Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 with PHP: Training from the Source [Paperback]

The Amazon description for this book says that "David Powers, will teach readers how to progress from designing static websites to building dynamic websites in Adobe Dreamweaver CS5." That's an ambitious goal to promise you'll go from zero dynamic experience to becoming competent building a database driven website. In addition, one assumes that you are going to learn how to do this with Dreamweaver CS5 because it's in the title! I was shocked to find only one short lesson in the book on using the easy to use, built-in, coding free Dreamweaver features for integrating a database with your website. A more appropriate title would be "A very short intro to PHP & mySQL. Using the Zend Framework with Dreamweaver CS5."

Mr. Powers gives justifiable criticism to the limited built-in database features of Dreamweaver CS5 and then abruptly changes course to showing you how to acquire, install and continue development using the Zend Framework. The majority of the book is devoted to development with the Zend Framework. Quote from the book: "The 'minimal' version of Zend Framework 1.10 consists of more than 2,700 files in nearly 500 folders, and is more than 22mb in size." Great, just what a beginner needs to tackle. I'm an experienced web developer creating my first database driven website. I've successfully used ONLY the built-in features of Dreamweaver CS5 for my client. Are these DW features limited? Sure, but they are more than sufficient for many websites.

To create a dynamic website with a database you first are going to have to become fluent in PHP and mySQL before you go any further. Mr. Powers skimps on these topics devoting only 30+ pages each to PHP and mySQL. There are hundreds of pages devoted to learning Zend Framework and how to use it with Dreamweaver. Zend Framework is massive system. You should first learn how to use Dreamweaver without ZF. It's possible you don't need anything else. If you do need more horsepower, Zend Framework is only one of several products you should consider.

Let me share and recommend the path I used to go from static website developer to an entry level builder of websites with databases:

1. Get fluent in PHP and mySQL. You're not going to be successful without this as bedrock. This can be accomplished with a single book, no prior programming experience required: Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL.

2. Learn and try out the included database features in Dreamweaver CS5. Make sure you are fluent in PHP and mySQL first. The Dreamweaver database features are of little use to you without that knowledge. Part Six of Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual has four chapters, 200+ pages with downloadable tutorials, all devoted to Dreamweaver database features and their implementation. You won't be disappointed. The author of Missing Manual clearly and repeatedly points out the limitations of the Dreamweaver database features. If you find these behaviors will limit your applications, then you can move up to Zend, Smarty Templates or other db augmentation systems based on your specific needs.

I just had my first pass at this book and must say Thank you to David Powers for a job well done! First of, he did not repeat verbatim his book on CS4 as some lazy authors would have, but instead teaches the new advantages of CS5 while giving you great lessons on zend frame work, cms and so on. The examples used are very practical and can be applied directly to your work unlike some books I have read where the examples are only of the authors imagination and you would be pressed to find a way to apply them. He puts to practice his experience with the forums he moderates and shares that experience with you. It would have taken me at least 2 years to get all the experience shared in this book. I can't believe I even offer solutions to questions in forums now, why? because I have read this book and the tips are great. Thanks for sharing your knowledge David. This book though is for intermediate users. Beginners should please buy his CS4 book first and then see this book as a continuation of that. Top it off with his CSS book and maybe his php solutions book if you want to be interested in php and then you can call yourself a web designer that knows his stuff. Intermediate users of Dreamweaver would find this book very valuable. I never knew the new features in CS5 until I used this book and boy was I glad I upgraded. Do you want to style wordpress CMS in dreamweaver, then get this book. Do you want to get interested in the Zend framework and jQuery framework, then this book is for you. Finally if you want great tips on how to use DW, then add this to his CS4 book. If this book was $200 it would still be a good buy, because just the server behaviors that you can create alone with the examples from the book is a great time saver.
If Mr Powers happen to read this review, my only request is that he should please come out with something in the line of questions and solutions in building web sites, so we can benefit from his experience with the questions and answers he always come across in the forums. Anyway, this would do for now.
Thank you
Kelly.

David Powers long ago established himself as the preeminent author on Dreamweaver and PHP, and with this release he proves once again that if you want to learn these two technologies, and just as important you want to learn how they work together, you cannot go wrong by reading his books.
I have used Dreamweaver for over a decade, since version 4, and have been using PHP for almost as long. I got this book not because I thought I could learn anything from it, but rather because I teach web design and needed to review the book to see if it would work in my classrooms. I therefore had fully intended to just scan the book to make sure it covered what I needed it to. Very quickly, however, I found myself stopping to actually read, discovering that even as well as I know these technologies, Mr. Powers still had a lot to teach me.
Not only will we be adopting this book in our program, but will be recommending it to other programs as well. This is, simply put, one of the very best Dreamweaver books ever written, and one I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who wants to take their knowledge of the web further.