Product Description
This excellent how-to book will teach you how to configure your system for Active Server Pages in a snap. Take a Web development refresher, get up to speed on VBScript and other ASP scripting tools, use ActiveX Data Objects to connect Web pages to databases, and harness ASP to manage cookies, user sessions, and transactions.Amazon.com Review
Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) has become more than just a server-side scripting technology. It's transcended its basic definition to represent a development platform that continues to gain in popularity. Teach Yourself Microsoft Active Server Pages 3 combines tutorials in ASP 3 with lessons about related markup technologies, such as XML.

The book doesn't rush into discussing ASP pages. In fact, you won't encounter ASP coding until part III in chapter 14. The chapters leading up to ASP cover how to configure Web servers to use ASP pages and, more importantly, markup using both HTML and XML. Experienced HTML coders can skip these early sections, but the mix of XML and HTML techniques demonstrates nicely how both standards are closely related as markup languages. This is a welcome change from most books that present XML as a separate, advanced topic.

Topics are presented with a minimum of space and explanation. The coverage is sufficient, however, and the format makes for a quick read. There are no long code examples; instead, small code fragments are annotated to illustrate key concepts.

This book touches on an amazing number of subjects that are key to ASP development. The tradeoff is a lack of depth. However, each concept, efficiently introduced, provides many references to sites on the Web for more information on particular subjects. This title is a good way to step up to ASP programming overnight. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

ASP architecture IIS configuration Personal Web server setup Chili!Soft ASP XML DTDs Lists Tables Frames Forms

XSL style sheets VBScript JavaScript Using PerlScript Built-in ASP objects ASP components Database integration and ADO Using XML with ASP pages Client/server Web applications

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Try again...
Anyone who has experience with HTML, XML, JScript, or VBScript, should avoid this book.The first half is introductions to the above languages with very little or no ASP.Most examples are suitable and others a poorly done and leave too much to the imagination.

The slow pace seems to assume the authors expect the reader to have no programming or webpage development background at all, however some of the examples seem so vague in places it would be difficult for a beginner to piece it all together.

I don't recommend this book to anyone who is learning ASP or any other mentioned language.While the book does baby step the reader towards more complicated work, I believe it doesn't cover the fundamentals it mentions fully.I suggest reading books on HTML, then CSS, and then ASP.With those three, anyone would be able to make a spiffy looking website with tons of features.

Pretty good....except for the typos
The book on a whole was very informative.I learned quite a bit about ASP from reading it.The authors spend a lot of time towards the beginning of the book on XML and I'm not really sure what the connection between the two are.It almost seems like they should've written a separate book on XML rather than including it with this one.Also, I found quite a few typos throughout the book in the text and some of the code examples.Luckily I'm familiar enough with html that I was able to catch them, but for a beginner the errors could be really confusing.

Scattered and indecisive...
It's very obvious this book is written by a staff.In attempting to hold your hand from the very most basic concept of a web page, to a fully database enabled ASP site (in 500 pages??), this book passes over nearly every necessary piece of information you could need.If you already know HTML, then half of this book is already worthless to you.And the authors of this book can't seem to decide whether they perfer HTML to XML, or VBScript to JScript.Examples of all of the above are scattered throughout the book, and leave you wondering which one you should know.Not to mention the "article style" format of this book, where each concept is intrduced and concluded in a 2 page block (whether the concept has been fully explored or not, they're gonna fit it into two pages), and right when you think you're going in one direction with ASP, they come in with an article about XML, and you're scratching your head again.My advice: if you know HTML, and you want to really learn how to program Active Server Pages, and not just scratch the surface, get a book on VBScript (not JScript) with more depth and less breadth.

Active Server Pages 3.0 by Sandra E Eddy Review
The books was very helpful in my programming.I used many of the examples from book in my code.I think that if you are a beginner wanting to learn some Server side scripting this book will be an excellent place for you tostart.Thanks

Teach yourself Active Server Pages 3.0
I think it is a good beginner book that walk you easily from HTML to ASP. ... Read more

Product Description
This book will appeal to a relatively broad spectrum of people interested in Netscape and the Web. The CD includes a variety of HTML editing tools, along with templates, source code and examples from the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

~~~Great for Netscapers~~~
I belong to a group of 18+,- that use
Netscape as the medium to learn everything
that can be done in e-mail.This book will
make it easier to learn HTML.

There was no cd with the manual,
the website provided was not
accessible, nor was the
e-mail support address.

Don't waste your time
I thought the book was a waste of time. If you really want to know how to make web pages the quick and easy way, get yourself an HTML book, like The Complete Reference HTML 2nd Edition, and get a freeware or shareware texteditor and do it that way. I've found certain bugs in Netscape 4 that wouldmake a 60k page balloon to 300k.

Good Primer but misleading title
This is a good primer and self-teaching manual for HTML. However the Netscape content seems like an afterthought to a finished manual to get title appeal. It barely describes the menu bars of Netscape and Composer and provides almost no info on setting up and customizing preferences.The author's premise is right that one should learn HTML basics before using an editor like Composer it's disapointing if you just bought the book to hurl up a homepage quick and dirty. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ FrontPage® 2002 uses the proven Visual® step-by-step approach to learning FrontPage 2002 - in full color! Coverage includes formatting text and images, scanning images, placing tables, hyperlinks, sound and video, building forms, using auto thumbnails, watermarking, fixing broken links, and even preparing images for animation. Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ FrontPage® 2002 is the full-color tutorial with clear, concise, jargon-free instructions with over 500 color screenshots throughout. Jam-packed with information, this book goes beyond the basics to show you how to create new FrontPage documents, format text, place graphics, add sound and video, and troubleshoot like a pro. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Book Saves HOURS Compared to Other Books
I spent hours upon hours pouring over several LENGTHY and WORDY manuals before discovering this AMAZING book.Within minutes I was building and uploading web pages to the internet.I HIGHLY recommend this book for the person who is just starting in the world of building web sites.Now that I have had it a while, I find that it is also a VERY GOOD reference manual to go back and review how to perform functions that I haven't used in a while.I give this book 2 Library Cards WAY UP!!!!

A God Send!
I purchased this book recently because I needed to quickly build a website for my business.I read the reviews, which helped me to make up my mind in choosing this book (over all others on this site for FP 2002) and all were positive.I must say that the minute I cracked open the book I felt as though I were going to accomplish my task and meet my deadline.

This book is full of diagrams, full color pictures and well written instructions.Now I don't have a problem actually reading a book, but I did not have time to go through a bunch of tutorials, as I know other books would have presented.What I received with Ruth Maran's book was a quick way to build my website with the greatest of ease.In addition to that I learned a lot about HTML.Needless to say I am extremely happy with my choice to purchase this book.Following the instructions of this book allowed me to build an 11 page website in exactly 24 hours and 45 minutes with two of the pages being photo galleries.Whew! Ruth Maran helped me to meet my deadline.......Thanks Ruth.Did I mention that I was a novice to web building?

What a novelty, an actual beginners book.
There are 15 chapters to this book; I just completed the last one tonight.

What a joy!

First, this is a book for beginners that is actually easy to follow and I never felt like I was reading an intermediate or advanced book masquerading as a beginner's book. The color illustrations throughout the book really do aid in one's comprehension.

Equally important - I never ran across a single error. I've read and tried to follow computer books that have you follow along, only to have you end up with an example not working and, therefore, confusing you. This book was error free - every example I tried (and I tried every one) worked.

As I said this is a beginner's book. If you're much beyond beginner level, you should probably look for something a bit more advanced.

To the author - Ruth Maran - well done, exceptionally well done! I hope you write one for the next version of FrontPage.

