Darwin Jay |
04/12/2010
1st off I have to say that I am surprised @ the overwhelming praise that people have given this book, being that you are sure to find loads of typos, mismatched diagrams, and (at times) disjointed procedures in some of the tutorials. Did these people even read the majority of this book as I have been doing for the past month? Or are they just professionals that need a snippet of information? I'll be honest here. I have about 40 pages to go until I finish it, but have become so completely frustrated with a particular example, and the fact that I've been submitting Errata on this book to the point where I feel the author should pay me for being a freelance editor (check out the errata and "unconfirmed errata". My name's there.) that I had to come out and say something. Don't get me wrong. Overall this is a good book for newbies like myself. I am a self teaching aspiring web designer (totally new to DW let alone DW 5) that has read about 7 books on html, css, php5 & Mysql, and Photoshop 5 (just for the record). I am of average intelligence. That being said, this book is not hard to follow, nor are the tutorials particularly hard to implement or understand - except when the end result does not mirror what is displayed in the book after you follow the instructions down to a T.
I give this Book just 2 stars not because the book is a bad one so to speak, but more-so that you get the feeling it was published in a hurry. A typo or other error after every 10 pages for a book that has over 1000 is a little much. It starts off well written until you get to the 5 or 600's, then its typo galore to the point where you ask yourself if this guy actually hired an editor at all. Every now and then you get a sentence where allthelettersareputogetherlikethis. Most of the examples work, but when you get into the dynamic website tutorials towards the end....lets just say that there is a few CHAPTERS (24 and 25 for sure) of mismatched diagrams to say the least. So I am not sure if the examples are malfunctioning because of erroneous steps or if it's just me. The author still hasn't responded to my question. The feedback isn't really all that hot either.
On a positive note I will say the author doesanexcellentjobexplaining (yes I did that on purpose as a joke) what everything is and how it works (the basics that is). He makes it fun to read, and everything user friendly for the most part. He also provides a plethora of resources to use on various topics that you might need in the web development world. In this area I feel he went out of his way to help, which is good. I am not sure if I would buy another book by this guy. I like his style and attention to detail....but the typos and errata are driving me crazy. Overall. I still feel torn over whether this book is worth what I paid for it.
(2 Votes)
