, I digress. This book really is the very best in terms of content covered, demos and explanation of code. I was also quite impressed with the author's willingness to help me work through any problems I had in getting started - something I wish more authors would do!

Easily the best - both the book and author
This book is *easily* the best VID book on the market! I hate it when a high-profile author like Tom Archer gets slammed by "reviewers" that obviously have a personal bone to pick with the often-outspoken Archer. However, I digress. This book really is the very best in terms of content covered, demos and explanation of code. I was also quite impressed with the author's willingness to help me work through any problems I had in getting started - something I wish more authors would do! ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Fireworks X in 24 Hours is written for Web designers who are looking for a book to quickly and easily get up to speed with Fireworks.

Customer Reviews (1)

My thoughts
Make sure you have the Fireworks MX software loaded on a PC and do the chapter exercises while reading the material.Else this book will put you to sleep. I found the end of chapter exercises to be a bit vague. If the book had more chapter examples, some enthusiasm and the end of chapter exercises were not ambiguous, I would have given this book a rating of five.
Nonetheless, the book has a lot of useful information thus making it a handy Fireworks MX resource. ... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver in 24 Hours shows Web developers and designers how to use Macromedia's powerful Web development tool to create sophisticated Web sites. Written by Betsy Bruce, an authorized trainer who has taught Dreamweaver to thousands of beginning students, the book does not dwell on elementary Web page authoring techniques, but focuses more on intermediate-level Web development topics like building dynamic Web sites, creating image maps and interactive forms, designing animations, setting up frames, and adding interactivity. This edition of the book has been thoroughly revised and updated to cover all the new features of the latest version of Dreamweaver. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great Dreamweaver reference
As a user of Dreamweaver with a good understanding of the basics, I found this book very helpful. It is well written, easy to read and doesn?t assume you know anything about Dreamweaver. I picked up many useful tips on things I had forgotten or not known and feel more confident tackling the more advanced features which I had not used before. SAMS Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 in 24 Hours would be very useful, particularly for beginning and intermediate users of Dreamweaver 4.

Not a SAMS 24 hours book - Think tiwce before buying
I always biy SAMS 24 hours books; but this one, for my surprise is not so good.
The authordo not drive you over Dreamweaver, but teach you some features, not respecting any order, or your knowledge.
Instead drive you step by step with a small project, this book will learn you some features, and you won't be able to do anything at the end of the book if you don't have any experience in web page building.

Did the trick!
This book covered everything I needed to know to get moving on my project. I have dabbled with web stuff before but this time it was for work and it needed to work. I would highly recommend this book.

best for people who are in a rush to master dreamweaver
this book is easy to understand and allow us to grasp usuage of essential features in the shortest possible time. the price is resonable too. this book leave a good impression for me for all sams teach yourself book

20,000,000 Macintosh users ignored
This is the first time that I have seen a book about a cross platform application that completely ignores one of the platforms.

For example, the author never mentions when she refers to the control key that it is the command key on a Mac. Worse yet is the fact that when referring to right click/context menus she never mentions that Mac users can control click to access these menus. Without this knowledge, these menus are unavailable to Mac users!

Although this book served it's purpose for me (an experienced hand-coder who wanted to learn the DW interface) I was also disappointed that it was not project oriented. In the same- or lower- price range, the Visual Quick Start Guide would have served the same purpose in my case. ... Read more

Product Description

Make a splash online with your own website

Do you want to get online, perhaps to promote your family or a hobby? Want to set up a blog of your life or make some money selling?

Teach Yourself Basic Website Creation is designed for those who want to create compelling websites but don't necessarily want to get weighed down with programming and designing using software coding. Using easily available applications you can produce websites from scratch--no prior web design experience required! You will learn how to produce Web pages, make them reflect their subject, and post them on the Internet for all to see!

Customer Reviews (1)

Honest and straightforward advice...
What this book offers is a no nonsense WYSIWYG look at web design.
The chapters are succint and ordered well.The information is clear, concise and easily understood.
Most important, positives and negatives about products, or more appropriately, some supposedly "must have" products that are just assumed to be needed for a novice, are presented carefully but with concern for the reader, ensuring that the reader doesn't drop a mint on what can be gotten for free (or a whole lot less).

I definitely recommend this book for someone new to web design.It will take you far, probably much further than you'd think for something difficult like web design.I would go so far as to say that this book over-delivers on its promised "basic website creation" title; I find that it delves much deeper than just "basic" and produces a genuine understanding of the process which allows the reader a true understanding of the concepts and the ability to actually get out there and do it, design a webpage or website. ... Read more

Product Description
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something - and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you'll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle scores of FrontPage 2000 tasks, including building a basic Web page, adding images, inserting hyperlinks, creating special effects, and publishing pages.
* Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task
* Succinct explanations walk you through step-by-step
* Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules
* Sidebars offer practical tips and tricks
Teach Yourself Visually(TM) "I bought several of your books and they are just right! No regrets! I will always buy your books because they are the best." - Seward Kollie (Dakar, Senegal) "You deserve the Nobel Prize in Education in the Software category. Thanks for helping me understand computers." - Bruno Tonon (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

