The only way possible not to find value in this wonderful book is if you already know all the applications. If that's the case then why would you buy it.
Each section was almost a book in itself. You have to be an expert illustrator not to learn a ton of stuff in FreeHand from making vector images to making SWF movies and all kinds of special effects. I learned how to use FreeHand in my workflow with the other apps. For instance how to make my logos and print material in FreeHand so that I only have to design it once for both print and the Web.
Fireworks is another one. I've used Dreamweaver a lot but was unfamiliar with Fireworks. WOW, what a powerful program. I learned how to make all kinds of images, text effects but most importantly several ways to export those images and designs to use in Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver includes basics but moves quickly into more intermediate topics. I learned how to connect to a database and got a good foundation on using CSS along with a lot of the other features.
In the Flash section I got a quick tour of the interface and was quickly making my first simple animation. But I also learned how to add sound. Most of the techniques including some ActionScript were done by making portions of a web site. I make a banner and several E-cards.
ColdFusion was over my head there was too much code involved but the portion I liked was that Flash Remoting was covered. The e-card made in Flash were used in an interface that connected to ColdFusion to deliver the e-cards to send.
To sum it up I enjoyed the book tremendously, learned a ton and now will go back and delve into more of the areas that I am weakest on. I got a great feel for how the applications work together in a real world project that was made. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--there are extra tutorials and movies the authors provided on the CD to expand the value of this book even more!
