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Adobe Creative Suite

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BOOK REVIEWS DREAMWEAVER CS6: VISUAL QUICKSTART GUIDE REVIEW BY RIC GETTER Even if you've fallen behind by just a couple of versions, opening Dreamweaver CS6 offers more than a few surprises. Doting on developers who design web sites for devices ranging from phones to TVs, the program has been adding numerous features. Meanwhile, the program's creators have been working to keep the interface, well, at least reasonable. The bottom line is that there is a lot of added power lurking just beneath the program's surface and it sometimes takes a bit of digging to find. Even if the section listing those new features appears to be a bit abbreviated, you'll find in-depth coverage throughout Dreamweaver CS6: new features, fluid grid layouts, is almost entirely visual and tactile. This new section of the Gui Visual QuickStart Guide, framed by the series' traditional clarity. For example, one of CS6's deis copiously illustrated and walks you through the process click by click. On the other hand, adding media queries (a CSS3 specification that allows sites to display differently on different devices) requires navigating though a seeming maze of dialogs that generates the complex code required. The book steps you through each with well-chosen examples and concise explanations of the options. As always with Dreamweaver, there are many different paths you can take to your desired results. The authors, Tom Negino and Dori Smith, regularly point out the best practices to make sure your designs continue to function well. Though the QuickStart Guidetakes you all the way from first launch to managing and maintaining a sophisticated site, it would be unrealistic to say that a beginner could open the book and be an expert five-hundred pages later. Web technology has become far too sophisticated for that. However, many learners will find the feature-based approach these guides considerably more effective and rewarding than rote, step-by-step project-based tutorials in other publications. The design has the added benefit of working as a viable, ongoing reference and source of ideas. We offer a word of thanks to the authors and publisher for the continually useful Qui ckStartconcept. In this case, some credit needs to go to Creative Edge,a division of Safari Books Onlineand purveyor of titles not yet quite ready for print. In those weeks and months after a new release when there's virtually nowhere to turn for a reference, their subscribers can get a head start with access to works in progress. Dreamweaver CS6: Vi sual QuickStart Guidewill be on the shelves (physical and otherwise), by the time you read this. Thanks to our look at the "Rough Cut," we can have our recommendation of this title ready for you in print. Dreamweaver CS6: Visual QuickStart Guideby Tom Gegrino and Dori Smith; $34.99, Peachpit Press (Peachpit.com) 2012; 528 pages, ISBN: 978-0-321-82252-9 MacDirectory 37

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