Review by C. Fallon for The Microsoft Expression Web Developer’s Guide to ASP.NET 3.5: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008
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I must have purchased 10 books on how to develope a website from the ground up. Within the first 5 chapters, without fail, something integral to the entire website that they take for granted working, wouldn’t work for me, and after a week or two of trying to fix the issue, I would normally give up. I repeated this process for about the past 6 months.

Some background on me, I’m 28, I have a BS in computer science, but generally learned nothing in college, of business value anyway. I am lightly familiar with coding/designing, if given enough time I could read the code and tell you about what most things do in C++ or VB, (And their .net equivalents), but ask me to program something, and I wouldn’t even know where to start. This is why I am heavily dependant on any programing examples in a book working…

This book is definitely more a designers guide to building a website, but by that, I mean it shows you how to create a website from the ground up, and every short cut possible where you can have Visual Web Developer (VWD) button, or option do the work of coding. This is like a god send for people like me, that want to learn coding, but not as badly as we want to learn how to create .NET websites. I didn’t get stuck for more than a few minutes anywhere.

There are no “stories from the trenches” that many books put in just to fill in space and bore you inbetween what you actually want to know. This book is VERY concisely written telling you what you need to know. This book does not go into great depth in any great part, it briefly touches on just about everything you could need to run your own website though and makes recommendations for either websites or books to purchase to get additional information.

In conclusion, this book is great for beginners, and I would, and have recommended it to everyone I know who, similar to me, wants to create a professional looking website, that doesn’t have the programing skills to make it happen. I’d imagine though, if you are above beginner level, this book would not be for you.

Review by Web Designer Hobbyist for The Microsoft Expression Web Developer’s Guide to ASP.NET 3.5: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008
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The title of this book is a little misleading. It deals with Visual Web Developer Express Edition 2008 and does an excellent job of addressing the new features in the 2008 release as well as a valid tool for someone just starting with Visual Web Developer. It takes you through the development of a sample ASP.NET website using Access databases along with user security. It is an excellent reference as well as a tutorial approach for a begginner to intermediate web site creation.

Review by .NET Code Monkey for The Microsoft Expression Web Developer’s Guide to ASP.NET 3.5: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008
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This book does a superb job furthering one of Microsoft’s intentions of the Expression suite: to bridge the gap between designers and developers.

Even though it is targeted toward designers new to ASP.NET, it is actually quite comprehensive in terms of development. I appreciate how a strong foundation was laid right from the start discussing ASP.NET architecture (including the often misunderstood topics of page lifecycle and state management) in plain, concise terms.

What really excites me about this book is that it does not shy away from the administrative side of ASP.NET–configuring membership, validation, security, etc. Far too many designers and developers alike give blank stares when asked how their site is configured.

I will definitely recommend this book to designers on our team, as it will help our upcoming ASP.NET 3.5 projects go much more smoothly.

Now…if I could just find a book of this caliber that works conversely, helping developers get into the mindset of a designer…

Review by Y. Teng for The Microsoft Expression Web Developer’s Guide to ASP.NET 3.5: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008
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I am a newbie to web programming (had a few years of Windows app development experience) and face the situation where I have to produce web apps in a short time. This book gave me a solid start. I had tried several bigger books but they always give me too much “theory” to digest and not enough demo on what steps to take to accomplish a task! Also, this book is definitely not limited to Expression web developers so don’t skip it just because you are not a Expression web developer. Comparing to Murach’s ASP.NET 2.0 web programming with VB 2005 (800 pages) which I also like, this book gives you more completed coverage on the subject with less than 500 pages. And they both take similar approach to teach the subject. Sure it doesn’t tell me how to do all the “tricks” I needed to do with my app. but no book does! I wish I had found this book first so I didn’t waste so much time feeling so lost and frustrated. So if you are pressed for time, need step by step instructions and need to deliver an app. quick. Start with this book.

Review by Beagletech for The Microsoft Expression Web Developer’s Guide to ASP.NET 3.5: Learn to create ASP.NET applications using Visual Web Developer 2008
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I have never built a web form. Using this book, I built a simple site that includes a contact form and a registration form. I happened to find

JimCo books and tutorials on this website [...]. The tutorials in conjuntion with the book, solved my problem. I am not a web developer, but I am cheap and these tools were the best I could find anywhere on the web.