The best source of FrontPage knowledge for the beginner
This book is like all other books in the "Teach Yourself Visually" series. If your computer skills are limited, it is a great tool to learn the basics of Front Page. However, once you are done with it, you are done with it. It is essentially useless as a reference, and since you are now beyond the basics, it is now little more than a space holder.
Using sets of colorful and clear diagrams, you are walked through each step in the process of inserting a particular feature into your page. The chapters are:

*) Getting started
*) FrontPage basics
*) Work with web pages
*) Edit text
*) Format web pages
*) Add images
*) Customize images
*) Create links
*) Create tables
*) Work with navigational structure
*) Create frames
*) Create forms
*) Add web page effects
*) Manage web pages
*) Publish web pages

In summary, if you are unable to learn how to use the fundamental features of FrontPage from this book, then you probably can't learn it.

A TERRIFIC RESOURCE
I got this book when I decided to start my own website. I knew nothing about web design or Frontpage. This book helped me create, not only a thorough and informative site, but one that is visually stimulating and easy to work with. If you get only one book to help you with simple web site design, get this book!

It Doesn't Get Much Easier Than This !
Simple, to the point, and very user friendly. This book has great, step-by-step screen shots, clear graphics, & simple explanations. Avoids long winded explanations. Instead of just telling you it SHOWS you. Great for visual learners for myself. Give you all the basics of building and publishing a web page. Best for beginner to intermediate users. The amount of time you'll save by having this book as a reference is well worth the purchase price. Highly recommended.

Great tool for someone new to Front Page....
I learned how to design a basic website strictly by coding HTML by hand, rather then using Front Page, or any of the other WYSIWYG editors out there.Once I had a basic understanding of what HTML is doing behind the scenes, I thought it was time to find an easier way to code and design web pages, so I decided to start using Front Page.

As other reviewers have noted, the book does not go into deep detail and much of it is very basic in its design.I found it was just perfect for what I was looking for though.I had the basic HTML foundation and wanted to know how to set up frames quickly and easily or how to layout an entire website using the setup wizards in Front Page.This book allowed me to skip around to exactly what I wanted to find and learn how to do it quickly and generally with very little problems.The examples are laid out nicely and are pretty straight forward and easy to understand and follow along with.

I can't say how good of a text it is for a person with no knowledge of HTML or any type of web design experience to use.It was just perfect for me to get a basic understanding of a new tool to use.If I have any complaint, it is at times too basic and it would have been nice to go at least a little bit into examining the things that can be done with Front Page extensions.

Very, Very, Very Basic
I bought this based on the rating and the reviews. I wish I hadn't. While it is not a bad book, it is so basic that anyone who has ventured into beginning web page development will not benefit from this.

There are large sections on how to use the program's dictionary, or how to cut and paste words, how to use the mouse, how to change the font, etc, etc.

The whole concept is a bit of an oxymoron. It takes a very simple "Dummies"-like approach but instructs primarily via pictures rather than text. However, by the time someone gets to where they actually want to have a web page, are savvy enough to know that their ISP allots them web space, or even knows what an "ISP" is, and knows that Frontpage is a web development tool, they don't need to be taken step by step through how to add a column to a table. Sheesh!

If you just turned on your computer for the very first time yesterday, and you want to learn the basics of web page authoring today before you take on SQL database managment tomorrow, then by all means buy this book. But if you have average computer skills and you have basic word processing familiarity but you just don't find Frontpage intuitive and want to know how to use the program, buy something else. ... Read more

Product Description
HTML is the markup language that designed for creating Web pages. But how do you learn the code, techniques, and cascading stylesheets when you can't see what you're building? Armed with Teach Yourself HTML Visually, you get the building blocks you need to master links, embedded images, sounds and video, and frames to create a dynamic site with visual appeal. With a graphical format and step-by-step examples, Teach Yourself HTML Visually will help you can take on HTML and enhance your Web site at your own pace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Great For Beginners - But Not Solely For Beginners
This book is so great - I bought this a long time ago, back when I was first learning HTML. I can't tell you what a great resource it was for me. I learned so much, so fast from this book. It really is a simple, straightforward guide to HTML and it actually teaches you a lot about what you are doing so that you can learn and apply these concepts to your own projects. It's a guide that beginners should definitely turn to, but is great for people who aren't just beginners as well because it has tons of cool stuff that you can learn even if you do know a bit about HTML. Plus it would be a great reference guide while building a website for yourself or for someone else. And another great highlight of this book is that its not skimpy or condescending like some of those 'for dummies' books.

For HTML starters, simply IDEAL!
Started recently with showing interest in the HTML language. It became clear that in the huge amount of books covering this subject, I was keen on getting something simple, easy to understand and a very handy reference guide. I belive that with this book, it cannot be made any simpler!! Even for non IT minded persons.

The book covers all, from starting a web page, building CCS, what and how JavaScript is working (did not had a clue what it was) up to special features that can make your web-site just that more interesting.
Even now, as a reference guide, it is just what I needed.

The visually part of it - if somebody is not known with the "Teach yourself visually" series - is so clear, the results are showing.
Later I have bought the Dreamweaver MX 2004 from the same series. Even though Dreamweaver is pretty clear in itself, I still come back to this book for some handy tips and how to do.

Worthwile? I do think so!

It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than This
Great for beginners to intermediate users. Clear instructions, great color graphics, simple but fundamental instructions,powerful in its simplicity. Mouth-wateringly good! Grab this.

One star is too much!
Following the advice of the others on this page I duly purchased this book. I can now safely say it will be my LAST time following the general concensus! What is WITH you people?

A photographer/grafik designer by trade, specialising in print-based media I have never done web-based work (other than actually designing pages and buttons in Illustrator - and then having someone else doing the converting, assembly etc.)so I decided to buy a book and have a go. To get straight to the point this book is a piece of crap for the following reasons:

i) (despite professing otherwise) It is totally incoherent, and follows a very illogical progression pattern.
ii) The grafiks are so sadly outdated and amateur-ish I cringed every time I opened the book.
iii) It fails to empower the reader to move freely and thus visualise their own ideas.
iv) It is VERY incomprehensive.
v) It is very hard to navigate, has no real index, no thumb tags etc.

It is like a 'Big Mac' - it looks yummy and filling and when you take a bite it SEEMS to fill you up, but soon you are hungry for more REAL FOOD. My advice? Go for a less disturbingly 'visual' format that provides you with the building blocks to build your own house.

The Only Book You Need!
Although I consider myself fairly computer savvy, I know absolutely nothing about webpage development.Until now.With this book, I was able to create professional looking webpages in literally, minutes.This is my first and only book I've purchased about creating webpages.I can't say that other books aren't as useful, but I can say, that this step-by-step approach, is fool-proof.I highly recommend it for anyone interested in creating webpages, with little or no prior knowledge of webpage development. ... Read more

Product Description
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In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you can learn how to design, create, and deploy high-impact graphics and animation with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional.

Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master the skills and technologies you need, from creating interactivity and animation to optimizing and publishing your Flash movies on the Web.

Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!
    * Full-color figures and clear step-by-step instructions visually show you how to use Flash.
    * Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.
    * Notes, Tips, and Cautions provide related information, advice, and warnings.

Learn how to…
    * Make the most of the updated Flash interface, including its new Motion tools
    * Draw and paint original art in Flash
    * Use layers and the Library to efficiently organize your content
    * Build animations using shape tweening, Flash CS4’s new motion tweening, and advanced inverse kinematics
    * Create special effects with shapes, filters, and the new Deco Tool
    * Add interactivity to your Flash movies
    * Integrate a wide spectrum of audio and video content
    * Use ready-built components to create sophisticated content without programming
    * Get started with ActionScript 3
    * Publish your movies to the Web
    * Design modular Flash sites that load quickly and perform well

Phillip Kerman is an internationally recognized expert on the use of the Web and multimedia for training and entertainment. He has frequently presented at Macromedia and Adobe user conferences, and has taught Flash and other Adobe Web development technologies to working web professionals worldwide.

Lynn Beighley, a freelance web programmer and designer, has written several Flash, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop books and training CDs. She has worked at Los Alamos National Labs, Palm, and Yahoo! Her dynamic Flash advertisements have appeared on Yahoo!’s home page.

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days, Second Edition offers an approachalbe guide to the latest in Microsoft .NET technologies.The author's example-packed and accessible presentation style helped make the previous edition a success.The book walks the reader through the .NET Framework and teaches techniques needed to program Web applications efficiently.For experienced user of the previous version of ASP, this title will serve as an invaluable "upgrade" tool.After covering Web Forms and Server Controls, the author explores at database access with ADO.NET and XML.An application will be built throughout the book to illustrate techniques learned each day.XML Web Services are covered in detail due to their tight integration with ASP.NET applications.Overall this title will make ASP.NET accessible for just about anyone, with or without exposure to the older ASP standard.

Like other titles in the Teach Yourself series, every lesson presents the reader with a handful of questions (usually about a half dozen), with thorough answers provided in a reference appendix. In all, this title will make ASP.NET accessible for just about anyone, with or without exposure to the older ASP standard. Clearly written and well organized, the author covers a lot of material but doesn't get bogged down with the somewhat daunting details of .NET. --Richard Dragan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (54)

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK-It's out of date.
It's a good book for what I used it for.I didn't use the book to actually learn how to program asp.net.The examples in the book are useful for indicating how certain classes are supposed to be used and there is some explanation of usage.It's thick and heavy.

Biggest drawback is the fact that this book was written for ASP.net 1.1.The industry is at version 3.5 right now.You cannot transfer the classes used in 1.1 to 2.0 or 2.5.All the examples that I used were in VB.net, which is in my opinion after programming in java for 3 years before, much closer to java than c#.This was a great book when it was its time, but the only reason to purchase this book now is to serve as a door stop, or if you are running a really old windows web server with just .net 1.1 on board.