Simply THE BEST series
In very few words. This is the best book to learn from. The entire series is incredibly easy to learn from with hundreds of high color pictures. Highly recommended.

Ideal Starter Book
Once again, this is the best book out there if you are starting off with this program.I now am using these texts as my standard start-off book whenever I decide to learn a new program. This book, like the other Maran texts, is filled with visual after visual, page after page, so that no matter how troublesome computers are for you, you will be able to follow along.(My mother loves these books and she has been the hardest person to teach computers I've ever encountered.) If you are already a high tech person or already have used the program with some success, you probably can buy a more difficult book instead.If you are a beginner, I think you better get used to the idea that you will be buying more than 1 book when you decide to really learn a program cold.It is very rare to find one book that will "do it" for both beginners, intermediate and advanced users.I will separately review the text I'd recommend for when you are ready to move on to something more difficult.It too will be visual though as I think visually "lite" books are a mistake when it comes to learning computer programs. ... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition is a completely revised version of the expanded, hardcover edition of the best-selling book that started the whole HTML/Web publishing phenomenon. The Professional Reference Edition of the book includes seven additional chapters covering Web page scripting, CGI and Perl, Java, and Web server setup and administration, in addition to an expanded 250-page reference section. Amazon.com Review
Part of the Teach Yourself series, this book puts all of thefoundational knowledge you need to build Web sites into one largevolume, along with a solid explanation of the code and designprinciples involved. Experienced author Laura Lemay packs a tremendousamount of instruction into this massive title.

The first week ofinstruction covers the basics of the Web; introduces HTML; andpresents simple text formatting, links, and image display. Since thisbook focuses on product-independent HTML 4 coding rather thaninstruction on a particular Web-design application, the skills youacquire will be applicable in any tool. In the next seven days ofinstruction, the author teaches you about style sheets, frames,tables, and the use of multimedia elements. Throughout thesediscussions, she presents each topic in the context of real-worldapplication and page design.

In the final week, Lemay takes youbeyond the basics and into the world of Java, Common Gateway Interface(CGI) scripting, and dynamic HTML (DHTML), including discussions ofthe differences between Netscape and Microsoft implementations. Shefinishes the book off with several chapters on effective design, sitepublishing and promotion, and server administration. A companionCD-ROM includes demo and trial versions of tons of authoring tools andclip media. --Stephen W. Plain ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

HTML Still the Standard, Base, of the Web!!!
This book is one of the best for everyone that is serious about learn or to have always handy because it have everything that you need to know about HTML.
A must have for all levels of Web people.

Great book for beginners
I found this book to be extremely helpful.I'm a rookie at web development and after being only half way through this book I feel like an expert(well almost).If you are looking for a good book that teaches you from scratch with step by step examples, stop searching.This is the book you want.The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because some of the graphics used in the book, I can't find them on the CD.However there are a lot of other ones on the CD.

First rate entry level HTML primer
Laura Lemay has become one of the premier writers of web development texts, and this book is a good example.Many entry level texts get you started using code that has been depricated by the W3C, knowing full well that future browsers may not support the coding methods they are teaching.Laura does an excellent job of introducing newcomers to the "art" of web development while at the same time, prepares them for impending changes in the coding standards.The basics are well covered with easy to understand examples.Advanced techniques are introduced in such a way as not to confuse the novice. While the book does not come with a CD rom with sample code, most books this size are considerably more expensive.In my opinion, the trade off was well worth it.This book is an absolute must have for the novice who is serious about learning HTML.

I was impressed..
This is quite a thick book which covers a lot, and it's a good introduction to a lot of subjects, such as HTML, Javascript, style-sheets, forms, dynamic HTML, and more. You won't get full coverage on all these topics, though. If you're creatingyour own site, you will probably want a bigger reference that covers everything. But as an introduction to these topics, this book is excellent.
I had no trouble finding the code to match this book (2nd edition). But it appears that it's not contained in the 2mb zip download that's offered, which is for a different edition. You just have to download the examples for each individual chapter.
I do have some criticisms, which have nothing to do with the author(s), but the editing. Maybe I imagined it, but the section on DHTML contained so many typographical errors that I wondered whether the editor was taking a long nap instead of correcting all the mistakes. Again - maybe I imagined the errors. I'm not nitpicking, since it makes some of the examples difficult to understand. Badly worded sentences should be avoided at all costs in books like these. You don't want the reader thinking, "Didhe/she mean this, OR this?"
If you could combine the book with a few decent webreferences (this book has some great sites you can visit if you're after more information), then you could get pretty far with HTML. You really need to know all this stuff if you want to start with more advanced subjects in web development any way.

where are the files?
Overall, this book is great.I found it well written and easy to understand and follow.The only complaint that I have, was locating all of the files for each lesson. I find this very confusing from a beginner's stand point. The beginning of the book gives a website to download the source files.But it is for an older edition.The CD that accompanies the book does not contain everything do each lesson. ALot of guessing to fiqure what files they are using for each lesson. ... Read more

Product Description

In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you will be able to create a fully functional website using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson offers background knowledge along with practical steps to follow, allowing you to learn the essentials of using Dreamweaver from the ground up. Full-color figures and clear step-by-step instructions visually show you how to use Dreamweaver. Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. Notes, Tips, and Cautions provide related information, advice, and warnings.

Learn how to…

• Use Dreamweaver CS4 to create simple or advanced web pages
• Create forms to collect information from users at your site
• Organize your site with templates and libraries
• Make Cascading Style Sheets work for you
• Craft an interactive website
• Display data efficiently with tables
• Dress up your site with Flash files and other multimedia
• Insert scripted functionality by using Behaviors
• Add Ajax controls using the Spry framework JavaScript libraries
• Customize and extend Dreamweaver
• Upload your website to a server with Dreamweaver’s built-in FTP capability

Customer Reviews (5)

my review
the book is ok. it could be edited to be a little easier to read.

misleading title, maybe 24 days??
Book is overwhelming. Full of information, but the flow and order makes understanding this topic confusing for beginners. It swaps needlessly back and forth between coding and Dreamweaver. Title is misleading in itself. Took me days just to get through the first few chapters.

from beginner to expert
I have worked professionally with adobe dreamweaver but never took the effort to really dive into the program and learn all of its features (behaviors, sprys, etc.). It covered all of the basics and filled in all of the holes in my knowledge. Besides learning a lot of really useful time saving features it also reinforced the basics of css design within the dreamweaver environment.

I really don't understand how this book can be described as confusing as it is in my opinion one of the most systematic and modular books on the topics to get anybody up to real hands on proficiency in the least amount of time possible. This is the book which I would recommend to anybody looking to not only get their basic markup knowledge but using adobe dreamweaver as well. Highly recommended.

Weaving a dream in 24hrs!
What I learnt is that Betsy Bruce is an Adobe-certified instructor for Dreamweaver, Flash, Captivate, and Authorware and John Ray is a senior business analyst and developer for the Ohio State University Research Foundation.

With these two great minds working together to teach us Dreamweaver CS4 in 24hrs is what this book all about.

The book is in full color and the layout is pleasing, The hints are clear and so are the tips for a successful learning experience. End of Every chapter has workshop associated with that and also a quiz to rate yourself.

This book is not for dummies!!! But, it does help you in understanding the complexities in Dreamweaver CS4 in clear step by step process which one can learn at their own pace

While I have not finished or mastered the full 520 pages, I am taking baby steps to learn Dreamweaver CS4 using this book.

FYI, Learning Dreamweaver CS4 in 24hrs is not completely possible that is just a marketing blurb to get people's attention, But Sam's Teach Yourself Dreamweaver CS4 does a pretty good job inattempting that.

