| Issue #64/Aug. '00 |
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My Mac Magazine nemo@mymac.com
| Adobe PhotoDeluxe for Dummies | Palm Pilot for Dummies | Official Excite Internet Yellow Pages | Photoshop 5 Web Magic | Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days | Web Design in a Nutshell | Animation on the Web | PageMill 3 for Macintosh & Windows, Visual QuickStart Guide | 
Adobe PhotoDeluxe for Dummiesby Julie Adair King Dummies Press http://www.dummies.com ISBN 0-7645-0426-6, 354 pages plus CD $24.99 U.S., $35.99 Canada, £23.99 U.K. I have been spending quite a bit of time reviewing books on Photoshop, and now it is time to examine a title covering Photoshop's "little brother." The author describes PhotoDeluxe: "Designed for those with little or no background in digital artistry, this entry-level program enables you to open a scanned photograph or image from a digital camera and perform a variety of special-effects maneuvers," and a whole lot more. At the same time, King advises that "image editing is still fairly complex," with which I agree completely. Consequently, she spends plenty of time introducing new users to all the basics of PhotoDeluxe, in a friendly and helpful manner. Almost every page contains a greyscale image or screenshot, explained in detail, complete with hints and tips. Whenever possible, the author itemizes the steps necessary to perform an action. Her genial prose includes phrases such as "don't be alarmed" and "because you can't predict," letting readers know that image manipulation is an uncertain craft. If you don't know the difference between a GIF, a TIFF, and a JPEG image, you will learn quickly. Color balance for both screen and printed results is explained so that even I am comfortable with the concepts and variables. Chapter Seven is my favorite: "Turning Garbage Into Gold," in which King systematically explains "cloning good pixels over bad," "creating a digital patch," and much more. Fifteen outstanding inserted color plate pages are included in Adobe PhotoDeluxe for Dummies, providing brilliant illustration for many of the greyscale images in the book. The more I study this book, the more interested I am in locking the door, forgetting about my review, and putting PhotoDeluxe through its paces. Final chapters take readers into "Wild and Wooly Pixel Adventures" and "Projects for a Rainy Day," followed by "Ten Ways to Wreak Havoc on an Image." Good thinking, Julie. If you are new to digital imagery or Adobe PhotoDeluxe, this book will soon become your best friend. Strongly RECOMMENDED.
Okay, I promise I'll try to limit the quantity of Dummies book reviews to two per month. In this book, PalmPilot and Palm-III are equivalent. There may be only one Palm platform, but there are several books covering it. See the Bonus Book Bytes for an additional title. Dyszel begins with the physical Palm, describing what does what. Next comes the screen area and the standard Palm applications. Graffiti and the stylus are covered in depth. Readers then learn how to personalize the little wonder, starting with the calendar and a bunch of important preferences. Lengthy chapters plow through the Palm's many features: names and addresses, to-do lists, memos, date book, and mail. Each section details specific procedures for setting up the appropriate software and entering data, in an easy-to-follow tutorial style. Tips and warnings are numerous, as are the many screen shots. Chapter Twelve is hearty: "Operating the PalmPilot Desktop Program for Windows and Mac." The book ends with chapters detailing use of the modem, upgrading the Palm, and commentary on specific recommended software, plus helpful tips and troubleshooting advice. This book-CD combo is best suited to new users of the Palm III or PalmPilot, and for them I can RECOMMEND it.
Official Excite Internet Yellow Pages I hate to be a party-pooper, but I predict this book will not be a huge seller. As web search engines, directories, and portal pages multiply and improve, Net searching is taking place entirely on the web, instead of being based on printed web yellow pages. I adore books like this one, and use them all the time, but mine arrive compliments of the publishers. Will typical Internetters pluck down their $$$ for this title? What does it offer? The book opens with a brief introduction to the features of the Excite service, http://www.excite.com, including Power Searching. Then come the dozen chapters corresponding to Excite's Channels, such as Shopping, Business & Investing, Entertainment, Travel, and eight more. Within each channel chapter are an introduction, then one-paragraph website reviews, with each URL linked on the CD. Certain recommended sites are "Worth a Look," and others get a "Reviewed by Excite" icon. One screen shot from a website illustrates each physical yellow page, and 2,000 total sites are indexed. You can spend a lifetime with a book such as Official Excite Internet Yellow Pages! Whether pursuing serious research or goofing off, everything you need to help you browse forever is here. The additional Excite services, including free email and Excite PAL massaging, are covered in Chapter 15. The final chapter, "Global Excite," deals with international channels. If you are looking for a well-presented web directory, consider putting Official Excite Internet Yellow Pages to use. I plan on giving this book a thorough workout. RECOMMENDED.
