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Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques (How-Tos)
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by David Karlins
Sales Rank: 16703
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Discount: 34 %
$16.68
At Amazon
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Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Adobe Press; 1 edition June 3, 2007
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0321508939
ISBN-13: 978-0321508935
Product Dimensions:
8.9 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
Book Description
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 is more than just the world's most popular and powerful Web design tool: As part of Creative Suite 3 (which includes Photoshop CS3 and Flash CS3), it's a key component of an overall Web design workflow that encourages users to rely on all of their applications to seamlessly create graphically rich content for the Web and motion graphics. This information- and image-packed guide lets users get right down to work by focusing on the Dreamweaver CS3 features they're most likely to use, including Spry framework for Ajax and Spry widgets and effects, and Absolute Placement objects; the book showcases each in a stand-alone tip, complete with a relevant hint or two and helpful screenshot. This is how readers can learn just what they need to know, exploring the program at their own pace, exploring just the features and tools they need.
About The Author
David Karlins is a veteran web designer and consultant. He is the author of more than a dozen web design books including Build Your Own Web Site, the Complete Idiot's Guides to Dreamweaver and Flash, and Dreamweaver 8 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques. David's web design clients and consultants have ranged from Hewlett Packard to the Himalayan Fair. His web design articles and reviews appear in online and print and publications including CreativePro and Macworld magazine. David has taught Dreamweaver at the University of California Extension School of Graphic and Interactive design, at the San Francisco State University Digital Video Intensive program, and currently teaches Dreamweaver at the San Francisco State University Multimedia Studies Program.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques is exactly the book I needed to help me move from Adobe GoLive, which is being phased out, to the similar -- but different enough to be confusing -- Dreamweaver CS3. This book showed what could be accomplished through a clear and detailed hands-on approach to this feature-rich but daunting program. The book is well structured into 100 brief, informative sections. They are useful individually -- meaning you can look up precisely what you need for a task and get a complete, but not overwhelmingly exhaustive, explanation with step by step instructions. (If it's essential that you know some underlying technique, the author tells you where in the book to find it -- but mostly, what you need is right there.) The sections are also tied together into a dozen chapters on related techniques, that progress logically from the basics of creating a site to the full range of bells and whistles, from styling to forms to embedding media (Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media) to DW CS3's cool new Spry animation effects. There is an extraordinary amount of useful information presented in just 250 pages, yet the book never feels crammed. However, it could have used a few more illustrations, including ones for completed projects -- although the author purposely leaves it up to the reader to implement the techniques that he explains. I like this approach. The book is much more illuminating than DW CS3's built-in Help fragments, that constantly send you to yet more -- and more -- references, many times without really telling you how to do something. Here the author has the space to provide both brief context and practical instructions. This book is also a lot more useful than the overpriced Adobe Classroom in a Book (CiB) that focuses on about a dozen large-scale "representative" projects -- if you're lucky, somewhere in the countless steps is the small piece of info you need to get a specific job done. By contrast, this book is the best of both worlds: more detailed and practical than the built-in Help and much more accessible than CiB. Goldilocks would love this book, since it's not too small, and not too big -- it's just right. I also appreciate that, for all of its conciseness, the writing has a friendly 'can do' quality. The main content is clearly separated from the subsidiary information presented in sidebars. This 'bonus information' often explains why it's best to do something a certain way (often to increase the accessibility of Web pages for people who are visually impaired, or who simply turn off images for faster browsing). The only major topic missing is how to connect a DW site to a database, which with all the flavors (ASP, Cold Fusion, many more) would require a separate guide of this length. The book wisely devotes many sections to the features that are brand new in DW CS3, including a strong focus on CSS-based layouts. The Internet has adopted 'best practices' standards -- meaning CSS-based pages -- so the author focuses both on how to use Adobe's nice built-in templates (both basic and styled versions), and on how to create your own from scratch. The clunky table-based, or frames-based (UGH!), layouts many of us have been using are going, going, soon to be gone. That's why the focus here is on CSS layouts, which offer much greater design flexibility and control, and faster loading times (they take far less code than their table-based ancestors, e.g., instead of specifying a bunch of different fonts, over and over, with CSS you do it just once in a master Style Sheet). In stumbling through DW CS3, before getting this book, the single most confusing thing was "div tags" (that basically structure everything in the page layout) -- if only I'd had the brilliantly lucid explanation found here in Section 33 - Defining Div Tags! Now, it all makes sense -- thank you! Although I think this is a five star book, there are a couple of frequently used items that I wish the author had included