Confusing and not really a tutorial

I'm a big fan of the Peachpit Visual QuickStart Guides and was rather pleased with what I learned from a Visual QuickProject Guide on Flash ("Creatig a Web Site with Flash"). I've used Dreamweaver MX quite a bit but skipped Dreamweaver MX2004 when it came out as I was happy with MX.

When Dreamweaver 8 came out and I saw how different it was I had to get the new version. Since I already knew how to use Dreamweaver I got this book hoping for a PDQ tutorial to give me the basics of Dreamweaver 8 to get me started, knowing I could use the help files to find whatever else I needed as I worked.

The first thing I did after getting the book was look at the errata site, it said that no errors have been reported so I dug in. Almost immediately I was confused and finding errors -- almost on every page! I started writing a page-by-page error file to send to the author. It turned into a bigger project than I thought it would be and was taking more time than going through the brief book.

Also, this is not a tutorial book. The author assumes that you will be working on another project on your own and somehow working with the book at the same time. Even the files that you download to use with the book are already completed so their value is diminished.

If you want to learn Dreamweaver 8 I'd skip this book and get the full "Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide", "Dreamweaver 8 -The Missing Manual" or "Dreamweaver 8: Training from the Source" instead. Save the frustration. My copy is going back today.

Other Reviews

• Flawed but Useable
• Confusing and not really a tutorial