Adobe Creative Suite All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies 1st Edition

I got this book originally for the Acrobat chapters, but also knowing that I was ready to dive into Photoshop and Illustrator. This book has been a godsend! It has a permanent place on my desk for quick reference. Thanks Double Jens for taking the time to share your expertise with us "dummies"! Your book has made learning these tools very easy. I love your writing style and your ability to explain the differences of all the various settings and how to use the tools. Now I'm on my way to being a designer to compliment my developer side! Selecting Five Stars was an easy choice! Thanks!

It's OK

I mainly bought this book to learn how to use GoLive. I thought everything was going fine until I tried to upload my site. First of all they left out the small detail that all your files should be saved in the Web Contents folder. Then when I clicked on the site icon, the icon which was supposed to be in that menu, didn't exist! The screen which they said you got when you clicked on this non-existent icon turned out to be the preference panal, the thing which should have been there, wasn't... etc, etc. It was like the last chapter was written for a different program! Finally, by accident I found in the drop down menu a way to upload the site. However, the only way to do that was to manually drag the contents from my hard disk folder to the upload menu and to put them in the web contents file. Everything worked, except all those photoshop files I had in the Pictures folder couldn't be transfered, so now over half my site has little blue and white questions all over it... Great going! The paper is even too rough for toilet paper. Maybe on a cold night when the power fails I will have something to burn....

I haven't always found the "For Dummies" books to be extremely helpful in the realm of software guides. This book, however, proved to surpass my expectations.The language style was very beginner-friendly. The order of presentation of the programs and features in the CS suite made sense. The index was highly inclusive and helpful.This book is geared toward someone totally new to the Adobe programs. It's a step-by-step approach to familiarizing the reader to the basics of the Suite's features and helping the reader recognize when the different programs can be used in conjunction with one-another for effective results. I would not recommend it for people who already have experience with Adobe Programs and wish to brush up on the new features in CS, but for beginners to Adobe it's a comfortable place to get your feet wet.

As a graphic designer with a working knowledge of these programs, I should have known the questions I'd have would be a bit more in depth than an all-in-one book would cover. This book consistently let me down, sometimes not even covering topics I needed to know more about (H&J settings, layer questions, etc.). If you're new to this software, and need to know the basics, this book would be great for you. If you're beyond the basics - try getting whole books on the programs you're using.

Worthless is the keyword here. About as clear as mud. I purchased ACS primarily for use on a website. This book could not even get me past the opening screen of the GoLive program--I had to go to a non-dummy book (Adobe Creative Suite Bible) to get that info. Don't be a dummy--spend your dollars for smarts, which isn't to be found in this book. I wish we could give zero, or negative, scores.