Helpful,How it needs to have step by step instructions using Visual Studio 2005 and less technical discussion.VS insulates!
1. If you do not specify the action, the form goes right back to itself.This is called a postback form because it post back to itself.

2.Upon the first time code is submitted to the server it is compiled and ASP does not compile tags it does not recognize.Once the code is compiled, ASP.Net start processing all the user code and event handlers.Event handlers have the following parameters: sender as object and E as eventargs.

3. ASP.Net automatically keeps track of the view state.Developers do not have to maintain or retrieve data being input on the form between different view states.

4. VB.NET variable types are: Byte, short, integer, long, single, double, decimal, char, date, boolean, string, datetime, and objects

5. VB.NET conversion functions are: Cbool, CDec, Cobj, CType, CByte, Cdbl, CShort, Asc, CChar, CInt, CSng, CDate, CLng, Cstr

6. You can create and define code in your event handler "sub handlers button_click(sender as object, e as event args)".When an event is raised - meaning the event happened - it produces variables that describe the event.The object data type represent the object that raised the event.

7. Date/Time functions: datediff, firstdayofweek, day, dayofweek, hour, isdate, minute, now, month,, second, year.

8. Math functions: abs, atan, cos, exp,fix, hex, int, log, oct. rnd, round, sin, sqrt, tan

9. String functions: instr, left, len, mid, replace, right.

10. Buffering allows you to control when output is sent to the browser.Response.buffer = false turns off buffering.When output is buffered, nothing is sent to the buffer until all the code has been executed or the buffer is full.Unbuffered output goes immediately to the browser.Response.flush forces the buffer to empty to the browser.

11. If you create a cookie with a value and then add keys, the initial value will be erased.You can not create cookies with both values and keys.

12. If the browser does not support session cookies, ASP.Net tacks on an encoded version of the session id to a link. When a user clicks a link, ASP decodes the session id and passes to the page the user is requesting.

13. Web forms handles all events and generates html on the server.""means that upon the button click event a clickhander event will be called passing object and eventargments as parameters.The coding for the event is stored as code referenced by the asp.net page by the directive, "<@page language='vb' CodeFile='your_external_vb_code.aspx.vb'AutoEventWireup='false' Inherits='_Default'>"

14. The Web forms processing order: a. page is requested b. viewstate is restored for any controls c. the page_load event occurs d. events are handled, the page_unload event occurs.

15. The autopostback=true attributecause the eventhandler to be executed immediately on event. Defined as "OnTextchanged='myhandler'", when the text has changed, a post will occur, and the myhandler function will be called.

16.The web forms framework is a huge boon for Web developers, both in UI creation and application logic.Once you've been developing with Web forms for a while, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them!

17. Accessing Data with ASP.Net: a. setup a database connection b. open the database connectionc. fill a dataset with the desired date d. setup a dataview to display the data e. bind a server control to the dataview through the databinding method of the control.

18. ADO.NET full embraces XML, allowing it to communicate with XML compliant applications.ADO.Net revolves around the dataset.A dataset is a memory resident data store that provides a consistent program model for accessing data.A data set contains sets of data, constraints, relationships, and even multiple tables.

19. There are two ways to use a data store: a. Fill it with another data store c) create your own data store.The Data store has a table collections called ds.tables("name"). The ds.tables("name").primary=datacolumn defines the primary key where the datacolumn has two parameters a name and data type.Other columns can be defined for columns collection in by using ds.tables("name").columns.add(datacollection).Data Relationships form follows as, dataRelations("name",datacolumn1,datacolumn2) and joins the relations collection ds.tables("name").relations.add(datarelations).Last Datarows can be inserted using dr=new datarow where dr(index)=value and the index is the field index assigned a value.The datarow joins the ds.tables("name").rows.add(datarow), the datarows collection.

20. ADO.Net Dataset has a number of advantages: Scalability - no locks or active connections; Firewalls - XML is completely firewall proof; Programmability - does not require use of data contructs; sharing data - no data conversions are required; relationships - object structure maintains the relationship; data access - non sequential access to the multiple table data.

21. Many companies try to build propriety communication systems that allow services to be exchanged, but these are often to expensive and complicated to maintain.A web service is a programmable object that provides functionality that's accessible to any number of systems over the internet.Web services rely on the fact that any type of system or application can use http.

22. Why use web services.Corporations are trying to tie traditional applications together into a single composite entity.Web services provide a very simple mechanism for applications to communicate with each other.With Webservices you can reuse code that other people have developed.Web service files are vb.net or c# files that end in an .asmx extension.

23. A Webservice uses an XML format call the Service Description Language (SDL) to tell the clients what can be done with the service.Webservices have methods just as regular classes and business objects do.

24. Discover is the process by which a client finds out about a Web Service.Calling the service from code is simple.
Dim objCalculator As New CalculatorService

n00b to guru in 21 days!
I might be crazy, but reading this book was actually a lot of fun! It covers everything you need to get going with ASP.NET. The focus early on with Access databases was a little rough for me because i was looking for more info on SQL (it does cover sql later on btw). The layout of the lessons felt good, and the author wasn't to 'rambley', which made it easy to read for hours and hours.

