Sams Teach Yourself HomeSite 4 in 24 Hours

HomeSite distinguishes itself from other Web authoring tools because it provides the user with a "What You See Is What You Need" (WYSIWYN) interface rather than the more common "What You See Is What You Get" flavor of designing. Forta ably shows you how to construct many of the rudimentary pieces of your site such as text, links, images, and tables. To teach you how to manage your pages, the book discusses and demonstrates HomeSite's Tag tools as well as its support of dynamic HTML (DHMTL), JavaScript, Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL), and cascading style sheets.

While the book caters well to new users by providing step-by-step guidance through the software's composition tools, experienced Web designers working on larger scales should find the text dedicated to HomeSite's project management capabilities extremely helpful. The accompanying CD-ROM includes all of the code samples used in the book as well as a copy of HomeSite version 4. --Ryan Kuykendall

Product Description
Provides everything you need to know to install and configure HomeSite 4, simplify Web page development, and debugging applications with Studio's interactive remote debugger in 24 sessions of one hour or less. Softcover.

After tearing out my hair for awhile, I found the problem: I had HomeSite 4.5 and Forta was writing about 4.0 and his book didn't show the changes, including exactly what I was trying to solve.

In short, I had wasted my money.

So be careful of the 4 in that title. If you are using 4.5, you might be in trouble. There is that much change between the two.


Really folks, how many books do you need?   March 9, 2001
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I'm rating this book 5 stars because it does what it sets out to do. Plain and simple.

People who can't seem to find help with this book are those that can't learn unless they are in a curricular environment with its instructors.

Before purchasing HS 4.5 and this book ... , I had tried the trial version of the program from Allaire's web site. Granted I fell in love with the program and as DIY'ers do, I found my way around. But there were still questions I had so I bought this book. It pretty much answered any nagging questions that remained.

You know? There will ALWAYS be questions that you can never seem to get answered. That is life and you deal with it. I read one review of someone that said they bought this book hoping to find out why HS4.5 copies your html files and creates a clone file with the prefix of hs~(filename).html. This book didn't answer their questions so they slammed the book. I STILL don't know why HS4.5 does this but WHO CARES? It doesn't affect my sites. I don't have to upload them.

In a nutshell, if the manuals and online help that ship with HS4.5 aren't enough, buy this book. You'll need it and refer to it often. This book, HTML 4.0 Quickstart Guide, and a passion to learn more, and apply lots, are all you need to build sites with Homesite 4.5.

Quit running around looking for the RIGHT book.

Build some... sites.


My First HomeSite Book   February 23, 2001
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I borrowed this book from the local library. Actually I was looking for the HomeSite 4.5 for the dummies, but had to settle for this one since I couldn't find it. The book says teach yourself in 24 hours and I think it really meant it. I managed to digest most of them in a few days working to about 24 hours in all. It's a very simple book to teach you the fundamentals on HomeSite. I found it to be too brief in some of the topics. Just teach you the most basic stuff. It could be better if the book could give more examples. In summary, this is a good book if you just want to know how do get started. You will still need another book on HTML to do the more advanced stuff.


Savings of Time and Effort   August 9, 2000
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I have been a self-taught user of HomeSite for quite awhile now. I attended a HomeSite class but it was just too basic. I wanted to beef up my html pages with Image Maps and create forms which allowed for multiple selections.

I searched the web for the information but wound up going back to the HomeSite book. It was quite easy to find the answers I was looking for.

There are a few things that bother me about HomeSite such as, if I create an html file and save it into the directory, the file doesn't show immediately. Instead of looking for an answer in the book to that question, I figure it is something I would need to take up with Allaire Technical Support - the owners of HomeSite.

But, overall, the book has been a great savings of my time and effort and I'm pleased to have it in my library!!


Very informative, even though I have version 4.5   May 10, 2000
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Vety information, easy to read, and full of useful information. Lots of basics, and excellent tips and suggestions. I learned lots about the Web and HTML (even though I knew both already) while learning HomeSite with this book.