An early work-in-progress review

(This review is a work in progress, now in its second revision. When I've finished the book, this review will be revised again. The current 3 star rating--given because Amazon requires you to assign a star rating to post a review--should be considered temporary.)

At first glance, this book looks intriguing, even if the font is so big it makes the book look more like a grade school primer. But, hey, large print is accommodating to the visually impaired, so I'll go with it. I do like the much larger and full color screen shots as compared to the tiny black and white shots in the previously established series of Visual QuickStart Guides.

OTOH, it seems like the book's designer, thrilled with finally having a full-color budget, has gone a bit overboard, colorizing a wee bit too many text words and actually ever so slightly inhibiting understanding. (And, the designer himself/herself must have been confused a little as well. For example, on page 11, the words "Destination" and "Business Purpose", which as words you are instructed to type out and which therefore are supposed to be in color, are not.)

So, overall, I'd say the book's design is a wash. Maybe Peachpit will refine the layout/color choices in future QuickProject titles. Where the real problem lies with this book is with its content. So far I'm on page 58 (out of a purposely scant 141) and I've already come across several mistakes big enough to impair learning. For example, on page 20 the author says to "click the USE GLOBAL STORAGE (ONE VALUE FOR ALL RECORDS) check box". Yet, even though I've followed his instructions exactly as he says--three times now--that check box CANNOT be clicked on as it is grayed out. Apparently, an important step is missing. (?)

The author lists a companion Web site, so I went there to see if there was an errata listing. Sure enough, I found a chart acknowledging several known mistakes--and NONE of them are the ones I found. (In fact, the very first listed error is in itself an apparent mistake--it references a formula on Page 3 which, unless I'm blind, isn't even in the book.)

And the section on creating calculation fields...hoo boy! Let's see...it says, I quote:

"In the Specify Calculation dialog box, create the following formula: If (not (IsEmpty (End Yr)); End Yr - Start Yr; "")"

Huh? What the heck did I just type? While a token explanation is offered, as a non-programmer, I'm left having little idea what it is I typed by rote or why. And I certainly would not be able to construct any such formula on my own. Would a few explanatory sentences talking about general programming concepts and structure been out of line here?

Moving on to the chapters on designing a layout, things seem to improve, at least a little as far as mistakes go. One very minor mistake on page 42 regarding available formatting options for a date entry could be attributed to a glitch in FileMaker itself, perhaps. But designing a layout...if the way this book shows you how to design a layout is the normal FileMaker approach, then FileMaker is truly a designer-hostile program.

I come from a background as a graphic artist (23 years). QuarkXPress. PageMaker. Illustrator. You get the idea. I had made the assumption that a professional program with a pedigree as long as FileMaker's would of course provide common design tools, like user-defined guidelines and/or master pages. Well, if the chapters in this book on layout design in this book are accurate, then no such tools exist. This book has you creating and sizing boxes and then aligning them simply by typing seemingly arbitrary numbers. Example, quote:

"To align the bar with the top of the large data block, set the left edge distance to 0.333 inches and the top edge to 1.542 inches."

OK. So, I need to be Nostradamus to determine how to size and align my items? I can't simply make some guidelines on a master layout and have everything snap to those? Well, until I finish the book and then poke around FileMaker on my own, the jury is out on whether or not the author's paint by numbers approach is valid. But, all I can say for now is, if you are a graphic artist of any type, be prepared to run in horror from how layouts are made.

--Terry Hansen

Other Reviews

• Wow! A How-To That Actually Works...
• An early work-in-progress review