Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Recipes is divided into two, intentionally unbalanced sections. Up front, you'll find a primer of sorts that is intended to serve as a general introduction to both the world of data-driven Web technology and Dreamweaver's implementations. Read these chapters if you are new to working with data sources on the Web, and especially if you are new to Dreamweaver. The bulk of the book is devoted to the Web application recipes.

The recipes themselves are separated into two sections, or cuisines, if you'll indulge us in the metaphor. First you'll find instructions on building such intranet-oriented applications as User Login, Employee Lookup, Conference Room Scheduler, and In/Out Dashboard. Many of these applications have uses that you can apply to general Web applications.