mediocre book at best
The book is missing a number of steps and is fairly confusing.I would rate it as mediocre at best.I would also recommend buying a different book to learn Dreamweaver. ... Read more

Product Description

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you’ll learn how to build advanced web sites and applications with ASP.NET Ajax--and upgrade existing pages to deliver more power and business value. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson equips you with sufficient information and guides you to mastery of Ajax in real-world applications.

One step at a time, you’ll discover how to make the most of the Microsoft Ajax Library and Ajax Server Extensions. You’ll develop secure, reliable Web services and applications that solve real problems--including a complete sample e-commerce application.

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common questions, issues, and tasks.

Quizzes help you build and test your knowledge.

Notes, tips, and cautions point out shortcuts, solutions, and potential problems to avoid.

New terms are clearly defined and explained.

Learn how to…

• Incorporate ASP.NET Ajax into any new or existing web site or application
• Use ASP.NET architecture, key concepts, and client-side scripting techniques
• Design and build a complete e-commerce application
• Use ASP.NET Ajax to create higher-performance web applications
• Use all the key Ajax Server Extensions, including the Ajax Control Toolkit
• Work with the ASP.NET Ajax authentication and profile services
• Extend the Microsoft Ajax Library
• Efficiently debug and trace ASP.NET Ajax code
• Leverage the benefits of Ajax by implementing a sample application

Joydip Kanjilal, honored by Microsoft as an ASP.NET MVP, writes frequently on ASP.NET and other .NET technologies for web sites such as www.asptoday.com, www.devx.com, www.aspalliance.com, and www.aspnetpro.com. He is currently lead architect for a consulting company based in Hyderabad, India. He has designed and architected solutions for various domains. Sriram Putrevu, lead developer for a consulting company in Hyderabad, specializes in Microsoft .NET technologies. He has extensive experience developing large-scale applications in healthcare, supply chain/logistics, EAI, and e-commerce.

Customer Reviews (4)

Good info if you can get through the bad presentation
This book started out very good but as I progress it gets worse and worse. First off as others have mentioned there are no COMPLETE code examples in the book. You often have to guess which using statements to include to get your code behind to work. Second sometimes much needed information is completely left out. In Hour 11 there is an example for a dropdown extender that requires a .css file that isn't mentioned at all. I have occasionally had to spend more than half an hour to find out why code copied exactly from the book refused to compile. There is good information here but the frustration level of needing to do many internet searches just to get through a single 'hour' is probably not worth it. If I could I would probably get a different book but I am a poor recent college grad and can't afford another book for a while.

Giving up after hour 3
There are no complete examples, no step-by-step instructions where they would be useful, absolutely no help in debugging potential problems (which are notoriously difficult to track down when coding JavaScript within your pages), there are syntax errors (single quotes where double quotes are required, for example), and poor editing.An example of the latter, from page 49: "However, imagine a scenario where you only require processing a logic and returning data without the need of displaying any user interface to the user...it becomes an overhead as the web page will only be rendered in your web browser after it is done executing the entire page life cycle events."Did the editor even read that paragraph???

I'm giving up on this book after Hour 3 and moving on to something with higher recommendations.

Poorly written and no complete code examples
Unlike this book, The Sams Teach Yourself Ajax 3.5 book was great and easy to get through. I am a web developer for ColdFusion but new to ASP so it was a great beginning. This book seemed the logical next step but it has been a pain to get through. First off, there seems to be a lot of cut and paste text from MSDN. List after list of classes etc. Very few chapters actually guide you through examples that you can implement on your own. When you do get to some there are poor directions for what steps you need to do and then the code supplied is snippets with no way to see the full code to troubleshoot. Chapter 9 has a section on error handling using Ajax. I keep getting errors even though I finally cut and paste the code straight from the Informix web site. It would be really helpful if I could have downloaded the files in this example rather than read code snippets. So I'm stuck with this example and have to move on to the next. Not how a step-by-step book should go. Also, the writing style is so dry that its numbing to read more than half a page. Like bored professors reciting from memory. Skip this book and get the ASP.Net 3.5 book instead or something else.

Good high level introduction to ASP.NET AJAX
I appreciate this book for what it is, which is to provide a high-level introduction to ASP.NET AJAX in an accessible format. This book was great for the basics, but it is sorely lacking in topics that you will need to apply AJAX to the real world, such as advanced scripting and different scenarios for using update panel triggers. I give this book 4 stars because it is good for what it is, and I recommend it if you are absolutely new to AJAX. I highly recommend another title "ASP.NET AJAX in Action" for an excellent treatment of advanced AJAX topics. In other words, the real world. ... Read more

Product Description

In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you will be able to build full-featured production websites using Django, the powerful web development framework based on Python.

Designed for experienced website developers who have at least some familiarity with the Python programming language, this book uses a straightforward, step-by-step approach. Each lesson builds on the previous ones, enabling you to learn the essentials of implementing the Django framework on a website from the ground up.

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Django tasks.

Q&As, quizzes, and exercises at the end of each lesson help you test your knowledge.

Notes and tips point out shortcuts and solutions.

Learn how to…

• Install and configure the Django web development framework
• Cleanly separate data, logic, and view layers
• Implement site interfaces with build templates and views
• Utilize templates and views to store, access, and retrieve data
• Use the Django forms library
• Define custom tags and filters to minimize coding
• Secure sites with registration, authorization, logins, and permissions
• Manage sessions and cookies
• Implement middleware for request and response handling
• Create sitemaps to inform search engines of your content
• Internationalize your site
• Optimize performance with caching
• Deploy Django in multiple configurations
• Maintain sites with Django’s administrator interface

Introduction 1

Part I:  Creating the Website Framework

Hour 1: Understanding Django 7

Hour 2: Creating Your First Website 19

Hour 3: Adding Models and Objects to Your Website 37

Hour 4: Creating the Initial Views 63

Part II: Implementing the Website Interface

Hour 5: Using Data from the Database in Views 81

Hour 6: Configuring Web Page Views 103

Hour 7: Implementing Django Templates to Create Custom Views 117

Hour 8: Using Built-in Template Tags to Enhance Views 139

Hour 9: Using Built-in Template Filters to Enhance Views 155

Hour 10: Adding Forms to Views 185

Hour 11: Using Views to Add and Update Data in the Database 209

Hour 12: Utilizing Generic Views 231

Hour 13: Advanced View Configurations 269

Part III: Implementing a Full-Featured Website

Hour 14: Managing Site Users 295

Hour 15: Adding Website Security 313

Hour 16: Managing Sessions and Cookies 333

Hour 17: Customizing Models in the Admin Interface 347

Hour 18: Customizing the Admin Interface 365

Part IV:  Implementing Advanced Website Components

Hour 19: Implementing Middleware 383

Hour 20: Internationalization and Localization 407

Hour 21: Creating Sitemaps 423

Hour 22: Implementing Multiple Websites 437

Hour 23: Configuring Caching 451

Hour 24: Deploying Django 465

Appendixes

Appendix A: Django Resources 477

Appendix B: Django Form Field Objects 481

Appendix C: Formatting Dates and Times 491

Index 493

Customer Reviews (12)

Errors on every line of page
As the other reviews said, this book would be fine, but there are typos (bugs) on nearly every page - makes it really frustrating and confusing when your code is not working. In my opinion, totally unacceptable!

Good Despite the errors
This book has the most errors of any tech book I've ever read. It seems to average about an error a page and the errors cover a wide gamut of things. For example, one page describing how to make a template has an HTML snippet that says 'bgcolor="aabbcc"' when in fact it needs to be 'bgcolor="#aabbcc"', a basic HTML issue. Elsewhere it describes how to get your data models to appear in the admin interface. He suggests adding a "myClassAdmin" class to your "myClass.py" file but that didn't work for me. Fortunately I had another example (from another book) to draw from and that suggested making a completely new file "admin.py" in putting different stuff in there. Either he's using an older version of Django or he majorly screwed up.

