Adam Howitt's Blog

Apr 19
2005

Advanced Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Application Development

At : 11:10 AM | Link | Books, Coldfusion | Comments (6) | Send | 579 Views |

I've just placed my pre-order for Ben Forta's "Advanced Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Application Development".  It's due out April 25th and I'm keen to see how it compares to the earlier books. 

I was a little disappointed with the last Web Application Construction Kit (pre MX 7) when one of my co-workers, new to CF, reported that the chapter on stored procedures I was directing him to wasn't in the book.  A handy note on the page and many other chapters directs readers to the CD where I believe PDFs were provided.  Now don't get me wrong, I believe the 80/20 rule can be a good thing but when you are in such a rush to get a book out that you have to provide chapters on a CD because you couldn't get them typeset prior to the release date then I think it is sloppy.  Then again, I have never been under a publishing deadline!

 

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  1. Actually, it had nothing to do with deadlines and everything to do with having too many pages. The books have grown fatter and fatter, and there is no way to bind 1800+ pages. I was given three options, 1) pull content, 2) go from 2 volumes to 3, 3) electronic content for some chapters. Of the choices I opted for #3, and hopefully it was the right choice. If not, well, let me know and we can rethink it next time (although I am not sure that I could be convinced to go to 3 volumes as that would increase the cost to readers).

    Posted By Ben Forta : Posted At 4/19/05 9:58 AM
  2. I see your point but wonder why a key chapter like Stored Procedures was sacrificed to make room for pieces like "Integrating with Macromedia Flash" or "Interacting with email". I understand that CF has a number of exciting topics like Flash and Verity but I think teaching people to interact intelligently with a database is a key issue. I also appreciate that a good number of WACK readers are connecting to an Access database so stored procedures may be a more advanced topic.

    Posted By Adam Howitt : Posted At 4/19/05 10:14 AM
  3. In the past I did exactly that, picked specific chapters to go on the CD. But this time there were so many that they opted to put one complete section (the last) on the CD, instead of scattered chapters. Was not my preferance, but apparently this made it easier for the layout and indexing folks.

    Posted By Ben Forta : Posted At 4/19/05 10:20 AM
  4. Maybe it is time to do away with the Advanced book and release Vol. I, 2 and 3.

    Posted By Tom Cornilliac : Posted At 4/19/05 2:45 PM
  5. Tom, that was an option, going from 2 volumes to 3. But that would raise the price and I didn't want to do that to readers. Do you think they'd not have minded? Any input is appreciated.

    Posted By Ben Forta : Posted At 4/19/05 4:04 PM
  6. Ben,

    Personally, I would not mind a volume 3 of the WACK and I would gladly pay the extra cost. While I have reviewed most of the MX7 WACK I have yet to review the chapters on CD because frankly I detest reading large (more then a few pages) PDF docs. I need to print them before I'll sit and read them. That said...If I'm going to take the time to print and bind the extra PDF section of the WACK then I'd rather invest that time (read money) in a volume 3 book which is sure to be a superior product to my print and punch job.

    If you break the WACK into 3 volumes *and* keep the cost per volume below its current price point I think you would have a winner.

    Posted By Tom Cornilliac : Posted At 4/19/05 4:49 PM
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