Reviews for GoLive CyberStudio for Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guides)

1. This is by far the worst computer book I have ever read

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, August 12nd, 1999

   It was filled from cover to cover with useless information, typeos, and omited several key operations and topics. Completely useless!

2. WHAT A BOMB!!

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, August 12nd, 1999

   The following is an excerpt taken directly from this book."3. In the Label field, GoLive Inc. with text of your own, describing the page or site the visitor will see when that item is chosen. (pp189"). It is an example of the many confusing and poorly edited instructions. In addition, there are numerous typos. And, if that isn't bad enough... there isn't any real depth to the instructions that ARE clearly written. It appears that this book was rushed to the publisher without any editor involved. I hope the 4.0 version (by the same author) VQG for GoLive shapes up!! I depend on these books which usually are quite good. This one sadly bombs!!

3. great programme, awful book

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, March 12st, 1999

   I love cyberstudio, and hoped to learn ways to use it more effectively with this book. But there's not much in the book. Mainly it consists of big screen shots of the various palettes and inspectors in the programme, usually without any explanation as to where to find them. The text is sketchy and mostly seems just to list the options in each palette. Oh, and its poorly bound, too.

   On the other hand, there aren't any other 3rd party books about cyberstudio yet.

4. It got me started just fine.

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, February 12rd, 1999

   I agree with the other reviewers in that the book lacked depth. However, as a newcomer to web design it got me started and taught me the basics that I need to know. Before CyberStudio I did layout in plain HTML (which is helpful with CyberStudio) but I was not familiar with a lot of the tools and info boxes that are common in graphics programs. A CD with some Gifs and pages would have been a nice plus.

5. Incomplete and does not fully explain mentioned features

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, January 12rd, 1999

   Manuals that accompany detailed programs like Cyberstudio are in almost all circumstances poorly organised and written, which is why some one would purchase a third party reference manual such as this. I have been studying Cyberstudio for some time using both this book and the official manual and have found that both are needed. The manual has FAR more detail than the quick start guide and in many areas simply explains things better. Having said that there are areas where the quick start guide explains things more CLEARLY, but leaves many of the details needed to properly use the functions out. I have found the quick start guide lacking in detail and poorly illustrated. Golive must be congratulated for thoroughly re-writing the 3rd edition manual from the 2nd edition, which was a joke. Not surprising considering these manuals were written in Germany by Germans who had a basic understanding of the English language and had no sense of how a beginner would first interpret the program (it was written in Germany) This quick start guide does not in any way replace the user manual and I would only recommend it if you need CLEARER explanations than what the user manual offers. You will have to read the quick start giude next to the user manual at the same time to get the full picture in how to use this wonderful program.

6. Simply Awful

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 1999

   This is the worst resource I've ever come across. Cyberstudio is a deep program and has a ton of features that aren't covered in the book. This is a good book for absolute beginners, but anyone who already knows anything about designing web sites would find it incredibly frustrating.

7. Good Book, Great Software

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, September 12nd, 1998

   This book is really useful for the new CyberStudio Personal (previously v2). Reading binky's review, he/she/it must work for netobjects. there's no comparison. netobjects puts everything in a database then you "publish" your site, if you change something you have to "republish" it. I have over 9,000 web pages on four sites and unless you want one program to control everything (which is very very limiting) then choose netobjects. If you want the BEST web page tool, CyberStudio.

8. great way to start serious web design

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, September 12nd, 1998

   CyberStudio is THE BEST web design and maintenence tool I've found (I've upgraded to 3). I manage three sites with a total of over 7,000 pages and 8,500 images. I also use it to make small quick pages and sites. It is completely compatible with the Unix, Linux, Mac, and NT- web servers that host my pages. Dreamweaver is not even close to the overall advantage to CyberStudio, who now has a groupware version. If you're serious about web design get CyberStudio.

9. Wonderfully helpful.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 1998

   While CyberStudio 2 has been supplanted by CyberStudio 3 (and 2 renamed CyberStudio Personal) this book remains a wonderfully written and explained start to the most powerful WYSIWYG editor going.

   CyberStudio 3 kicks the snot out of NetObjects Fusion (with its proprietary formats) and all the other pretenders.

10. What a shame....

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 1998

    GoLive has made a pretty amazing piece of software. It's unfortunate that their documentation is so terrible. I came to Shelly Brisbin's QuickStart Guide hoping it would give me some new insight into the app. Major disappointment!

    It seems to me that the author was content to simply distill down the manual that came with CyberStudio. She doesn't say anything new. In fact, some sections of her book seemed lifted right out of the manual.

    Bummer.