Rating: 
Summary: Good continuation of Web Page development
Review: As part of my training on basic Web page development, I started with Ruth Maran's HTML book and then followed it up with this book. This gave me a 1-2 punch at mastering web development. I needed Web development skills to augment my Visual Basic and SQL Server skills and both of these books provided the foundation for more advanced training. This is a good continuation of the HTML. Indeed you will use HTML in your Active Server Pages development. Both authors did a great job with this book. I could not find any major errors but did find some minor errors. The examples at the bottom of each page can be hard to read especially for people with sight problems. I highly recommend both books.
Rating:
Summary: Good continuation of Web Page development
Review: As part of my training on basic Web page development, I started with Ruth Maran's HTML book and then followed it up with this book. This gave me a 1-2 punch at mastering web development. I needed Web development skills to augment my Visual Basic and SQL Server skills and both of these books provided the foundation for more advanced training. This is a good continuation of the HTML. Indeed you will use HTML in your Active Server Pages development. Both authors did a great job with this book. I could not find any major errors but did find some minor errors. The examples at the bottom of each page can be hard to read especially for people with sight problems. I highly recommend both books.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Beginner Book
Review: Excellent book. I built an ASP site within a week of opening this book up. The pictures included in the book really do help you learn very fast. Don't expect the book to go into detail on the more complicated parts of ASP though. I wished the database section of the book was a little bit longer but not a big problem because the internet has so many resources on that part.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but too elementary
Review: I bought this book hoping to learn the basics of ASP. Well, I sure did learn the basics! I already have experince with HTML, java, cgi, perl, and visual basic. So I already know the basics of programing. The way this book is divided up, is by ASP subjects, and really did not show how to integrate them into a finished web project that really had a use. Unfortently, I may still have to buy another ASP book to fully understand ASP. I would recomend this book to anyone who does not have ANY programing experience at all. But too elementary for myself.
Rating: 
Summary: I love these publishers
Review: I can't begin to describe how we like the Maran family for their publishing acumen! So often one buys "How To" books only to be faced with some the worst writing around. This is especially true of computer programmers who should never publish a book without the guidance of a first rate literary communicator. The Maran team excels at written communication. They are simply the best!
Rating:
Summary: I love these publishers
Review: I can't begin to describe how we like the Maran family for their publishing acumen! So often one buys "How To" books only to be faced with some the worst writing around. This is especially true of computer programmers who should never publish a book without the guidance of a first rate literary communicator. The Maran team excels at written communication. They are simply the best!
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Concise and to the point examples
Review: I don't take the time to write a review very often but I have to give it to the Visual Blueprint Series. The book devotes an extensive chapter near the front of the book (I believe chapter 3) to cover the many aspects of programming, i.e. loops, variables, function calls, strings, and operators. It also covers scripts, HTML tags, ect. Then the remainder of the book is mostly 2 page examples of how to implement these into ASP pages. There is no fluff, it gets right to the point. Many other books touch on subjects and then move on leaving you with these "But what if..." questions. This book doesn't leave you wondering. I give it an A+
Rating:
Summary: For beginners/ right brainers this is THE book for ASP
Review: I have looked at many how-to developer books on ASP, Javascript, VB, etc.. and for those of us artists, right-brainers, beginners; those of us who didn't gravitate to writing BASIC in 4th or 5th grade, IDG's Visual series is THE series. Maran Graphics out if Toronto (I think) did a tremendous job putting together a consistent, highly VISUAL step-by-step layout that doesn't compromise content for 'cute-sie'.I just returned a 2-book set (something like ASP and Visual Interdev in 24 hours. It was one of the ". . .in 24 hours" books. DON'T LET IT'S POPULARITY FOOL YOU. IT WAS THE WORST BOOK OF ITS KIND THAT I'VE BOUGHT IN YEARS. Yes, maybe for the naturals who don't need screen shots to 'get it', this series won't work, but for the rest of us, IDG's Visuals are the only way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Neat layout, but too simple
Review: I liked the layout of the book, but it's way too simple for anyone that's already had to deal with ASP. I've been using ASP for a few years now and thought maybe this might contain some nuggets of info that I'd overlooked. Well, it didn't. If you're new to ASP, I'd recommend it pretty highly. The way the book is layed out with blow-by-blow details is superb. If only there were DCOM books like this..
Rating:
Summary: A True Beginners Book, Almost Elementary. Good
Review: I read the whole book in just over 2 hours, and that may be because I've already used ASP on IIS4 (ASP 2.0), but mostly because it covers way to many subjects that even though "related" to ASP should not make part of a book with this title. The author (the author is a family business as a group) should have included... an introduction, yes, a pointer to other sources, well ok, but not a whole 1/3 of a book! I was shocked by the layout because it made me feel like a was back in middle school. Pages with "blue print" graphics in the corners and TWO screenshots per page in EVERY page! This was a little bit too much. I give it 4 starts because I think that regardless of how useful or not the book was for me, it would make a great intro book to someone who has done NO programming before, and wants to pick up ASP. You'll learn, yes you certainly will, this I guarantee. And because of that it is a GREAT value! You will not only learn about ASP but also about IIS, VBScript, SQL and DSN, all at a intro level, but done amazingly well, simple yet not superficial. Of course ADO and some old and new Components are introduced in a manner that is brief yet elegantly and clearly explained. If you are looking for more "undocumented" information and/or new features of ASP 3.0 and its applications, please look elsewhere. This book was very hard to "judge" since it is a great book from the beginners point of view and for such purpose the layout is perhaps appropriate, but it is deceiving as an ASP 3.0 book for which you must not fall if you've done ANY ASP in the past, even if it was a one pager!
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