Press Release
July 13, 2001
Dreamweaver Missing Manual
Sebastopol, CA--As the Web's popularity continues to soar, so does that
of Macromedia Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver deploys a rich, well-designed,
WYSIWYG environment for building cross-platform, cross-browser web
sites; but unlike most visual editors, it doesn't clutter up the
underlying HTML code by inserting unnecessary tags that make large web
sites difficult to manage. "One thing I try to do in my new book," says
David McFarland, author of the just released
Dreamweaver 4: The
Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US $29.95), "is to bridge the gap between
what you want and what HTML offers. Dreamweaver 4 has made huge leaps
forward in this regard, too. It has powerful tools for creating
professional-looking sites; tools that don't produce sloppy or bulky
HTML. Once you get an understanding of how you can use HTML and
Dreamweaver to get the look you want, your designs become much more
sophisticated."
Dreamweaver is a favorite of multimedia designers, thanks to its smooth
integration with other Macromedia applications like Flash and
Shockwave. The new, more sophisticated Version 4 incorporates the
latest developments in browser technologies--and the best way to get
the full advantage of these improved features is with
Dreamweaver 4:
The Missing Manual the ideal companion to this complex software. Under
the guidance of Missing Manual Series editor David Pogue, author Dave
McFarland brings Dreamweaver 4 to life with clarity, authority, and
good humor.
"I think people often underestimate the extreme productivity boost
Dreamweaver brings to the Web development process," says McFarland "And
Dreamweaver's site management abilities can save you literally days of
work when you need to reorganize the files in your site. Best of all,
if Dreamweaver doesn't do what you need, you can write your own
extensions."
After orienting you with an anatomical tour of a web page, McFarland's
book walks you through the entire process of creating and designing a
complete web site. Along the way, a unique "live examples" approach
lets you see and test, on the actual Internet, real web pages that
follow the development progress of the book's chapters. Armed with this
book, both first-time and experienced web designers can easily use
Dreamweaver to bring stunning, interactive web sites to life.
"Dreamweaver is a little unusual for this series, because the retail
version of the program actually does come with a printed manual (the
online version doesn't)," says David Pogue, the creator of the Missing
Manual Series. "But it doesn't go into nearly the depth of David's
book, lacks the sneaky bug workarounds, and doesn't have any jokes at
all."
"Don't get me wrong--the Dreamweaver manual that comes with the product
has a lot of information in it," McFarland explains."But Dreamweaver
has always assumed a rather knowledgeable user. Now, however, more
people are turning to Web design and using Dreamweaver as the first or
ONLY tool they use for building sites. What I've done is bring my
experience of teaching the program and my experience of using the
program for my clients to help present Dreamweaver's many powerful
features in a way that's easy to understand. I've also tried to put the
program into the context of a real-world Web development process. The
problem most manuals make is they explain in detail how to use a
feature of a program but rarely why or when you'd use it. Just because
a piece of software has some nifty new widget doesn't mean that you
should use it. Often new features are added to software because the
engineers can, not because the users want them. A good computer book
should be an advocate for the reader, guiding him or her through the
program, pointing out the useful bits, and the less-than-useful
bits. (Besides that, my book shows some fun Easter Eggs hidden away in
Dreamweaver 4.)"
Online Resources:
Dreamweaver 4:
The Missing Manual
By Dave McFarland
July 2001
0-596-00097-9, 480 pages, $24.95
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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