Anyway... I find I am still able to make headway despite these errors for 2 key reasons
a) most of the errors are easy to fix if you go snooping on the web and are at least a little familiar with what's going on. (In some sense fixing these errors is like an extra set of reader exercises.)
b) the book actually does layout the process in a very nice way.

More on (b) above... some books I've read take you from crawling to running with everything templates and then repeat on other aspects of Django. This book instead lets you crawl for a while before showing you the walking short cut and that helps! Related, this book starts with only the core/basic modules, while others I've read jump immediately into some modules to make your life easy, but this approach leaves me with a feeling that there's more "magic" to django than the more basic approach followed here. For example, he goes through the first 6 chapters before he starts using templates, he instead puts all the normal template code in the view. So you learn a lot about the "model" and the "view" part all by themselves instead of learning all 3 parts simultaneously.

So... I wish they'd discount the book because of these errors. But it's good. Find it in a library if you can or maybe used to get that discount, but if you can tolerate those errors it's a good intro to Django.

OK, but only if you can survive the multitude of errors
I'm an expert PHP programmer and have worked quite a lot with the CakePHP MVC framework, so going into this book I was already familiar with how web frameworks generally operated.That said, I don't know if I would have survived learning Django with this book if I had started from scratch.

The book is *almost* correct.The problem is, if you've ever read a tutorial-style programming book, *almost* correct is nowhere near good enough.Even through the first few chapters, I've had to consult the official Django site multiple times to identify how to fix the author's code mistakes.Several of the examples, unedited, will not even get through Django's internal validation.There are various issues with the writing as well; listings of files will be incomplete at times, requiring you to go back to identify what parts are missing before your example site will run correctly.

I can only conclude that there was zero editing involved in this book.The least the author could have done was to have someone simply go through the book, type out the examples as written, and simply *made sure they worked*.Alas, they must have been rushed or something.

There is good stuff here as well, don't get me wrong; if this book were edited, it would be a pretty decent and quick overview of the Django framework.Unfortunately, fixing the errors alone may increase this read beyond the 24 hours promised.Developers wanting to learn Django may be better off with the official Django Book, which is available in both print and free online.

Skip it
For a "how to" book this title is filled with errors. Examples are incorrect, parameters are misspelled and the instructions are not correct for the current stable release of Django (1.0.3).

Complete waste of money. Perhaps back in 2008 when it was written it was better, but still there were errors that can't be explained by the version alone.

Skip this one.

Too many errors
I would have given this book 4 stars if there had only been one or two errors.However, there are so many errors that it breaks your concentration on learning the Django framework.There are so many errors that I had to dock it 2 stars!

If you don't mind the examples being broken in just about every chapter, this book is worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description

Dreamweaver is Macromedia¿s sophisticated and powerful tool for professional Web site design and production.It is used for everything from designing home pages to full-scale commercial Web sites, and is widely acclaimed as the best, most popular Web authoring tool for professional Web developers and designers.

Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver MX in 24 Hours is tailored specifically for the reader who wants to fully exploit the power of a tool like Dreamweaver.The book does not dwell on Web publishing basics, but focuses more on how to use Dreamweaver to: Quickly build a dynamic Web site; Employ client-side image maps and interactive forms on a site; Design site layout with frames and tables; Add interactivity with CGI scripts, PHP, JavaScript, applets, and controls; Add audio, video, and other active content.

Customer Reviews (5)

disappointed
my copy was the e-copy which I downloaded. The document is not printable....not sure why. That as a whole ruined any positive opinion i had from this book. If you think about it....it's more able to be pirated as an e-book than a printable pdf!! Go Figure!!

Book good - type of book bad
The content of the book is great. Be worned: if you download an e-book, you cannot read it on another computer other than the one you download it on. So lets hope you finish reading it before you change computers.

AMAZING BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATE DESIGNERS REFERENCE
Well I am half way through the book, and already they have covered almost everything I thought I'd need to know. Turns out this book is a lifetime resource for dreamweaver. Sleep with it at your side, make love to it because it will make you extremely happy in almost no time at all!!

Great Introduction to Dreamweaver MX 2004
Excellent book that gives its readers a basic primer of Dreamweaver MX 2004.Easy to read with examples throughout the book.At times, examples seem confusing to follow.Would have loved to see a more structured approach to the examples.Overall, great value which should give you a "bigger appetite" to learn more.

All you need to know and more!
I bought this book because I usually like the "Sams Teach Yourself..." books and I wasn't disappointed. The examples are interesting and there are a lot of tips and tricks. This book gets you started from Novice to Professional pretty quickly. I love Dreamweaver! ... Read more

Product Description
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something – and skip the long-winded explanations?

If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 100 Flash MX 2004 tasks, from incorporating text and creating animations to working with layers and masks, adding Flash actions, and distributing Flash movies.

"This is an excellent book. Thank you for making it so clear. I will buy many more Visual books."
– J.P. Sangdong
(North York, Ontario, Canada)

"I enthusiastically endorse this book for what it taught me, and for its great price value."
– Christopher Carneal
(Tiverton, RI)

• "Teach Yourself VISUALLY" sidebars offer practical tips and tricks
• Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

Customer Reviews (5)

Does an OK job but there has got to be something better!
I have been using this book for almost 2 months to teach myself Flash programming.I do think the book is very good at making things simple and easy to understand but sometimes it's "too easy."I think those that are learning flash programming are already going to have some experience with using computers, so some of the stuff that this book explains is unnecessary. Also, there are no source files so sometimes I would like to follow the directions in the book to do something but I don't have any basic source files to do any of the things the book describes...so I think this book is only good for introducing the program.I need to get another book that actually has a more "recipe" like structure so that I can follow along and do as the book instructs but with source files.

Best Beginner Books Out There
Teach Yourself VISUALLY books overall are my favorite books to get when I am just starting out on a new program. Everything is so basic, clear, and easy to understand, the way they show it. Highly reccomended to all beginners.

Great learning guide.
I'm a visual person. This is the perfect book for someone like me. Short on unnecessaary copy, long on simple to understand pictures and guides. I would highly recommend this book or any of the "Teach yourself Visually" books.

FLASH-y book, Pretty pictures,sparce technical explanation
I am a beginning Flash student and bought this book to compliment my classes at school.

I was initially attracted to this book due the abundant screenshots and arrowed-pointed annotations. However, very often, the technical writing is extremely sparse, basically giving one no more information than what a contextual menu would pop-up in an application's glossary section. The technical writings are no more than blurbs, and often times one really needed to study the screenshots to understand what the blurb was addressing.

The book wastes a alot of pages on some very rudimentry sections on basic Windows 101 practices such as: Opening and saving files, changes colors of the text, and text manipulation. The first 100 pages were basically review and intuitive for anyone with a fundamental computer background; thus making the first one-third of book pretty much a waste.

Speaking of waste, there was a cutesy-picture at the start or each section that might have been more efficently used for technical information or a section objective rather than a cute graphic.

In addition, there are no practices files on a cd or a website to acquire the media assests. I would have to create my own graphics to do the exercises. Thus, my outcomes never looked like the finished exercises in the book. Two-thirds of the way into this book, I was shopping for another Flash MX 2004 book to replace this sad, boring book.

This book is okay for a quick bookshelf reference but do yourself a favor and save your $30.00 for a more substantial technical manual.

