Adobe's GoLive version 5 offers a rich feature set for the contemporary Web site designer, but only if he or she knows how to make the most of it. GoLive 5 f/x & Design explores those features--with examples, tips, and a generous amount of screen shots--and provides a solid foundation for learning this robust development tool.
Spanning four sections and 15 chapters, the book explores every aspect of GoLive--starting with a discussion of the application itself and how it works. Next are examples on using advanced features like forms, cascading style sheets, and animated graphics and DHTML. The book concludes with the construction of a site, from start to finish, using most of the advanced features that GoLive supports. At each point, the author offers explanations and background information, not only on the feature or function at hand, but also on how to approach some design issues, and how to plan ahead for the task at hand.

A highlight of the book is "The Creative Group Environment" section. Large, contemporary sites rarely are built by one person, but instead by a team of talented individuals. GoLive includes a number of features to facilitate this kind of team approach, and this section offers a clear explanation, as well as a tutorial on the approach of GoLive 5 to team Web development.

Although this book is oriented towards the new GoLive 5 user, there is information here that even intermediate to advanced users will make use of. The accompanying CD also includes handy bonus applications, as well as all of the project files and elements that are used throughout the book. Mac users will appreciate the copy of TextureMagic from Artisoft, for creating seamless tiled backgrounds, and Peak LE from Bias, a sound-editing tool.

Clean writing, clear explanations, and concise examples make this book a valuable addition to the GoLive 5 user's library