You're a beginner who wants to design a state-of-the-art family web site. You've just started a new job, and you need to learn Dreamweaver fast. Or maybe you're a professional who's been using another program but is now switching to Macromedia's leading web design tool. Learning Dreamweaver 8 gets you up to speed, quickly and efficiently.

Straightforwardly practical, with speed as the by-word, this hands-on guide focuses on the best practices for constructing both interactive and static web sites. While explaining core concepts clearly and thoroughly, so that beginners have a solid conceptural and technical foundation, it cuts through the clutter that might slow down a beginner tackling a subject as vast as web design and a tool as robust as Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver 8 Design and Construction emphasizes learning by doing, with short, task-oriented chapters that demonstrate theory by presenting design solutions and explaining the principles that make them work. Plenty of screen shots, illustrations, and sample layouts accompany rapid prototyping techniques for site production.

Marc Campbell has been building web sites since 1997-for everything from comic book fan communities to state government portals and e-commerce applications. A Macromedia Certified Dreamweaver Developer and beta tester, he has taught web design to students at all levels and has written eight books on the subject.

Sidebars in Dreamweaver 8 Design and Construction allow readers to decide how deeply they want to delve into the subject. "Best Bets" offer bottom-line recommendations for those who want to skip the general discussion, while "Behind the Scenes" sidebars provide more in-depth looks at particular topics for those who want more detail. Absolute beginner or faux debutante, you'll learn proven procedures for quickly building Dreamweaver sites.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 8 Ratings

Great for the money. - 2006-06-11
Reviewer Rating:
This book takes you from web-site zero through building a basic client-side only web site using Dreamweaver 8.

My only critique is that it seemed like we didn't even get to actually using Dreamweaver 8 until about page 100. Before that was an intro to general web-site concepts and HTML.

Anyway, it's an attractive and informative book that is priced lower than most.

DREAMWEAVER FIELDS FOREVER!! - 2006-09-17
Reviewer Rating:
Are you new to Dreamweaver 8? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Marc Campbell, has done an outstanding job of writing a book for people who are new to creating their own web sites from the ground up and all that it entails.

Campbell, begins by showing you how to devise your plan. Then, the author shows you how to develop a blueprint for your site. Next, he shows you how to add just about anything to the pages of your site. Finally, the author shows you how to take the working prototype that exists on your computer and publish it to the Web for all of the world to see.

This most excellent book serves an introduction to creating web sites using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8. More importantly, the focus throughout this book is that sound design and usability are inextricably linked.

Needs Color!!! - 2006-09-08
Reviewer Rating:
This book is well written and laid out well (for the most part), but the lack of color really, really hurts this Dreamweaver 8 guide. Perhaps I am being a bit of a stickler, but a book in 2006 not only needs to have good content, but it need to also have a great layout as well. Deciding to go with 5 major colors (white, black, grey, blue, dark blue) not only makes the book seem dull and drab, it detracts from the reader the good content within.

For anyone that uses Dreamweaver 8 on a daily basis this is a great reference guide but the layout editor could have done a much better job. If you care about content more than pizzaz, I think you will be happy with this book

**** RECOMMENDED

Good manual for a beginning Website designer/creator - 2007-10-12
Reviewer Rating:
The book is well layed-out, and descriptions are clear and concise. The first 95 pages or so are relatively basic. I have used a crusty version of Homesite to create a few basic Websites in-the-past, so those first 95 pages didn't teach me anything that I didn't already know. Except perhaps for the design and paper and pencil preparation.

After page 95 (or so), you jump right into Dreamweaver and are instructed as to its' functions. The Webpage you're building is a basic HTML page, and does not use any server-side technology like ASP, or PHP, or CGI/Perl.

It too is well layed-out, and step-by-step. I only wished that a deeper discussion of CSS integration was employed.

So, for the beginner, or for someone who likes to paper & pencil prep, I'd have to say that this is a worthwhile buy.

For the more advanced user, I'd have to say that you may be better off with more of a reference-style tome.

All said, I do not regret the purchase.

Dreamweaver 8 Design and Construction - 2007-07-16
Reviewer Rating:
If you are looking for website building software, you might want to take a look at Dreamweaver 8: Design and Construction. This book educates the reader on the various aspects of Dreamweaver 8. It also shows the reader, step by step, how to build a website using this software. The author also includes all sort so tips, illustrations of what the reader will see as he or she builds their site, and helpful tech talk boxes that explain some of the more technical issues in an easy to understand way. Everything in this manual is suitable for those with little or no knowledge of website design or website design software.

I believe that the best way to choose website software is to understand what that particular program can do and how this may or may not suit your needs and your abilities. It doesn't help to buy software that can do seemingly magical things if you don't have a clue how to actually make it work. This book helps the reader understand the basics of the Dreamweaver 8 program with a taste of some of the more complex things that can be done.

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