Review of Dynamic Publishing with ColdFusion MX

Authors: Benjamin Elmore, Seth Hodgson, Michael Mazzorana, Jeff Tapper

New Riders, October 2002

I was expecting to receive many insights while reading Dynamic Publishing, the new book by Macromedia Spectra evangelist Ben Elmore et al, and I wasn't disappointed. The book covers all stages of developing a dynamic content management system - from planning it out with the users and deciding how to store the data, to designing the presentation layer. It suggests modern architecting techniques such as Model-Viewer-Controller (MVC) and Unified Modeling Language (UML). In fact, with all those acronyms floating around, it may be considered heavy reading! However, if you are serious about software development in general and content management systems in particular, then I can recommend this book.

Most of the new features in ColdFusion MX - such as CFCs, XML, Java, Flash Remoting and security - are covered in this book. It also includes advanced topics like international content localization, practical workflow, content versioning and successful deployment. The authors convey a good understanding of their subject matter and include many tips that can only be gleaned from on-the-job experience. This is probably a result of the fact that most of the authors are well known ColdFusion consultants.

The book's only shortcoming is that it reads like a corporate white paper in places, using passive voice and long sentences. In fact, the authors acknowledge that Chapter 2 was lifted from a Macromedia white paper! That chapter contains a little too much marketing hype, in my opinion. The other 22 chapters are much better, however, and more technical in natural.

As far as I could tell, the book is not associated with a CD-ROM or website that contains additional code. This is a good thing. Too many books these days are simply code dumps with some text thrown in. I can always get syntax from the ColdFusion manual.

The book is aimed mainly at analysts and project managers. While there are some code samples in the book, the book focuses mainly on reasons to make use of specific methodologies and programming techniques. Junior programmers who want to stretch themselves could also benefit from the book, as long as they are prepared for some extensive training. All in all, Dynamic Publishing with ColdFusion MX is a worthy addition to the programming library of anyone who wants to know more about how to develop a dynamic content management system using ColdFusion MX.

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