excellent book for beginners
This book taught me Flash MX 2004 very efficiently and quickly. Unlike other books it does not give tedious explanations that tend to tire and confuse the reader. It shows you precisely where and what to do. The illustrations are beautiful and direct, which is absolutely helpful for Flash graphics. This is also a well structured book so you can easily find the topics you want when you need a quick reference. If you want to learn Flash quickly and enjoy it while learning, buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
The online world is such a visual place, what better way to learn about it than visually? That's just what you can do with Teach Yourself the Internet and World Wide Web VISUALLY, 2nd Edition. Full of educational illustrations and concise, practical information, this book helps you get connected and stay connected. Educate yourself on modems and high-speed connections, Web browsers, and high-tech video, sound and plug-in's that are integral tools for many Web sites.

The uses and applications of the Internet and World Wide Web in daily life at home and on the job are limitless, and with this book you start to see the possibilities. Begin by setting up an e-mail account and dissecting the parts of an e-mail message. Explore diverse Web sites that touch on everything from e-commerce, hobbies and academics to news, weather and entertainment. It even includes a guide to creating your own Web pages. Finally, uncover interactive Web features such as newsgroups, chat rooms and multi-player games.

Full-color graphics, an easy-to-follow page layout and concise explanations make Teach Yourself the Internet and World Wide Web VISUALLY, 2nd Edition an indispensable tool for anyone wanting to explore the Internet for use in their own lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Teach Yourself Visually The Internet and World Wide Web
I can't very well review an item I never got. You sent me a message saying this item was no longer available and I would not be charged for IT. Nor do I want it anymore. I got something else from a different source. Please check your records to be sure I wasn't charged for this item.

The Easy way to Learn!
This book was great because I am new to the 'internet world'.The visual format of the book allowed easy interpretation of all of the information.I highly recommend all of these books - I have purchased 5 more of thesebooks from IDG and marangraphics and am now becoming more comfortable withcomputers and the internet.I highly recommend their books on microsoftapplications, such as access, excel, and html.The great thing is thattheir is no flipping back between pages - all of the info is right therebefore your eyes!

Excellent book for end user
This book is an excellent overview for the end user. This book explains the general concepts of Internet and World Wide Web and yet the area they cover was very broad but not in depth. If you are confused with all generalconcepts but do not have interest to go very deep into the topics, this isdefinitely the book for you. Good visual presentation always great forunderstanding the subject. I have been using this book when explaining theInternet to non-I.T people, they love it.

Outdated
With the fast pace of the internet, this book, published in 1997, is woefully outdated.I accidentally purchased it thinking I was getting the October 1999 version of the series.

Visual Series-Teach Yourself Internet & World Wide Web
This is an extremely helpful book for anyone that is just starting working on the computer and internet as well as an experienced person.

I have found the book helpful in teaching the internet to others.Many times we forget to inform the new learner of the information that is so basic to us.

This book takes them through a complete process.They build thoughtupon thought.For people who are visual learners, the pictures on thepages are very refreshing to see that one is actually getting the rightresults from following the written instructions.

I have been workingwith the internet for years and still refer people back to the VisualSeries as the best value for their money. ... Read more

Product Description

Build standards-based Web sites with Expression Web: a step-by-step tutorial that helps you do it right the first time

Expression Web 4 offers a fundamentally different, more powerful approach to web authoring. To make the most of it, both beginners and seasoned web professionals will benefit from a thorough, simple introduction that covers both the programs program's features and its new workflows. Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web 4 in 24 Hours is that book. In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, it will help readers gain true mastery, so they can build state-of-the-art standards-based Web sites and applications with far less work. In this book's straightforward approach, each lesson builds on everything that's come before, helping readers learn all of Expression Web 4's core features from the ground up - including breakthrough features like Dynamic Web Templates and SuperPreview. Friendly, accessible, and conversational, it takes readers from concept through delivery, teaching powerful techniques for designing, constructing, and even re-designing web sites for easier management and repurposing. By the time they're finished with these lessons, readers won't just understand Expression Web 4: they'll be comfortable using it in real-world projects.

Customer Reviews (29)

already found a mistake!
This is the very first time I have written a review of any product I have received from Amazon. I am only FIVE pages into the first chapter and have already found a glaring error.This book may turn out to be wonderful, but I can't excuse such an obvious error so early in the text.

comprehensive and easy to follow instructions
Now, I haven't been able to get very far, but, so far, I really like the friendliness of the writing. The explanations so that I can connect what is happening. I purchased a couple of other books and have found this one to be the best for a newbie.

I really like that there are free online classes/files that can be downloaded to help with each session, that's really great.

Gave Up on Expressions Web and Go to a WordPress Template
Though I leared a great deal about CSS and other techniques, I found the directions in the book hard to follow and, at times, they did not work due to apparent errors.The directions on creating drop-down menus using CSS were horrible.Part of the problem is that the program has its issues as well.

I chose MS Expression Web 3 because Adobe GoLive is far beyond my capabilities.Maybe Dreamweaver is a better option.What I do know is that, with WordPress, I now have a site.

I truly regret buying MS Expressions Web 3 as well as wasting the money on this book--let alone the time in trying to interpret its directions.

The writers and editors need to test usability of the book far more for the next edition.There needs to be a logical step-by-step set of directions to create an entire site.The book jumps around like crazy making the situation even more frustrating.

Cohesive And On Target
The most important thing I look for in an instructional book is the step by step process - how do the lessons flow and fit together? Are they written in a way that a novice could find value and an expert would not be insulted? I was not disappointed with this book. Expression Web 3 is a very complicated program with so many parts that at first glance it can seem overwhelming and beyond a practical reach. But when you have an author that can simplify the complexity in a coherent manner then you have hit the jackpot. I highly recommend this book. But let me be clear about one thing. To become adept and competent in any comprehensive program requires effort. But with this book you already will have a solid head-start.

Skip to the chapter on CSS
First - watch the tutorial videos at [...] before you buy this or any other books on WE. The thrust of it deals with working tables in CSS, but the author walks you thru the simple steps of creating your first CSS. And it is simple.

Because your CSS is the foundation on which you build your site, start with that chapter and do your best to understand it before you try anything else in the book. To help, think of a CSS as little more than a glorified cheat sheet. Because that's what it is. It names and describes every style you create in your site in a simple list. Say that most of your text is 10 pt Arial in maroon, centered, with 9 px margins. And say you name it ".text" in your CSS. So, whenever you have any paragraph or even one line that you want to look like that, mouse over and click on .text in EW's style panel, and that para is then tagged (labeled) ".text".

When viewer's browsers open your site, they speedily read your CSS into cache and already know what to do when they see the .text tag on any of your pages. Without a CSS, every page of your site has to repeat every style used for browsers to re-read with every page. The benefit to you is that making changes to styles is easy: simply modify and save the style, and everything tagged with that style is changed in your entire site.

As I read thru the first several chapters of the book, I rebuilt my wife's 76-page FrontPage site, learning as I did and doing as I learned. I figured that I could later make a CSS. Wrong. Very wrong! I took the book's lesson too literally and used inline styles. I ended up rebuilding the site from scratch again, but with styles and a CSS.

Second - this is not a reference book. Where I am constantly disappointed in software books is their failure to explain/describe the many, many choices we face in dialog boxes. The most important is, of course, the New Style box (found in the Styles pane). I spent hours experimenting with different combinations of style settings and online looking for explanations of how to best select the many choices. The book's index is not short, but it's not inclusive, either; you will not find all the terms listed in the index. Plan on spending a few hours online.

