Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

by David McFarland, David Pogue (Editor)

Overview

Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX 2004 offers a rich environment for building professional web sites, with drag-and-drop simplicity, clean HTML code, and dynamic database-driven web site creation tools. It comes with everything except perhaps the most important feature of all: a printed manual. Enter Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual, the book that enables both first-time and experienced web designers to bring stunning, interactive web sites to life. What sets this new edition apart is the crystal-clear writing, welcome humor, and exclusive features like these:

• Live examples. With a step-by-step annotated tutorial, readers follow the construction of a state-of-the-art commercial web site, complete with Flash buttons, Cascading Style Sheets, and dynamic databases.
• Tricks of the trade. The book is bursting with undocumented workarounds and shortcuts.
• Design guidance. Readers can create any modern web feature, including forms, animations, pop-up windows, and more. This book lets you know which browsers, situations, and audiences are appropriate for each.

With over 500 illustrations, a handcrafted index, and the clarity of thought that has made bestsellers of every Missing Manual to date, this edition is the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver MX 2004.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596006310
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/28/2004
Series:	Missing Manual Series
Edition description:	First Edition,Annotated
Pages:	848
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 2.02(d)

About the Author

David Sawyer McFarland is president of Sawyer McFarland Media, Inc., a Web development and training company in Portland, Oregon. He's been building websites since 1995, when he designed an online magazine for communication professionals. He's served as webmaster at the University of California at Berkeley and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, and oversaw a complete CSS-driven redesign of Macworld.com. David is also a writer, trainer, and teaches in the Portland State Universitymultimedia program. He wrote the bestselling Missing Manual titles on Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS, and JavaScript.

Table of Contents

• The Missing Credits
• Introduction
• Part I: Building a Web Page
  • Chapter 1: Dreamweaver MX 2004 Guided Tour
  • Chapter 2: Adding Text to Your Web Pages
  • Chapter 3: Text Formatting
  • Chapter 4: Links
  • Chapter 5: Images
• Part II: Building a Better Web Page
  • Chapter 6: Cascading Style Sheets
  • Chapter 7: Page Layout 101
  • Chapter 8: Page Layout 2004
  • Chapter 9: Frames
  • Chapter 10: Under the Hood: HTML
• Part III: Bringing Your Pages to Life
  • Chapter 11: Forms
  • Chapter 12: Dreamweaver Behaviors
  • Chapter 13: Flash, Shockwave, and Other Multimedia
• Part IV: Building a Web Site
  • Chapter 14: Introducing Site Management
  • Chapter 15: Testing Your Site
  • Chapter 16: Moving Your Site to the Internet
• Part V: Dreamweaver 2004 Power
  • Chapter 17: Snippets and Libraries
  • Chapter 18: Templates
  • Chapter 19: Automating Dreamweaver
  • Chapter 20: Customizing Dreamweaver
• Part VI: Dynamic Dreamweaver 2004
  • Chapter 21: Getting Started with Dynamic Web Sites
  • Chapter 22: Adding Dynamic Data to Your Pages
  • Chapter 23: Web Pages that Manipulate Database Records
  • Chapter 24: Advanced Dynamic Site Features
• Appendix A: Getting Help
• Colophon

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
This Dreamweaver step-by-step guide treats you like the professional you are. It’s strong on details, and replete with “live” examples. And it’ll help you accomplish virtually anything you want in Dreamweaver -- design, interactivity, site management, you name it.

The further you go, the more useful this book gets. David Sawyer McFarland’s especially strong on CSS, behaviors, layers, snippets, libraries, and templates. He offers an entire section on dynamic, database-driven sites -- including downloadable examples in ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP. Throughout, McFarland annotates his step-by-step instructions with real, working insights -- so you can go far beyond the “recipe.” And roughly half the chapters contain live tutorials walking you through real page development assignments. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

bn.com

Dreamweaver (see also Computer Media, LJ 1/03) reigns as the editor of choice for many web designers, and MX 2004 adds better Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) handling and other features that may spur demand for updated guides. Teach Yourself, rather basic for most users, takes a step-by-step, full-color, screen shot-heavy approach to accomplishing common tasks. A good overview for beginners, appropriate for all public libraries. The more comprehensive Missing Manual addresses beginning to intermediate users, with special attention to using CSS. Sidebars include additional info for power users, FAQs, definitions, and other useful topics. Its clear, step-by-step tutorials on each major subject (with downloadable files and finished examples), plus links to additional resources, make this an especially useful self-study guide; highly recommended for all libraries. For intermediate to advanced users, Bible and Complete Reference strive for thorough coverage. Bible's CD contains a trial version of Dreamweaver MX 2004, plus project files; Complete's CD, meanwhile, offers trial versions of each MX 2004 product, Dreamweaver extensions, and sample code. Bible goes through each Dreamweaver feature, from touring menu commands to adding extensions and customizing the software. New features are highlighted in the text; notes, cautions, and tips add info; cross references help navigate and collect relevant information for specific tasks; and chapter summaries aid in assimilating the information provided. Its attention to workflow and collaboration will help designers working on large projects. Complete's coverage ranges from Dreamweaver basics to extensions; its links to additional resources aid users in extending Dreamweaver's functionality. It walks readers through the entire process of creating a web site and using the various aspects of the software. Both Bible and Complete are appropriate for larger public libraries and for academic libraries serving design and computer science programs; Bible's clarity gives it the edge if you need only one title. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal