Macromedia Studio MX All in One Desk Reference for Dummies

by Andy Cowitt, Damon A. Dean, Ellen Finkelstein

* Self-contained minibooks provide complete coverage of the entire Macromedia Studio MX package-Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, Fireworks MX, ColdFusion MX, and FreeHand 10 * Bonus minibooks deliver the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764517996
• ISBN13: 9780764517990
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 840 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

7 books in 1

I just bought Macromedia Studio MX 2004. Yet, all I got was a CD and a good luck. Well I could root around trying to use the product, get a book with insight on how to handle the product efficiently. There are many good books on each item in the Studio. If you buy them individually the price is almost seven times the price of this book. Then you have to compare and contrast to integrate the information. This book brings all the advantages of the other Dummies books. There are clear examples and pictures on what the screen should look like. The added plus is that this book shows how to integrate all the individual products in the studio. There s a good introduction, contents, index and tabbed pages so you can see where one sections stops and the next begins. There is no CD. However the advantage is that there no trial programs to interfere with the real product. I have tried a few of the items and I am pleased with the results.

Useful Book; A Little Too Much for Dummies

Macromedia Studio MX All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies is definately a value-packed, thick, useful book. There is good reference material and getting-started info on Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, Freehand 10, Macromedia Vlash MX, & Cold Fusion MX along with two sections on design basics and integration of studio components.As I said, with such a breadth of information the book is definately a bargain. However, that advantage is also the book's primary downfall I feel. It says 7 books in one, but if that is true it is SEVEN SHORT BOOKS. Each book is definately not the standard "For Dummies" length. This lends itself to make it 7 abridged-sized books. The adbridgement comes by removing all of the discussion on the more advanced features of the program. Unfortunately the extreme basics are also belabored. All of that means that the book will be useful to help you get started in Macromedia Studio, but after you have a little more than a few hours of experience in the software suite you will find the book increasingly useless. Because the features which a mildly seasoned user will find difficult to master are not covered, this book is not such a great value if the purchaser already has mild to moderate background experience with MX software. So with that review in mind take it or leave according to your lot. If you are new to Macromedia Studio MX and want some help for the first month or so getting up and running, this is a great resource. But if you have already pushed through the growing pains of climbing the learning curve, you may want to pass on this one for a more advanced text.

Great book for Beginners

Great for those new to Macromedia Studio. This book will teach you all the basics to get up and running in minimal time. After this book you will be ready to explore any portion of Studio MX in greater depth as you will have a good grounding in the basics. Well worth the price of admission.

Getting started...and beyond?

Yip, worth the pennies you're going to spend on it. It has a no-nonsense approach and gets you up and running in no time at all. It doesn't include the typical html-this-and-html-that intro chapters (that are included in virtually all the other web development-related books) and jumps away with the cardinals immediately.It is obviously not a topical alpha-to-omega subject matter type of book - for this buy separate titles specialising in the Macromedia component you're interested in.But if you are a hit-the-ground-running type of being, this will show you how all the Macromedia components integrate with each other and beyond. The book is definitely worth the odd 8550 square millimeters (footprint that is!) on your bookshelf. Enjoy!

Excellent Reference Book

Macromedia Studio MX for Dummies makes nearly the whole Studio Mx easy to understand.When I first purchased the book, I had virtually no experience at all with any Macromedia products. I was mainly experienced with Microsoft FrontPage and somewhat familiar with basic html.I was really impressed by the sections on Dreamweaver and Fireworks--the book made the programs so easy to work through.Literally within one hour, I had learned how to swap images, rollover text with flash, compress files with Fireworks' export wizard, hyperlink the build-in flash buttons in Dreamweaver, upload via FTP, etc...The section on FlashMX is great, but if you want to go 100% flash, you'll need to buy a more in-depth book.Within several hours, I had created a 5 page website utilizing the knowledge that I had garnered from MS MX for Dummies.I highly recommend this book for anyone that has not utilized Macromedia products before.