If you don't use a CSS, at least use styles. When I didn't assign unique styles when I rebuilt my wife's site the first time, I had almost 15,000 compatibility errors using WE's compatibility checker. I just finished rebuilding the site again but used styles in a CSS, and I'm down to 3115 errors; most of which are PayPal's coding errors.

Be sure to see the tutorial part where the author shows how to move styles into a CSS; it's jaw-droppingly easy. ... Read more

Product Description
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something - and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you'll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 150 Adobe Acrobat 5 tasks, from creating PDF files, comments, search indexes, and forms to working with Acrobat Distiller, links, JavaScript, and document security tools.
"I write to extend my thanks and appreciation for your books. They are clear, easy to follow, and straight to the point. I will always buy your books because they are the best."
- Seward Kollie
(Dakar, Senegal)
"Your books are extraordinary! I buy them for friends, family, and colleagues."
- Christine J. Manfrin
(Castle Rock, CO)
* "Teach Yourself" sidebars offer practical tips and tricks
* Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task
* Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
* Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Learning Acrobat 5 PDF
If you have a project underway and need to learn Acrobat PDF in a hurry, Teach Yourself Visually is the only way to go.
It's clear, concise, and easy to use.No plowing through pages and pages of confusing text.Within less than 15 minutes of getting the book, I was using Acrobat to create the medical forms we needed. ... Read more

Product Description

Since its introduction in 1996, Macromedia Flash has become the standard for delivering high impact, vector-based graphics to the Web.Flash is deceptively simple at first, yet has great depth and flexibility.

Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash MX in 24 Hours offers a clearly written, well-organized introduction to this powerful product, and gives the beginner an overview of the entire package, without becoming too overwhelming.

Customer Reviews (41)

Strangefruit
I own THREE other Flash books AND took a 2 Day course a year ago, and this book has taught me more than all the others combined in my first day of use. Well written, easy to follow, the lessons are in a LOGICAL order that make sense to someone who does not know Flash.Terrific book if you need to learn Flash. I wish I had found it before I wasted time and money on the other books and the course!You won't waste your money with this one. I wish Adobe would hire this guy...he understands Flash and knows how to explain it.

Sam's in the classroom
Hi, I'm using this textbook in a classroom with some Grade 10 students, and to teach myself Flash as well. I find the book good over all, but some of the exercises have been difficult.The instructions don't work as written sometimes, and I have to 'feel around' the program to figure out what I'm supposed to do to get the expected result. I'm not sure if that's because I'm not understanding things clearly, or if I have a slightly different version of Flash. The book is for Flash MX 2004 and I have Flash MX 2004 professional. I don't know if that would make a difference. The book is a comprehensive introduction broken into manageable lessons. The kids find the exercises fairly manageable, but the lessons in between the exercises are written at a bit of a high reading level for them.

Great launching pad...
Kerman pretty much hit it on the head for me to get started authoring computer-based training in Flash.He explains things concisely and succinctly.

Pretty much a "to the point" kind of tutorial book.Although, it would have been nice to have a companion CD, Kerman has placed many of the excercises on a website for book owners.He has also been extremely accessible.

Pretty Good until you get to the actionscripting part
I was going through this book fairly well untilllllllllll.......... I came to the actionscripting chapters. Some work fine but I kept coming to exercises where I kept saying what the *#&^ am I doing wrong! I thought the big problem was I has flash mx instead of flash mx 2004, I guess I was wrong. As I read the other users reviews I discovered there are a lot of errors. I would have recommended this book but not anymore. Don't get this book unless you want to use it as a target from frustration.

Oh and you cannot get the downloads to work.

Good if you get it from the local Library for free
Useful book, but not ereror checked thoroughly and not consistent and clear in its presentation.Books dealing with action script and code must be concise and thoroughly tested.This book was not. Glad I didn't pay for it. ... Read more

Product Description

Building on an overview of the basic architecture of the .Net framework, Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hoursguides the reader through ASP.NET's basic structure, function and working syntax (data types, operators, functions, web forms etc). The unique approach exposes and explains Visual Basic.NET examples. Then, the programmer is walked through the creation of a sample ASP.NET application. Finally, concise explanations of data manipulation, security, deployment, and even profiling/optimization are introduced.

Customer Reviews (9)

Too much fluff
This book has NO ANSWERS...well, at least not for any questions of substance. The Sams 24 Hours series is a major disappointment...just TOO superficial of a treatment of the real functionality required to create something.

I strongly suggest the Sams 21 Days series instead. A much better introduction and explanation of the necessary material

ASP.NET - The Hard Way
What's the difference between ASP and ASP.NET?According to this book, it's just syntax.There are lots of code samples here but the book has you entering most of it by hand.What you, the developer, need to learn is how to cooperate with the .NET IDE to create ASP.NET applications - you won't learn enough of that here.

Furthermore, subjects like SSL, Trace Debugging, E-mail functionality and File Streaming come too early in the course while database access comes in too late.

There is some useful information on setting up the web environment, registering an SSL Certificate, working with XML and there's a whole chapter on File Streaming.But overall, it's not a bargain - even from the bargain rack.

Note:This is not the same book as that by the same title but authored by Scott Mitchell.

Great Information but Poor Production
I really enjoyed this book. It contained the basics of just about everything a beginner would want to know about .NET. Server controls, security, ADO.NET, web services, stored procedures, and more are all included, but be warned! Many of the typos will have you scratching your head, and the lack of information on configuration may leave you digging.

For example, when they teach you about web services, they have you build a consumer for your web method and they say it's as simple as clicking a link to the local server in a web reference dialog. The problem? The link they mention apparently didn't make it to the release version, and in order to dynamically detect web services on your server (which is required for the lesson), you need to add a verb to a handler in the web.config file!

In addition, almost every example has typos, most relating to a flagrant disregard for letter case.

My other gripes are that the examples were VB.NET only not C# (though anyone with a basic understanding of VB and C# can easily convert most examples). The book also lacks important detail, but what can you expect with an introductory text?

Despite the downsides, this book is everything I could hope for in an introductory ASP.NET text. It got ME up to speed quickly, and if you're willing to look up details and server configurations on the web or VS.NET documentation, then this book will suit you just fine.

Good Beginner Intro
This book has a few typos but if you can overlook those it is full of excellent examples for a beginner learning how to use ASP.Net.

I liked it because the examples are complete, while there are at times better ways to do many of the processes that are featured the examples are written in a manner that assures you grasp the concept behind the process.For example on Web Form Server controls it shows the progression of converting an HTML form to a server controlled form handling the button click in the code behind then it goes on to show you how you would dynamically create that form with tr, td objects in the code behind.

The book covers a lot of beginner information...server controls, validation, security, reading and writing text & binary files, email, debugging... pretty much all of the stuff you would use in a real world implementation of a conversion to ASP.Net.It even covers installation of a security certificate (which is not ASP.Net specific but very handy for beginners nonetheless).

I think it is a very comprehensive beginners book and should be considered for anyone just starting out in ASP.Net.The book also gives some good information on getting your Visual Studio.Net set up and all of the examples are stepped through with the assumption that you are using VSNet for development.

My favorite book is the ASP.NET Unleashed so I suggest you consider them both as you will work your way through this book quickly...

Too many Typos and Errors to learn ASP.NET
I am totally disappointed in this book.I was very anxious to learn ASP.NET and I wanted to find an inexpensive book to help me get started, but the only thing this book did was frustrate me with horrible examples.Almost every single example in the book contained an error.Very disappointing. ... Read more

Product Description

While most other ColdFusion books - as well as Macromedia's product documentation - play largely to those who've honed their programming concepts elsewhere, Sams Teach Yourself ColdFusion in 21 Days taps the vast market of static-page designers who are ready to take their sites to the next level.Drawing on the success of his popular ColdFusion tutorial on Wired's Webmonkey site, author Charles Mohnike provides readers with a fundamental understanding of how ColdFusion works, and then guides them through the use of ColdFusion to create their own applications quickly and easily.ColdFusion's upcoming release capitalizes on the macromedia partnership by adding direct support for Flash, allowing developers to add dynamic content and database interactivity to their animations.In addition, the new version of ColdFusion anticipates the growing demand for Web services by increasing its integration with technologies such as XML and SOAP.