NOT for beginners
I spent 2 months on day 1. If the author had simply added, "If you can't install IIS, you can use Personal Web Server, which comes free from Microsoft," it would have saved me a lot of time. I gave up on the book.

Codes don't work????
I am perplexed at the users that rated this publication highly and I would be very interested in speaking with them to find out how they got the codes to work. About 80% of the codes that I type from this book result in me reiceiving errors in my application - even if I type it exactly the way the book does! I do not understand why Sams publishing would allow this book to be published and I would STRONGLY reccomend that browsers interested in this book do not purchase it. Especially if you are new to programming because it is extremely confusing for new users. I have a background in programming and I find it confusing at times. However the book's biggest disadvantage is that is the coding errors! I even downloaded the codes directly from the publisher and they still throw errors. So I know its not my mistake in typing them out because the downloaded ones from the publisher do not work either! ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours provides a thorough understanding of the technology, complete with working examples and practical answers to common development questions. The book focuses on how to create imagery in SVG for static and dynamic graphics. Readers will learn: SVG fundamentals; how it compares to other technologies, including Flash; Manipulating SVG; painting with SVG and using effects; Bringing SVG to life; understanding animation; Text and typography; Efficient coding techniques; Understanding how to integrate JavaScript and dynamic data; Mastering SVG and overcoming common problems.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Teach yourself SVG - excellent choice for fast learning
I am currently working on a compiler that outputs SVG. 'Teach yourself SVG in 24 Hours' has enabled be to gain a good understanding of how to use some of the nice, handy features of SVG without having to spend ages geeking around on the internet looking for online tutorials!

It was a pleasent suprise to open a computing book that wasn't in too much jargon - quite a handy thing when its your first exposure to a new language. This book it written for everyone! (unless you have no interest in computers or the internet etc..)

The Best Computer Book I've Read
Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours, I believe, is one of the best computer books I've read. I am a computer savvy with 5 years experiences in programming and network administration as well as database management. Recently I am working on a project involving SVG.

This book walked you through a series of detailed tutorials to build a dynamic weather forecast web page using SVG step by step. In each chapter, a new topic is covered in aneasy-to-understand and informative manner, which makes the learning curve pretty flat. As the title suggests, this book is an introductory primer to a new technique so it is not intented to delve too deep into a specific topic. However, a good many hyperlinks to W3C's online SVG specification appear here and there for your reference if you would like to make your hands dirtier...In a nutshelll, if you would like to teach yourself SVG from the beginning, it is The book, though it may, by a large chance, take you more than 24 hours to go through it.

Sams Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours
I am a graphic artist using Adobe Illustrator and I wanted to learn more about SVG. I asked the Adobe people about this file format that is included with the newest versions of Illustrator but was unable to find out much. Finally I found this great book.

This book begins with an overview and describes the justification and process of development of SVG. In chapter 2 it jumps right in and teaches the nuts and bolts of creating images with SVG. As I am not a coder or programmer, I was amazed at the simplicity. Once a few basics had been explained I was off and running. Anyone with even the most basic computer and a simple text editor can create sophisticated graphics.

Towards the end of the book is a section on using Adobe Illustrator and in the back there is a reference section for oddball color conversion. The book also comes with the Adobe Web Collection CD that includes the viewer and tryout versions of Illustrator and Photoshop.

I'm really excited by the potential of this technology and can recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop some expertise in a hurry.

Good Luck...Tom Burns

A MUST HAVE for your web library
Web developers and designers alike should have a full acquaintance with this exciting new technology.There aren't many resources yet available, and this book will prove to be a trailblazer.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML implementation utilizing a markup language similar to HTML but created specifically to render and control graphics.It is a robust mix of technologies including the DOM, CSS, Xlink, XSLT and JavaScript, and using the Adobe® SVG Viewer (a free plug-in), it supports static and dynamic graphics and WAV or MP3 audio.

Web developers should learn SVG because it is open-source and built in a simple text editor.It gives complete control of each graphic element.Web designers should use SVG because it is powerful -- graphics packages such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Jasc Web Draw and others support SVG output.SVG also enables flash-like animation. In fact, SVG is THE open-source solution to web animation.No longer do you need expensive proprietary software to get the job done.

Anyway, this book is what you need.(That's how I learned all this.)Author Micah Laaker, while presenting the material in a comprehensive, straightforward and exciting manner, will leave an excellent reference guide on your book shelf.Buy it, read it and keep it handy.

A must have for SVG Developers

I think that SVG developers of all ages, shapes, sizes, and experience level will find it very useful indeed. Micah covers the topics everyone needs to get started, and some that I think even some experienced, self-taught developers might find new--or just well explained. So I think there is something for everyone in this book.

I am particularly impressed with how Micah translates the SVG concepts into vocabulary of the traditional designer who is used to tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, WebDraw, or CorelDraw without depending on those tools to actually build the examples. But this is not at the expense of readers who are comfortable with "code" in general (HTML, JavaScript, etc.). Those readers will feel very comfortable with the level of detail and writing style.

... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours presents 24 hands-on, one-hour lessons that guide you through all the steps needed to learn the Python programming language. The lessons begin with basic Python syntax and language features, and move up through object oriented design and programming. The book ends with a series of chapters covering GUI programming (using Tkinter), Python as a system administration tool, and Python as a programming language for CGI applications. Amazon.com Review
In the crowded field of scripting languages, Python has found a niche as the best tool for learning object-oriented design principles. Several elegantly produced books in the past few years, notably David M. Beazley's thorough Python Essential Reference and John E. Grayson's durable Python and Tkinter Programming, have established a foundation of documentation that makes Python a buildable platform for rapid prototyping, as well as good programming practice.

The appearance in April 2000 of a Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours is evidence of mainstream support. Author Ivan van Laningham has the happy task of teaching an eminently teachable language, and his passion for Python is evident throughout. The 24-chapter recipe is arbitrary, but the book has a well-chosen tripartite subdivision into sections on basic operation, object-oriented design, and GUIs, each of which fulfills its mission. Each "hour" chapter ends with a summary, a Q&A period, a quiz with answers, and, for the ambitious, exercises.

The first hour asks the essential question, "Why Python?" The answer is a collection of flattering adjectives--flexible, extensible, embeddable, elegant, clear, simple--but the author fails to provide a comparison of Python with Tcl, Java, and Perl. Python has a competitive advantage, as found in Part II on object-oriented design basics and strategies. While other languages use o-o principles, none has subsumed it into the mind of the language as much as Python.

Van Laningham's book is illustrated with visually uninteresting black-and-white screen dumps from his Windows Python shell. An early lesson on adding '1' to the decimal representation of a googol (10^100) reveals that Python can print the answer in decimal notation. (Try it with Perl to see what happens.) The modular nature of Python is introduced transparently by incorporating the trigonometric math library.

Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours is weakest in its editing. Mistakes in cross-referencing are distracting, and Van Laningham's loose, informal English often obfuscates his points. Code snippets in the early chapters grow into major listings by the middle, and proper annotation begins to slacken. A 950-line listing in chapter 16--which is downloadable from the inscrutable www.pauahtun.org--has few annotations. May future editions be shorter, sharper, and cleaner, but just as passionate. --Peter Leopold ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Need an Aneurysm, this book should do the trick...
...this book is garbage, and that's exactly where the book is now.In the garbage.The author needs to go back to school and get educated in the english language.He is very knowledgable in programming, he lacks the ability to put his thoughts in english that others can understand.He stops his thought half way through sentences.He has run on sentences, typo's, combined with the fact that he NEVER explains a single piece of code in the book completely, he famous lines in the book are "we'll discuss that later" which never happens, and "do you remember this?" NO, BECAUSE YOU NEVER EXPLAINED IT!!!Very frustrating, and i'm an undergrad student that has been punching out code in Java for 3 years, and I'm totally lost, how is that possible?2 simple words for this book, don't bother.Get this book, it's much better:ISBN# 0-13-026036-3 - Core Python Programming by Wesley J. Chun

Not pratical for learning any useful programming
I have tried making my way through this book many times.But I cannot get past the author's incessesant penchant for the mayan calendar.I did not find any use in going through code snippets (which are very hard to read, they are screenshots in small font)that taught me how to manipulate dates (leap years, mayan calendars etc.) I found this approach extremely boring.Infusing text with an occasionally comment of marginal wit, does not make it entertaining.

The only redeeming portion of this book it that it does include a good introduction to Tkinter.I just wish someone with a better understanding of instructional writing had written it.

Like so many other Python books, does every introduction to subjects such as funtions, classes, objects and methods have to be about spam?I know where python got its name...but enough already!

save your money
the worst python book i have ever read. the teaching style is so scatterbrained that it useless to a beginner. the code snippets areworthless because he uses elements in the code,that have not been fully explained yet,stating that "we will discuss that in chapter whatever" then expects you to build on code you don't fully understand. this book reads like it was slapped together in a long weekend. my copy is already in the dumpster.

Interesting but.....
This book is OK. The author gets lost in his pastimes, such as Mayan culture. I didn't mind this though because I was entertained by his tangents. There is a better one, namely Learning Python (Lutz).

Don't buy this book
You are better off reading the help and intro files at the python website than buying this book. There are numerous times where code is not explained and you have to figure things out more so than you would expect from a book that costs you money.
Though you can understand what the program does, the actual meanings of script and calls are left unexplained; this book lacks the precision needed to explain programming and obscures a simple and powerful language like python. This book could not possibly teach you python in 24 hours, nor will it do anything but confuse and frustrate the inexperienced programmer. ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself DHTML in 24 Hours provides a friendly, accessible way to learn DHTML. Beginning with the basic concepts, it will proceed with concise lessons on the DOM and style sheets. Later lessons will present real-world examples of useful DHTML applications, such as cascading menus, and continue with advanced techniques, such as animation and dynamic fonts.

After finishing this book, readers will be able to add advanced, interactive features to their Web pages, while adhering to standards and ensuring that older and alternate browsers will still be supported.

Customer Reviews (3)

Very good book
This is a very good book, I have learned a lot from it.

W3C DOM way of developing DHTML applications
What I like about this book is that it focuses on the W3C DOM way of developing DHTML client applications.Most other Dynamic HTML books focus too much document.write(), proprietary extensions to web standards, or server side dynamic web pages.

Having researched quite a few books on Dynamic HTML, for those of you who want to get started, this is a pretty good book to get a feel for doing the W3C way.

This should be DUHtml
I have to say while I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it is a total waste of time and money. There are many better resources available to learn dhtml for free on the web. The examples in the book, if they work, are repeated throughout the text without giving new examples. And they will not validate with W3C's validators.

The author's website is a joke, the book made it sound like you could get useful information and possibly even snippets of code from the site. Again I was disapponted.

I have in the past I enjoyed the Sam's 24 hour series of books, but perhaps they should have spent an addition 24 days, or weeks, or maybe even months getting this book right. ... Read more

Product Description

Blogging is the hottest Internet trend, and this book is the ideal resource for getting started. Unlike the majority of such guides, Teach Yourself Blogging doesn't focus on specific blogging services. Rather, it helps you decide the type of blog you want and explains how to design, write, and manage it for both pleasure and profit. It contains key information on:

• Registering domains
• Adding images
• Legal issues
• Choosing a provider
• Podcasting

Customer Reviews (2)

A good basic look at a blog
For young people using the computer to create blogs, websites etc., seems almost intuitive, but for many of us we need a bit of a road map.

This book is well organized and contains basic information along with a lot of pictures and illustrations. If you can't do a blog after reading this, then blogs are probably not your thing!

A solid introduction for most, with some nods to pros.
On Teach Yourself Blogging by McBride and Cason

Some books, like blogs, go from inception to published review before hardly settling into my book bag.Just like stones skipped across the surface of a river, they just skip the surface and bounce on their way.This was a very quick read.I just checked it out within the last 24 hours, and now the review is rolling off the presses. But that isn't to say it was not without value.

Published in 2006, and containing very specific references and suggestions regarding Blogger and TypePad. (What, no thoughts.com?Oh, right, the site was only an idea in Ben's mind at that time, like the twinkle in his eye Jason once was).Skimming through any such overly specific portions makes reading this book a bit quicker, as you focus in on the good parts.

One such area for me personally, was chapter four.Here, two subsections bore upon a couple of my current research topics, driven by blog drafts I have in the wings.Section 4.2 covers the legal issues of blogging, including libel, copyrights, and incitement. Section 4.4 touches on the matter of using links in your blogs, which is the next help topic I have to write upon.Chapter five deals with images in a blog, yet another help topic I have in draft mode, and while it again can be too specific regarding the implementation of displaying graphics using the aforementioned blog services, the general remarks it makes contain good advice.

Chapter six covers hosting your own blog, as in on that spare Linux box spinning drives in your study. Nice idea, but personally I will stick with [...] and enjoy it's coping with so many of the technical problems hosting your own blog can entail.Onto the next chapter.

Chapter seven gets into some advanced editing techniques which really aren't available to those of us on thoughts, and other hosted websites.This is much more addressed to those hobbyists who host their own blogs, and are thus able to enjoy more access and latitude with their content.Video and audio blogging are covered briefly, features which [...] supports.This section had some relevance, then, but was for the most part a foreshadowing of what I will probably do with one of the five computer towers I still own -- strip it down to chassis and power supply before rebuilding it into some test bed of web programming experiments.

Chapter eight, "reaching your audience," discusses something I'm in the midst of, promoting my writings by sharing them with friends, as well as others on the outside world, who consequently take a look at [...] for the first time.The other day, because of my post on celebrating Colombia's independence day, several people, including a Colombian living in Berlin, looked at thoughts.com, a place they had not seen before.My twitter account jumped up by several new followers too, from people who had caught my announcement of the article on it.Of course, now I am also looking at news feeds in Spanish, and trying to make sense of it with an education in French.

Chapter nine, "the distribution network," gets into some of the technical mechanics with which blogs are promulgated across the Internet.For me, the most useful section of this chapter was its discussion of RSS feeds, a very popular way of keeping up with multiple data streams througha unified reader.

Chapter ten, "managing contributors," looks at how to handle the comments you get from others, as well as the peer-to-peer interaction you can have with other bloggers.As with some of the other latter chapters, this one largely presumes you will be hosting your own blog site, as it gets into details the staff of [...]copes with for us.

Chapter eleven, "blogging for profit," covers topics which would be in violation of our site's Terms of Use, and besides are one of the reasons I love blogging here, because it is not a merchantilistic space, but one where the "profits" are measured in love and personal growth.Go read the book itself if you want to know anything about earning pennies for every click of a mouse.I'm not interested in that right now, and will probably let Sara worry about it in the years to come.