Photoshop 5 Web Magic Here is a little book with a big price. Is it worth the cost? Photoshop 5 Web Magic is beautifully designed and organized, using tons of color throughout. Starting with Photoshop Basics, active lessons utilize sharp, clear screenshots, complete with colored highlights and color-coded paragraph headings. The book is divided into major categories for Animations, Buttons, Edge Effects, Textures, and Type Effects. Writing is direct and easy to follow, which is essential in a hands-on book. The author uses a two-column format, with a narrow text section on the inside and a wide illustration area on the outside of each page. Projects are developed from start to finish, so readers can treat the book as a workbook for specific techniques. I can't tell you how excited I am, just looking through the exercises for making effects like rust, curled page buttons, animated bricks, and so much more. Each of the completed projects is displayed in full at the back of the book. The CD is loaded with valuable artwork and bonus animations, curves, patterns, software demos, and stock photo images. Purchasers of Photoshop 5 Web Magic should be familiar with using the application on the web before plunging into Michael Ninness' bag of tricks. Intermediate-level users will find the book to be particularly beneficial. All web designers and digital artists should see the care and quality of this book. I certainly RECOMMEND it.
Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4 in 21 Days I have been intimidated by this hefty book ever since it arrived several months ago. I kept pushing it to the end of my "review this month" stack until it fell off the edge of my bookshelf and almost fractured my foot. Time to roll up my sleeves and turn down the boom box. I'm pleased to welcome these accomplished authors to Book Bytes. They are good writers, and are extremely knowledgeable on the topic of HTML. This "Teach Yourself ... in 21 Days" series divides the process of learning complex applications into 21 logical steps. At the end of each chapter there is a summary, followed by valuable questions (with answers!), plus a pertinent quiz and a bunch of exercises. I approve 100 percent. The text and tutorial are delivered in plain English, with common-sense headings such as: "HTML Describes the Structure of a Page" followed by "HTML Does Not Describe Page Layout." Chapters are liberally illustrated with instructive diagrams, charts, and website screen shots, plus loads of real-world HTML code. Tips, Notes, and Cautions are plentiful, and are EXTREMELY helpful. The 21 chapters are broken into major parts, covering:
The five appendices contain, in 98 pages, massive reference lists for HTML code, tags, and cascading style sheets; sources for additional information; hexadecimal values of the web-safe color palette; and "MIME Types and File Extensions." Whew! During the past two years I have come into contact with several worthy books on the subject of HTML, and this one is the most thorough so far. Readers must be prepared to address each aspect of HyperText Markup Language head-on in order to grasp and work with it, and the authors make the experience worth the effort. Certainly RECOMMENDED.
O'Reilly's "Nutshell" series consists of extensive books on serious topics. To give an example of the thorough work author Niederst has done, her five Appendices span 66 pages: HTML Tags and Elements, HTML Attributes, Depreciated HTML Tags, Proprietary Tags, and CSS Compatibility (comparing the various browsers to demonstrate what works with which one). This book is loaded with HTML examples and code, and is therefore rather technical in nature, focusing "on the front-end aspects of Web design--HTML authoring, graphics production, and media development." Even though she states the opposite, I advise potential readers to learn the basics before tackling Web Design in a Nutshell. Most of the pages are text-only, with screen shots used sparingly. Charts and tables are extensive, and impressive, including: Character Entities, Streaming Video Summary, and Equivalent Values of Web Palette Shades. I admit that the material is over my head, but if I were planning to immerse myself in everything necessary to create superior web pages, this book would be a contender. You must see for yourself if the "Nutshell" approach fits your style of learning. Covering five parts and 27 chapters, and ranging through design principles, graphical formats, multimedia, and emerging technologies, Web Design in a Nutshell is unlike any design-oriented book I have previously encountered. Please read her excellent text, study the technical material, and put this book's advice to work. You will be rewarded by doing so. For readers who learn meticulously from well-crafted textbooks, this book is RECOMMENDED.
I am a hard sell on this topic, because I prefer to spend my time visiting websites that are lean and mean. I realize that animated sites are important to many webheads. My advice is to keep them easy to load and navigate. The author is knowledgeable and informative. If the writing is a bit dry, he can be forgiven, due to the scope of this ambitious book. Wagstaff incorporates a blend of straight text with illustrated tutorial-style lessons, for effective presentation of complex material. I'm having a difficult time warming up to Animation on the Web, and I don't know who should get my complaint. Seeing so many books as I do, my standards for design and illustration are high. The author/publisher chose a uniform color for all screen shots and graphics: insipid sepia-toned brown. Sorry to be so picky, but this brown hue is dull, friends, in spite of the content portrayed. Check out the book's dedicated website for more colorful renderings of the imagery, and much more. Topics range from principles of 2-D and 3-D animation through sophisticated methods using QuickTime VR and VRML, plus Shockwave, Director, Flash, Java, DHTML, as some examples. All the relevant applications are covered, and every imaginable type of web animation is explained in detail. Tips are plentiful, as are suitably serious or goofy components of dynamic animated images and graphics. If the topic was closer to my personal area of interest, I could delve into the actual mechanics of creating the animations, but I leave that to you. Yes, I will RECOMMEND Animation on the Web, but I urge readers to examine the brown printed imagery, then compare them to the ones on the book's website. In future, author/editor/publisher, please use color in a more interesting way for your graphics.