Customer Reviews (27)

Truly a classic text and a MUST HAVE
Charles Mohnike has not only created the best possible text for learning Coldfusion MX, but I believe he has truly created a classic text that stands above all others in the IT industry.

I used his book to learn Coldfusion, and continually refer to it as I try to solve problems.

Charles has the unique insight to include just about everything a programmer would need to know to move from a novice to intermediate Coldfusion programmer.

Charles also presents his work with cheeky good humor that really expresses the humor and culture of the web world (we are pretty whacked, generally speaking).

If you are learning Coldfusion, or need a general referral text, this is the book.

We can only hope that Charles will write an advanced Coldfusion tutorial one day to follow up on this monumental text.

Good Book For Newbies
This is a great book for ColdFusion newbies and web development beginners in general.While covering most of the important ColdFusion topics, this book is primarily for beginners (eg in one chapter it explains the concept of 'view source') so if you're after anything more than the basics, it's best that you look elsewhere.That said, the book does an excellent job of introducing the reader to ColdFusion and, if tested, would probably meet its goal of enabling a completely new user to teach themselves ColdFusion 5 in 21 days (or even less). This book is well written with few (if any) errors.The tips and examples are useful, with the examples noticeably uncluttered by superfluous formatting code that often appears in these sorts of books.The Q & A section at the end of each chapter is a nice touch, and the exercises offer a good way to revise the content of the given chapter (although an accompanying CD or website containing suggested code for each exercise would be handy). Bottom line: 'Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia ColdFusion 5 in 21 Days' is a good resource for web developers wanting to learn ColdFusion 5.

Where are the Samples?
The author is quite good in explaining things, however there is no CD accompanying the book.According to the technical representative, the samples can be found at http://www.... These are samples, however for a previous version of this book and may or may not work.If you don't want to hassle with this - Don't buy the book!

Excellent book
My first exposure to ColdFusion was an expensive fast-track class. I came away from it shaking my head and wondering if I would be able to do anything with ColdFusion at all. My experience was with web design - I didn't have any database or backend experience at all. After the class, I purchased ColdFusion Studio and this book. Before my 21 days was up, I was impressing myself with what I was able to accomplish with ColdFusion. I'm looking for a book now to take me to the next step, but for a beginner this book is excellent and fun to read.

A Great Place to Start With ColdFusion
If you are new to ColdFusion, but an experienced Web developer, I can tell you from experience that you will gain a lot from this book--fast. It has the typical convenience and layout of all SAMS books, and it has all the content you need to get yourself started in scripting real, practical ColdFusion Web applications.

If you are an expert developer, you really don't need any books. You can gain all you need by looking up ColdFusion reference sites on the Internet. But then, you will find information on all the ColdFusion tags, but may not necessarily find perfect examples all on one site. If you are the type of person who wants easy, smoothly flowing reading before a nights sleep, then this book is definitely for you. It doesn't just tell you what each tag does, but it also tells you practical uses and examples. There's always the tag reference in the appendix in the back of the book.

Plus, half the time you are online you are doing things other than putting effort into learning something like ColdFusion, so by purchasing this book, you will guarantee that you'll learn something about ColdFusion. Having a physical book like this is good reference to have next to you while you are programming the back-end of site, whether it's a shopping cart, content management system, online inquiry form, etc.

I read most of this book as I found the content very valuable, and have afterwards developed a few web sites using ColdFusion. I am now feeling confident with a little more self-study, I will take the Certified ColdFusion Developer examination.

I would actually recommend that you use both this book, as well as get used to the online references of ColdFusion. Since the version of ColdFusion will always change, but the infrastructure of the technology as well as logic will remain the same. You can learn the basics from the book and tweek your understanding of various versions using online references. ... Read more

Product Description
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something — and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 150 Dreamweaver CS4 tasks. Each task-based spread covers a single technique, sure to help you get up and running on Dreamweaver CS4 in no time.

You’ll learn to:

• Design and preview a Web page
• Format text and resize images
• Build fillable Web-based forms
• Create a rollover image
• Open linked pages in new windows
• Work with cascading style sheets
• Upload pages and test your site

Each Teach Yourself VISUALLY book offers these key features:

• Helpful sidebars that offer practical tips and tricks
• Full-color screen shots that demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations that walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons that break big topics into bite-sized modules

Customer Reviews (2)

Easy to Understand
This book is definitely easy to follow and understand. Doesn't confuse you with coding and a lot of unecessary info. Great for beginners.

Confused
This would have been more helpful if it had presented the steps to creating a web site a little more linear. Too much detail about advanced topics thrown out too soon. This was bewildering to me, a complete beginner. I have given up on it for now in favor of a for the Dreamweaver For Dummies web creation book. ... Read more

Product Description

Learn the basics without weighing yourself down with huge, technical manuals

Product Description
A collection of 24 one-hour lessons on XML and XHTML programming languages. Teaches step-by-step all of the essentials of Web publishing with these languages, with each lesson building on the knowledge from the previous one. Shows how to work with Java sound, applets, and video as well. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

A book well worth buying
The book is not only well written and organized but the examples of the written HTML and the pictures of the resulting web pages give the reader a very good background in writing and reading HTML. Using an older version of this book, I was able to create and publish my own web site a few years ago before I had ever seen any HTML.I bought another one because I lost the old one.

Do not be misled by the "24 Hours" thing; if you get the book today, don't expect to be able to see a webpage you designed tomorrow. However, if you apply yourself and spend a day or so on each lesson, you will learn more HTML from this book than from any other source available.

Sams Teach Yourself books are well worth the few bucks you may want to spend to get your own copy and you will want to use the following webaddress: http://www.24hourhtmlcafe.com/ where you can copy the pictures shown in the lessons to include in your own picture library.

I would rate this book as 5 stars if the pictures were in color.

Great starting point
I didn't know any significant HTML prior to using this book. This book is a great starting point and will give anyone enough background to put up a pretty good page. I feel like I have gotten a good grasp of HTML from this book and now feel like I should branch out into Javascript to develop my pages further.

Oliver & Morrison offered good advice on what to do and what not to do when designing a webpage, and they also explained why they make those suggestions, which certainly assists in making later judgement calls on topics they don't directly address.

I would also recommend O'Reilly's HTML/XHTML book, which has come in handy in clarifying a few points. However, this book is sufficient for anyone looking to put up realatively simple pages and is easier as an introduction (and more motivating) than O'Reilly's book. That is, buy this book first and buy O'Reilly's book if you have a desire to learn more about HTML.

Great book.
I have been using a canned program to manage my company's web site, but I wasn't always able to do fine tune the pages the way I wished. So I decided to teach myself HTML. Working through this book, I was able to learn step by step how to design pages and manipulate the images and text. The book is very clear and concise and the exercises the author gives at the end of every chapter are extremely useful.

Up-To-Date Now - Thank you.
Having been out of web Development for a couple years, I needed confidence that my basic understanding was up to speed.This book HTML and XHTML in 24 hours, brought me up to date rather quickly.It provided the foundation that I needed both to build some basic web application prototypes, and to be able to begin reading more specialized books on Web Development.Specifically books on CSS.

Awesome book!
