Others say...

"3 books on learning FrontPage 2003"
I actually bought 3 books: Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Step-by-Step, Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Inside-Out, and Que Special Edition Using FrontPage 2003.

Step-by-step is a very useful starting point, but you'll soon run out of this book. By far, the best of the 3 is Que's Using FrontPage 2003 - it is excellent! FrontPage 2003 Inside-Out is good IF you're interested in Active Server Pages.

But all in all - if you want to buy just one I recommend Que Special Edition Using FrontPage 2003. The format lets you learn by solving problems that you run into. For example, you want find out about Banners, the book not only answers your questions but gives you the background and advise on using the feature. And the author is very candid about suggesting when to use and NOT use a particular feature. The authors obviously have used the product for real-world web sites and really wanted to share their experiences and knowledge.

"Provides Only a Spefic Example Included on The CD"
Does not provide directions for "Step-by-Step" creation of your own original web site. It continously refers to the example on the included CD so you recreate that website.

Poorly written and confusing. Do not waste your money if you are trying to build a custom website.

"OK...but it needs something more"
I knew nothing about FrontPage 2003 before going through this book and now I think I know about 20% of what I need to know. Even having 28 years of experience in mainframe and PC programming experience, I am still having a problem getting my head around creating web sites. I could easily follow the exercises in this book but all I was doing is following the exercises. When I went back to try one again, I found out that I had saved the completed exercises over those provided on the CD. I had to uninstall and then re-install the CD to have the ability to re-work the exercises.

The index is seriously lacking in content. I tried to create my own web site, rather than use the ficticious ones used in the exercises, and I came up short when I tried to add links to my personal pages. I looked to the index for help and couldn't find any.

In one of the exercises I was supposed to add some photos to a web page. When I opened the folder that was supposed to contain the photos, it was empty!

All in all, the book is OK...but I will need a more in-depth book to help me complete the creation of my personal web page for my small business.

"Not a Reference for Building Your Own Site"
I bought this book to help me build my own web page. I learned how to follow their directions to build a fictional webpage. When it came time to build my own, however, I was at a loss. The exercises were easy to follow, but if your information or needs are different this book is really not of much help. I do have a nice website for their fictional company... now I need to purchase another book to build a website for my own.

"I love the tutorials practicing making a website!"
Even though I bought 2 other good books on FP 2003, I'd probably recommend this one to someone who could only purchase one book. Especially if you're like me with no prior FrontPage experience at all.

The book comes with a CD that has a fictional website on it so you can practice. You install the CD and all the files are right there for you. Just follow along in the lessons and make the changes to the Garden Company website, learning as you go.

You definitely get plenty of practice with basic commands of opening and closing sites, opening to folder view and other commands that just playing around with it myself, I couldn't remember how to do in FP2003.

I've only completed the first few lessons but found them very enjoyable and educational. I may not use all the features that are explained. I might even decide to import my current site which is already up and running into FP, just so I can have more control over it. But at least I am learning different ways to build a site with this program if I do need to start over. I like that several different methods for doing things are presented. You practice each and decide which will work best for your situation.

The lessons I've done so far are broken into digestible pieces. If you're short on time and can't complete a lesson in one sitting, just close the fictional site where it says to, mark your place and start again when you have time.

Even after I've deleted the fictional website and started a real one, I know I'll refer to this book quite often. It may not be for experts or people who know FP like the back of their hand, but it's definitely a good thing for beginners like me. I don't feel like I'll outgrow it very soon!