Web Design Complete Course

Rating:
Summary: Nice Package, Good Info, Not Mac Friendly
Review: I really like this book, at first glance. It's not a huge volume, but has a satisfying weight, as if it contains the knowledge I need. It's full color glossy pages jump out at me, and make me want to delve into it's chapters. A quick glance at the Table of Contents shows an impressive array of feature knowledge, waiting to be unfurled: Image Design and Export, Cascading Style Sheets, Dynamic Data Driven Pages, Scripting. I want to know all about these things!

I have a fair amount of web design knowledge, from WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver MX to the HTML bones behind it all, as well as CSS layout and text styling. This bookd seemed to be a great start with "the rest of the picture." It uses the concept of a complete web site, fully realized, to plan the tutorials. We're building the web site for stockimagination.com, a fictitious stock photo company.

I spent some time with the Fireworks graphic tutorials, to layout the basic look of the site, and to make the icons for navigation. The first thing I noticed was a startling lack of Mac screen shots. Allt he pictures in the book show a Windows XP interface. Now, all the MX programs have the same content in either platform, but where's the nod to the Mac? Even the book nods to the fact that Mac users would frequent this web site, if it were a real site, as they are the majority working in the design industry. It made me sad.

In a tutorial about creating a web palette so multiple designers don't pick other colors (a feature I thought fantastic-big nod to the MX designers at Macromedia), there was one step I needed to complete before it worked as advertised. This step is missing from the book. I needed to click the "rebuild" button in the Save Palette routine.

Another example of missing info, I spent a goodly time trying to figure out why one specific rectangle did not look likew the one in the book. I read through it three times, trying it each time. The tutorial said to create one rectangle, add an inner shadow, then clone it, which places a duplicate on top of the original object. I did so. The tutorial then told me to change the shadow in the cloned rectangle. I did so, to specifications. But I couldn't see the inner shadow around the entire new double object, like in the book. I tried opacity settings, I tried fill options. No go. Finally, I realized that I needed to choose the "Knock Out" option in the inner shadow options. "That's not in the book," I yelled. Ok, I only yelled in my head, but still!

I'll spend more time with this book, definitely. It's a great way for me to sharpen my skills in a practical, contextual setting. I really like the way this website is shaping up too. It's modern looking, pleasant to look at and thoroughly effective. Well designed. If you're a web designer, and you want another skill set, this book might be for you. Just watch for the trickiness in some of the tutorials, and be prepared to feel like you're not part of the Windows only screen shots. For $45.00, I'd grab this one off the shelf any day.

Rating:
Summary: not for beginner
Review: I thought this would be a great book to start with...but I was wrong. Nice projects. But it's a struggle. It seems like steps are missing. If you are a beginner, skip this book unless you don't mind wasting time trying to figure out deleted steps.

This is not an easy quick learn. I wish I could get a refund.

Rating:
Summary: I found it disorganized
Review: I'm more experienced in print design, Photoshop and Illustrator are now old friends, so I expect to climb a steep learning curve with a program like Dreamweaver. However, this book is not proving a great travelling companion. I have found many, many examples of tutorials not working according to the explanations. It's unsettling in a way no other program guide i've tried has been. It feels like they skipped the proofreader stage. The actual projects are good, the design of the web page is quite nice and that's what attracted me to the book. Now I'm just struggling through it to get my money's worth since I can't get my money back!

Rating:
Summary: Needs a few edits...
Review: The book is extremely well organized and full of great information. It goes beyond just learning how to use web design software. If you are an aspiring web designer, first learn HTML, then read this book. Although you do not need to know HTML to create web pages, it is the core language behind all web pages. Through your career, there will be times that the only way to accomplish something is by editing text.

This book uses Macromedia's web design software in the lessons. Macromedia's Dreamweaver is becoming the defacto standard in professional web design. The lessons take you step-by-step as you build a complete website.

I have found erros in some of the steps that are a bit annoying and frustrating, but so far I have not been stumped. Each lesson is a continuation of the previous lesson. I am guessing that different people worked on the individual lessons. So the file names sometimes change from lesson-to-lesson.

Unfortunately, the errors in this book make it not for absolute beginners. But if you are new to web design and can figure out the missing steps, this is a good book. If you are a seasoned web designer who is a hard-core arrogant programmer, but want to learn Dreamweaver to improve your productivity, this book may be too basic. Consider a more advanced book.

Rating:
Summary: Needs a few edits...
Review: The book is extremely well organized and full of great information. It goes beyond just learning how to use web design software. If you are an aspiring web designer, first learn HTML, then read this book. Although you do not need to know HTML to create web pages, it is the core language behind all web pages. Through your career, there will be times that the only way to accomplish something is by editing text.

This book uses Macromedia's web design software in the lessons. Macromedia's Dreamweaver is becoming the defacto standard in professional web design. The lessons take you step-by-step as you build a complete website.

I have found erros in some of the steps that are a bit annoying and frustrating, but so far I have not been stumped. Each lesson is a continuation of the previous lesson. I am guessing that different people worked on the individual lessons. So the file names sometimes change from lesson-to-lesson.

Unfortunately, the errors in this book make it not for absolute beginners. But if you are new to web design and can figure out the missing steps, this is a good book. If you are a seasoned web designer who is a hard-core arrogant programmer, but want to learn Dreamweaver to improve your productivity, this book may be too basic. Consider a more advanced book.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been really good - but too many errors
Review: This would have been a really good book if there weren't so many errors in it. Obviously they rushed this book off to print without testing the content - and the errors increase in number and severity as the book goes along. I agree with other reviewers in that it makes the book almost unusable. Almost. The first eight chapters on Fireworks MX aren't too bad, and you will definitely learn something about Fireworks.

However, in chapter nine - the section on Dreamweaver, things go really haywire. The instructions, when followed 100%, DO NOT produce what the book suggests by its photographs. Not even close. You're pretty much on your own at this point - either you will be consulting the help files like crazy and/or having to experiment extensively to produce the correct result.

Which isn't to say you won't learn something. In fact, I am finding that because of all the errors, I am forced to learn how Dreamweaver works on my own - which reinforces the learning.

But, really - it is a pain in the butt to do it this way. And certainly not for a beginner or anyone who does not posess a great deal of patience.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Web Design Complete Course by Joyce J. Evans. I found this book to be my missing puzzle of my Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX and Cold Fusion knowledge. For those who want to start in web design I highly recommend this book. Tutorials - "learn by practice," are easy to learn and to memorize. Colorful illustrated and numbered step by step procedures made me very comfortable to practice with this book. For designers: many aspects of new trends in the present and future web designs. A chance to compare myself with other experienced authority, and most importantly review my knowledge.
Written language, easy to understand (English is my second language). I am fully satisfied with this book. It fulfilled all my expectations.