Best computer related book that I have ever read.I was somewhat familiar with HTML concepts, but never created my own web page.The lessons are organized well and are so easy to follow!They even go over applets, Active X, and JavaScript.Awesome, awesome book. ... Read more

Product Description

Learn how to fully exploit the power of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 with Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 in 24 Hours. Divided into 24 one-hour lessons, you will learn how to create webpages and how to use the latest and greatest toolset in this updated version of Macromedia Dreamweaver. Author Besty Bruce, a web applications developer and Macromedia-authorized Dreamweaver and Authorware Trainer, will show you how to build your knowledge of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and authoring websites with her carefully guided instruction. You will focus on how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver 8  to:

• Quickly build a dynamic website.
• Employ client-side image maps and interactive forms.
• Design a layout with frames and tables.
• Add interactivity with scripts and controls.
• Add audio, video, and other active content.

Customer Reviews (7)

Dreamweaver is not easy
As a long time designer, teacher and user of Adobe software such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroomet al. and having some experience with html coding, I thought Dreamweaver 8 would be fairly intuitive and quick to grasp.I was quite wrong!So I bought two books--Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 in 24 hours and Dreamweaver 8 The Missing Manual.First, as you may be well aware, Dreamweaver was purchased from Macromedia and incorporated into the Adobe software line fairly recently.Adobe has incorporated some of the desktop look and feel of their other products into Dreamweaver 8 but the program is not that intuitive for a new user.The book, that is the subject of this review, helps some but is dense reading.It is set up as a series of one hour lessons and this format makes it hard to skip around and find out how to handle a specific problem you may wish to address.The Missing Manual book is somewhat more thorough (and almost 400 pages longer) in covering the intricacies of Dreamweaver but is no less dense.If you are looking for a "How do I design a web page?" book, you may find these books overly technical and without many easy to understand screen shots.The screen shots in Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 in 24 hours are all B&W (same in The Missing Manual) and the details are small.Both arebooks better suited for fairly advanced users.

Good product
I am a novice at Websites but this book gave me the ability to work through and get a site done. I felt it was very straight forward and easy to read.

The Author Should had come with book
This was an easy book to pick up and read plus also pick up and understand. I basically tought myself Dreamweaver. The program without the book I would be impossible to learn. I just wished an instructor came with the book because I am a person who learns easier when visually instructed. Other thatthat excellent product

A great start !
Of important note:The back of the book states that its a BEGINNER level book.This means that if you're an experienced web designer looking for DREAMWEAVER'S missing manual to guide you through its more advanced features, the book will be a disappointement. On the other hand, if you're new to DREAMWEAVER, CSS as well as the quirks of how to lay out a web page using the program on a very basic level, the book is definitely a painless and user friendly read.Betsy Bruce's writing style is very nice... flows nicely, easy to follow and will head you off in the write direction. Then, after that you can deal with the NO printed manual problem (grrrrrrrrrr...)

Another Good Sams
Sams again turns out a great home manual for working with a complex product. ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours Complete Starte Kit provides the unbeatable combination of well-known author and prgrammer Scott Mitchell and Sams' best-selling series.This book teaches non-programmers how to utilize the powerful built-in ASP.NET controls while using the free Web authoring toold created by Microsoft--Web Matrix.The barrier to entry for this book is very low.Readers need only have Windows 2000 (Professional) or Windows XP.All the other necessary tools are provided on the accompanying CD.

Customer Reviews (18)

Too much repetition, too little meat
In short, the material covered in this book could have been thoroughly explained in 8 hours or less -- not 24.The author continuously repeats himself (e.g. tells you how to create a new file repeatedly).So, the real message becomes hidden within the repetitious rambling.Entire chapters are spent on covering just one or two insignificant topics.As other reviewers posted, the author states "that is out of scope for this book" way too often.The writing style is a bit monotonous -- needs a bit more enthusiasm.Examples are VERY poor in the few times they are provided.The author makes it seem as if Web Matrix is the industry-standard tool to use when coding ASP.NET, when in reality, it isn't.As another reviewer stated it, you will definitely know how to click and drag objects onto the page -- but not really code.Overall, I think this book could have been much, much slimmer and be labeled "Teach Yourself ASP.NET with Web Matrix in 10 Minutes".It has the content of the "10 minute" series.I give it 2 stars because although it doesn't teach much, it does teach some.I will buy other SAMS "Teach Yourself" books because I think they are good in general, but I won't buy anything else from this author.

Useful, But Where's The Rest...?
As you can see from my rating, I'm not offset by this book. I would recommend it, but only to circumstantial needs. This book is written with great style, and an interesting mannerism. I guess that's what you get with an author that happens to be younger than the majority of the projected audience. The information contained is helpful, but seems like the author directs you more towards his free website, rather than show you an example in the book you've just purchased. It's almost a slap in the face if you think about it. I felt like I've paid for something he's giving away to everyone else.

Personally, I've been a web, and application programmer for about ten years. I have learned many languages, but felt a little uneasy about learning ASP.NET. Not only did I not want to have to run an SQL server, I didn't want to deal with the aspects of online checkout. I recently accepted a job where it was a prerequisite to have ASP.NET background, so I bought this 24-Hour guide to jumpstart myself into the world of Active Server Pages.

This book really did show me that there was nothing to worry about. Although reading this book is almost like a rollercoaster ride. He jumps around so much, you don't know wether you're going up or down. One second he's talking about VBscript, then about aesthetic properties, then he's talking about how everything you need to know is beyond the scope of this book, and you should really buy his other ones. Then goes on to explain how to install the SQL server (In Hour 13. More than halfway through the book, and you can now run the software needed to make your pages work). After I setup my SQL server and started making sucessful, and almost-useful database retreival pages, I realized that the book ended there. It started harping on un-needed aesthetic properties of dropdown menus, and listboxes (I guess that's what you get with such a young author). The DataGrid properties were very helpful, and useful to use when "dolling up" your website, but if you've got an IQ of over 40, you could probably figure out that the same properties apply in the same way to all of the web controls, and the readers might know how to use a Repeater control.

The most important web control in the arsenal of an ASP.NET programmer is the Repeater control. This book has one statement regarding the Repeater control, claiming it to be (and I quote), "Beyond the scope of this book." I think there are more mentions to the phrase, "Beyond the scope of this book," than explanations of imperative web controls.

I would recommend that you check out the free website located at http://4guysfromrolla.com before buying the book. There are more examples at the site than in the book, as well as full programming example codes (which by the way are not explained in the book).

The programmer that plans on using a text-based editor to create ASP.NET pages should not buy this book. Anyone with very little programming comprehension, or any beginner that knows nothing about pre-existing web languages may enjoy this book. For a 14 year-old beginner of HTML, this would be a very fun book, I'm sure.

Misleading and mistakes everywhere
I would not recommend this book to anyone, as it ignores the fact that there are other tools on the market, and keep telling people that you have to input HTML codes manually.There are also so many mistakes in the book that make the reading difficult. Even if I have been following his instructions on the exercices closely, some times the resulting web pages won't run at all.

Great Book For Beginners
The book is great and very simple even simpler than the Dummies book, It helps in building a solid knowledge in the .Net framework. Their use of WebMatrix was a good idea because it's very easy to be used and it's FREE. Really the book was great I liked it and I encourage you to buy it today. I have some comments on the book but it's nothing really.

24 Hours is too fast!
I got this book becuase I just want to know how to simply connect to a database in ASP.NET.This book failed for that purpose.Rather than explaining things step by step, this book does a "quickie" job trying to explain complicated procedures in a few short paragraphs.The topics are so condensed, it is almost like reading a college student's notes for class.It does not give enough detail or examples to get you started writing high powered applications in ASP.NET. ... Read more