in full detail: (1) instructions -- in Section 55 - Formatting Image and Page Styles -- on how to create a 'floated' image with a caption (a border around it would be nice too), and (2) how to "bulletproof" a site, making sure that pages can expand properly if someone increases the font size (as opposed to breaking apart into an incoherent mess). In addition to this book, which for me is a clear top recommendation (I've pored over several of the other 'first out of the gate' DW CS3 guides in a local bookstore), I recommend Dan Cederholm's Bulletproof Web Design: Improving Flexibility and Protecting Against Worst-Case Scenarios With XHTML and CSS. I don't believe that Cederholm's recommendations are proprietary, since they are common sense (once he explains them) and very simple; but they would have made this How-Tos book even more valuable. I'm still having fun experimenting with techniques -- many involving Spry widgets -- that this book details, that I'll use on future sites. Ah, if only I'd had this book before going the 'trial and error' route, learning DW CS3 while creating the site I recently finished -- I would have cut my work time in half or better. This book provides a wealth of targeted hands-on instruction, including all the basics of CSS layouts, with clarity and a friendly tone. Here is the complete Table of Contents Chapter One - Creating a Web Site Section 1 Collecting Site Content Section 2 Defining a Local Site Section 3 Organizing a Local Site Section 4 Managing Site Views Section 5 Managing Sites Section 6 Defining a Remote Server Connection Section 7 Connecting to a Remote Server Section 8 Transferring Files Between Remote and Local Sites Section 9 Synchronizing Local and Remote Content Chapter Two - Working in the Document Window Section 10 Exploring the Document Window Section 11 Viewing Panels and the Property Inspector Section 12 Editing Page Content in Three Views Section 13 Examining Dreamweaver Toolbars Section 14 Using the Insert Toolbar Section 15 Using the Insert Menu Bar Section 16 Creating a New Page from Scratch Section 17 Defining Links Section 18 Creating Pages from Blank Templates Section 19 Creating Pages from Sample Starter Pages Section 20 Creating Pages from Sample Style Sheets and Framesets Chapter Three - Designing Pages with Tables and Frames Section 21 Creating a Table in Standard Mode Section 22 Creating a Table in Layout Mode Section 23 Creating Fixed and Flexible Columns Section 24 Embedding Tables Within Tables Section 25 Defining Table Properties Section 26 Defining Cell Properties Section 27 Generating a Frameset from Samples Section 28 Formatting Framesets Section 29 Defining Links Between Frames Chapter Four - Designing Pages with Absolute Placement Objects Section 30 Defining Absolute Placement Objects Section 31 Formatting AP Divs in the Property Inspector Section 32 Managing AP Divs in the AP Elements Panel Section 33 Defining Div Tags Section 34 Using Rulers, Guides, and Grids Chapter Five - Working with Text and Images Section 35 Formatting Text with HTML Attributes Section 36 Applying Colors to Fonts Section 37 Defining Inline Text Attributes with CSS Section 38 Preparing Images for the Web Section 39 Embedding Images in a Web Page Section 40 Making Images Accessible with Alt Tags Section 41 Editing Images in Dreamweaver Section 42 Aligning Text and Images Section 43 Defining Image Maps Section 44 Placing Photoshop Files in Web Pages Chapter Six - Planning and Embedding Site Elements Section 45 Creating Template Pages Section 46 Generating New Pages from Templates Section 47 Updating Templates Section 48 Creating and Placing Library Items Section 49 Updating Library Items Section 50 Including Navigation in Templates and Library Items Section 51 Uploading Templates and Library Items Chapter Seven - Formatting Page Elements with CSS Section 52 Formatting Page Elements with Style Sheets Section 53 Defining Page Style Using the Body Tag Section 54 Formatting HTML Text Tags with CSS Section 55 Formatting Image and Page Styles Section 56 Applying CSS to Links Section 57 Defining CSS for Printable Pages Chapter Eight - Collecting Data in Forms Section 58 Creating Jump Menus Section 59 Embedding Forms Linked to Server Databases Section 60 Defining a Form in Dreamweaver Section 61 Defining a Form Fieldset Section 62 Placing Text Fields and Text Areas Section 63 Placing Check Boxes Section 64 Placing Radio Buttons Section 65 Placing Lists/Menus and File Fields Section 66 Using Hidden Fields Section 67 Placing Form Buttons Section 68 Defining Form Actions Section 69 Defining a Spry Validation Text Field Widget Section 70 Defining a Spry Validation Textarea Widget Section 71 Defining a Spry Validation Checkbox Widget Section 72 Defining a Spry Validation Select Widget Chapter Nine - Embedding Media Section 73 Creating Flash Text in Dreamweaver Section 74 Creating Flash Buttons in Dreamweaver Section 75 Embedding Flash and Flash Video Files Section 76 Embedding QuickTime Media Section 77 Embedding Windows Media Chapter Ten - Adding Effects and Interactivity with Spry Section 78 Inserting Tabbed Panels Section 79 Inserting a Spry Menu Bar Widget Section 80 Formatting Spry Menu Bar Widgets Section 81 Inserting a Spry Accordion Widget Section 82 Inserting a Spry Collapsible Panel Widget Section 83 Deleting Spry Widgets Section 84 Attaching Effects to Page Elements Section 85 Defining Effect Events Section 86 Editing and Deleting Effects Chapter Eleven - Adding Interactivity with Behaviors Section 87 Defining Browsers for Behaviors Section 88 Opening a Browser Window Section 89 Designing a Pop-up Message Section 90 Creating a Timeline Section 91 Deleting Behaviors Section 92 Designing a Rollover Section 93 Creating an Interactive Navigation Bar Section 94 Editing a Navigation Bar Chapter Twelve - Testing and Maintaining Sites Section 95 Checking Browser Compatibility Section 96 Previewing Web Pages in Device Central Section 97 Testing Links Sitewide Section 98 Cleaning Up Word HTML Section 99 Adding Design Notes Section 100 Testing Browsers for Media Support
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Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques (How-Tos)
Discount: 34 %
Available from Amazon
Price: $16.68
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