Chapter twelve, "taking it further," shows where the skipping stone from my introduction finally went into the deep part of the river.This final chapter offers springboards of suggested resources, some dated, but on the whole still relevant.Three years may be a more than a product's life-cycle in high tech, but the subject of blogging has endured, and will likely continue to do so indefinitely.

In all, a recommended read.It does not go into as much depth as some of the other titles either in or on their way to my book bag, but it covers some ground well. As with blogs themselves, you can also pick and choose your way through it.

This copy will be back on the shelves of the Cambrian branch shortly, if you are interested. ;)


Excerpted from my complete review which can be found at my blog below.

[...] ... Read more

Product Description

• As the industry standard for creating lively Web animations, Flash allows you to develop animation content or turn existing graphics into dynamic Web page animations—the CS4 release guarantees a world of new and thrilling possibilities
• If you are a beginner-to-intermediate level Flash user, this book will get you up and running fast as you dive into the tasks of building animation sequences and using ActionScript to create interactive Web page components
• Contains 150 useful and interesting Flash tasks presented in full color that demonstrates how easy it can be to design rich and dynamic content for any Web site

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Service!
This book, required for a class I'm taking, arrived quickly and in great shape, as always from Amazon. Because it's required, I have to say it's just what I wanted... however, from my point of view, the book is so simple as to be confusing. I am the kind of person that has to know why I am doing something. This book is great at explaining how, but misses out on the why.

That being said, the illustrations and instructions are very clear, and the step-by-step process is easy to follow... What's missing is the answer to, "and if it doesn't do what the book says it should, what do I do?" ... Read more

Product Description

If you are faced with the challenge to learn the Adobe Creative Suite, you probably also find yourself faced with the challenge of carrying five big books to help you learn all that you need to know. Why take on more than is necessary? Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite 2 All in One has all the answers to your Adobe Creative Suite questions in one easy-to-use book. You will learn all of the products and technologies in a logical, well-integrated fashion. Understand the fundamentals of how they work separately and together to maximize your potential with:

• Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Adobe Illustrator CS2
• Adobe GoLive CS2
• Adobe InDesign CS2
• Adobe Version Cue CS2
• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Stock Photos
• Adobe Acrobat 7.0

Get up to speed quickly and easily on all of the Adobe CS2 products with the help of Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite 2  All in One.

Customer Reviews (5)

Disappointed
I've never left a review before although I've been a long-time amazon customer.I felt compelled to leave one for this product.

It is more of a reference that reviews the features of the software, not an instructional guide.

I bought this along with the Teach Yourself Flash 8.The Flash book covers "Try it Yourself" tasks, exercises and tips.

I was so disappointed I threw the book away - something I rarely do. Adobe's Classroom in a Book is much better for someone trying to learn Adobe.

A brief overview of the CS2
This book is ok. It didn't go into much detail per application, but you can't expect to learn everything about all of the CS2 products in one book. For me, having this book in addition to one or two books covering individual applications I use most (GoLive or InDesign for example) is a good mix.

5 Stars no Doubt
Thank you Mordy Golding for making this Huge package from adobe so easy, This Book is a "Must Read", there is nothing left to discuss after reading the book, every Question you have ever thought off regarding the suite and those many applications is covered in detail.

i read the book in 4 days, the minute i wake up i go stright to where i fell asleep reading last night, it was a joy.

Photoshop CS2, Illustraitor CS2, Indesign CS2, GoLive CS2, Acrobat Professional, etc.. are all covered, and what i really like about that is you know what to use and how to use it for a certain task, i used to do everything in Photoshop, i was wrong!

Now, i am able to use every application in the suite to accomplish stunning results, you cant go Wrong buying this book, youll wish you never get to page 744.

Thanks again Mordy Golding

Excellent choice for newcomers to Adobe products
If you always wanted to know more about Adobe amazing applications but were afraid to ask your geek friends, this is the book you were waiting for. It doesn't go deep into every possibilities those programs can achieve - after all it covers the entire Creative Suite package! - but it's absolutely perfect for Adobe newbies who need to be introduced to that awesome world of digital imaging, website design and desktop publishing. Mordy Gording's sense of humor is another asset. Must have!

The Suite explained
Someone had to do it, and it's Mordy Golding, one of the few people suited for the task. Educator, author, consultant, and guru, Golding has written the first decent all-in-one Creative Suite book. Although there are other books, none probably have the scope and breadth of this one.
Adobe Creative Suite All in One is divided into three parts:
The first deals with the Suite as a whole and discusses the creative process and how this unified set of tools can be a complete solution for multipurpose design.
The second section explains the applications, giving each about 100 pages to describe the basic functions and review the programs' capabilities.
The last part applies the knowledge to several projects, all centered around an imaginary business, outlining how to use the applicationsto create a corporate identity, a brochure, an ad campaign, Web banners, Web pages, and a business presentation. There's also an appendix that covers getting your work to a printer.
The section on Version Cue is perhaps the most extensive review of this small utility, while the InDesign section is perhaps the lightest section of the book. It is a formidable task to write such a book, making it relevant and informative, while not just rewriting the manuals. Mordy Golding has stepped up to the task, and done a smashing job. I highly recommend this book.
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