Dynamic 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.
Fred Gerantabee is an Emmy-award winning interactive designer, author and educator with over 13 years of experience in web and interactive design, development and consulting.Most recently, Fred was an interactive producer with Walt Disney Interactive/ ABC television, creating synchronous, FLASH-based applications and interactive games for major television events such as the 2004 Presidential Elections, the Academy Awards, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Fred is an Adobe Certified Instructor and ACE for Flash, Dreamweaver and Flash Lite and the author of several books including Flash CS3 and Dreamweaver CS3 Dynamic Learning series books on O'Reilly publishing. He is a speaker, training manager and instructor at Aquent Graphics Institute, where he delivers custom consulting, training and curriculum solutions.
The AGI Creative Team is a highly experienced group of authors and instructors with a strong track record for developing and delivering best-of-breed books, video content, seminar series, and conferences.
Dynamic Learning, Dreamweaver CS3 is set up with lessons that are geared to walk even beginners through what is needed to successfully use Adobe's powerful web authoring software. Included with the book is a DVD with great video tutorials for each lesson plus the files needed to complete them. Updates to the book and work files were easy to find by searching Errata on O'Reilly's web site. The book is structured to lay flat when open which makes it easy to use. Good job O'Reilly!!
It begins with a review of Dreamweaver's user interface and then continues by showing off some of Dreamweaver's powerful Spry library effects such as drop down menus and mouse triggered behaviors. Gerantabee then settles down and follows a well organized review of web site design. Although the lessons show how to build a website without ever having to write any script, there are intermittent peeks behind the scene at the code so one ends up with a basic knowledge of how pages are written. Both HTML and CSS are covered.
In addition to the videos, the clear color illustrations that are included throughout the book make it simple to follow each step in the lessons. The ease and speed I worked through this book were amazing considering the wealth of information Fred Gerantabee has packed in it.
From building a site to search engine optimization and uploading to the web, this book covers all the basic information needed for success. Page layouts, tables, forms, graphics, inserting video and audio, flash buttons, library items and snippets are just a few of the things covered.
Although not geared for seasoned designers it is loaded with information and if that isn't enough there are links that will take the reader to additional resources. I would highly recommend Dynamic Learning Dreamweaver CS3 as an excellent choice for both beginners and anyone wanting to fine tune their web authoring skills.