PageMill is a powerful and fairly easy-to-use web page authoring application, fighting for market share. Maria Langer systematically takes the reader from installation basics to "Using Site Management Tools" in this new book. Knowledge of HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is not necessary to work with PageMill, although a brief reference section on HTML Web formatting code and tags comprises Appendix D. The other three appendices cover:
This book is completely cross-platform, with Mac and Windows screen shots given equal treatment. Maria breaks down PageMill into incremental procedures, presented in tutorial-form, along with numerous tips. You may feel somewhat frustrated at the limitations of a greyscale book, when dealing with color. Stick with it, and use the author's website for assistance with examples. My favorite feature is the whimsical narrative that evolves in the course of this book, in which Maria describes aspects of her life in Wickenburg, Arizona, complete with helicopter lessons! In fact, she used PageMill to author specific components of her informative website, so the examples are particularly relevant for users of PageMill 3 for Macintosh & Windows. The eleven full-service chapters include topics: formatting text, working with links, using frames, plus much more, including "Adding Images and Multimedia Objects." Langer has taken this application apart and reassembled it for her readers and Web site visitors in a truly user-friendly manner. Regular readers of Book Bytes already know I am a big fan both of Maria Langer and of the Visual QuickStart Series. Once again we have a perfect match between application, author, and book format. If you are considering working with PageMill, first see if PageMill 3 for Macintosh & Windows is compatible with your style of learning before looking into different web authoring software or third-party manual. RECOMMENDED.
Time to plunge back into the stacks for more reading and reviewing. Thanks for taking the time to read Book Bytes...
| Photoshop 5 for Macs for Dummies | PalmPilot Organizer Resource Kit Book and CD Set | Harley Hahn Teaches the Internet | Sams Teach Yourself to Create Web Pages in 24 Hours | The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book | Audio on the Web, The Official IUMA Guide | Search Engines for the World Wide Web, Second Edition | The Little iMac Book | Photoshop 5 for Macs for Dummiesby Deke McClelland http://www.dekemc.com Dummies Press http://www.dummies.com ISBN 0-7645-0391-X, 358 pages $19.99 U.S., $28.99 Canada, £18.99 U.K. This book is one of the best Dummies titles ever, and is especially suited to Mac users who are getting started with Photoshop, and people who are using the application either occasionally or for specific small projects. If you fall into this category, then I strongly RECOMMEND Photoshop 5 for Macs for Dummies. Deke has done it again!
PalmPilot Organizer Resource Kit Book and CD Set The disk included in this boxed book and CD has over 300 shareware and freeware apps for the Palm platform, plus extra chapters not included in the printed text. I am impressed with the value for users who want to maximize the depth of knowledge and expandability of their PalmPilot or Palm-III. RECOMMENDED.
Harley Hahn Teaches the Internet I am on record as an admirer of Harley Hahn, but he and I have locked horns on the decision to omit the Macintosh when writing this fine new book. If you can read between the lines, and ignore specific references to Windows procedures and file formats, then you will become much smarter on every aspect of the Net after digesting Harley Hahn Teaches the Internet. Net newbies and occasional users will benefit the most, and for them I give this non-Macintosh book a very sturdy RECOMMENDATION.
Sams Teach Yourself to Create Web Pages in 24 Hours Using Netscape 4's Composer as primary authoring application is not my preferred method. If this book is laying around, you may find it useful for some reference information, but I am not excited about it. I give this title a lukewarm recommendation, but only for people who are using Composer for web page creation.
The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book Here we have a short course in everything essential for producing the best possible finished printed product from your computer. I predict this title will become a required reading and reference in the digital design classroom; The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book even has checklists, quizzes, and projects. If you don't know your linescreen resolutions from your color knockout, grab this book and memorize it. RECOMMENDED for newcomers to digital production.
Audio on the Web, The Official IUMA Guide Rumors about the versatility of MP3 kept me from delving into this title before now, which was ridiculous. For readers who want to know the WHY as well as the HOW about ALMOST everything you can do with sound on the web, consider studying this book thoroughly. For now, Audio on the Web is the loudest word on the subject.
Search Engines for the World Wide Web, Second Edition I fell off my chair when I opened this book and saw myself quoted at length in "Praise from readers and critics." Nice touch! I raved about the first edition of this book, and now it is even better. Search Engines for the World Wide Web is a personal top-10 of books I have actually purchased to give as gifts to budding webheads. To re-quote myself: "This book is a winner for everyone who spends more than two minutes per month on the web, with practical information at an affordable price," and I continue to HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
The Little iMac Book Being the first book published on the iMac, I expect The Little iMac Book is already a hot seller, but if you can wait a bit longer, better books on the mighty iMac may soon be available. Robin has pared down essential Macintosh knowledge into a very simple package. Total beginners will find the book useful at first, and then will quickly crave more knowledge. For this group only, a half-hearted recommendation.
John Nemerovski
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