Web Books

A very useful book. Well presented information. Covers many different types of materials to be photographed. Includes discussion about camera use first, in general. Would have liked more about photographing large sculptures. Overall, very good.

This is a wonderful book for those who wish to photograph their work in the most professional way possible. Mr. Meltzer takes you gently by the hand, assumes you are starting from scratch and gives an outline of the various types of digital cameras, how they work and compares them to film cameras -- all in an easily understood way. He then goes on to talk about other equipment, lighting, a bit of colour theory and different methods of photographing. If you need help photographing your art, this is the book to buy!

It's good to finally have a book to teach me more of digital photography and my arts. Very useful.

I'm very happy with this book. It's just what I needed to improve the photos that I take of my work. There is a lot of information, and It's written in words that anyone could understand. Illustrations further help to clarify the material.

As I searched for books to learn more about how to use my digital camera and create the best photographs, I happened upon this gem of a book. It is a mixture of the art, the fun and the simple and complex information on digital photography. The illustrations and photographs are very helpful to understanding how to create the best digital photographs.
The very best thing about the book is that appeals to the beginner, the average user and to the professional. It also explains in a very clear and simple way the jargon and technical aspects of digital photography.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn how to use and get the best pictures or the person who wants to become a professional digital photographer.

I sent in a review and it has not yet appeared. Did you receive it?

Louisa J. Lasher Thanks much

This book is very insightful into the world of facticious disorders. It helped me cope with my mother who has Munchausen's syndrome. It may not completely solve the why, but it gives the possibilities. I enjoyed the different stories about other people and family members who have fallen victim to these types of people. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

This is a very well-written book and an incredible read. I found it really hard to put down. Dr. Feldman writes about these patients with great compassion and sincerity, but is at least as sympathetic to those who come into contact with them, including their poor families. (What they must go through!) Although I am not a psychiatrist, I do think this book should be compulsory reading for everyone who works in this field.

I'm interested in this topic because of my experience in dealing with a family member who has used tales of illness and hardship for years to get support and money and get out of trouble that he brought on himself. Reading this book helped me to comprehend that his schemes and scams are not all that far-fetched or uncommon among practitioners of fraud. I would have liked to have had more case histories and info specifically on malingering.

In "Playsing Sick?" Dr. Marc Feldman opens a window onto the minds of those whose need for love and nurturance drives them to the extremes of fraud, emotional abuse and even self mutilation. Malingering, factitious disorder and Munchausen Syndrome are often misunderstood by the general public, but Dr. Feldman offers clear explanations of these behaviors and illustrates them with real cases. His examination of Munchausen by Proxy is particularly compelling and includes the all important distinction between Munchausen by Proxy and factitious disorder. MBP is not a disorder, Dr. Feldman argues, but abuse. In my opinion, the two should never be confused. "Playing Sick?" is a must read for anyone who works in psychology and related fields, such as social work. But it is also a fascinating read for the nonpsychologist.

Being a Microsoft fanatic I always want to stay on top of things with Microsoft Technologies.I have been reading a couple of books on ASP.NET 3.5. And having seen this book physically and read the book and, I can definitely say that, this is the ONLY book that any ASP.NET developer would want to have on his desk. Loaded with practical advice. Complete. Comprehensive. Cost effective. Definite BUY.

Bill, Scott and Devin are long-time ASP.NET experts, and the authors of several best selling ASP.NET and .NET books.

This latest book is outstanding and provides an excellent end to end resource for almost all things ASP.NET related (UI, AJAX, Data Access, Security, State Management, Deployment, etc).

The book is very well organized, with a nice balance of text, code samples, and screen-shots. All code samples are provided in both C# and VB - making it applicable to developers of all language backgrounds.

The book does a good job of covering new .NET 3.5 material - with good content on LINQ, LINQ to XML, and LINQ to SQL, as well as the new ASP.NET 3.5 data controls - including the ListView control. It has chapters on ASP.NET AJAX and the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. It also has some great IIS7 material.

One of the things that is particularly useful is that the samples and chapters are written with Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer Express 2008. The book does a great job of explaining both the core ASP.NET programming concepts, as well as showing off how to use the tools to easily take advantage of them.

All in all a great book and a fantastic addition to any ASP.NET developer's library.

If there's one book to own on ASP.NET 3.5 this is it! Unlike some other books that have simply added a couple of additional chapters at the end and a new cover, in Professional ASP.Net 3.5 sections that matter have been accurately updated to reflect the new changes and new chapters have been added where appropriate.

This book is very well written, and is full of code examples. At 1674 pages it's a monster, but it's all solid content.

Scott, Bill and Devin do a phenomenal job of covering evrything in 3.5. This massive book can be read cover-to-cover over a couple of weeks or sit on your desk as a reference. The info from these three is rooted in real-world experience. They cover the technical details as well as the how and why of decisions around developing Rich Internet Applications.

I've got the ASP.NET 2.0 version of this book (both the original and special edition versions) and all of the strengths still hold: It still walks you through all of the common (and some of the uncommon) usage for ASP.NET and provides great examples and code snippets to illustrate points. I'm not an ASP.NET newbie and I still find myself referring to the book from time to time - even in the age of Google - to find a nice, easy-to-understand example of this or that.

That said, not much has changed from ASP.NET 2.0 to ASP.NET 3.5, so the important bits are the differences between this book and the previous version. So what is different?

ADDED:
* Lots about LINQ. Anywhere they discuss data - from databinding to working with XML - they've added info on how LINQ works into the picture. Thre is even a new chapter on "Querying with LINQ."
* A chapter on IIS7 with a high-level intro to what it means for ASP.NET.
* A chapter on basic HTML and CSS usage.
* ASP.NET AJAX has been made a first class citizen with chapters on both the ASP.NET AJAX framework as well as the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. (It was an appendix in the ASP.NET 2.0 book.)
* A section on WCF services has been added to the "Building and Consuming Services" chapter.
* An ASP.NET-oriented subset of the indispensable Scott Hanselman Ultimate Tools List has been added as an appendix with screen shots and larger discussion of each tool.
* An appendix has been added on basic Silverlight.

REMOVED:
* The introduction to Visual Studio. You won't get an overview of the IDE in the new book.
* Basic .NET concept review like the chapter on "Collections and Lists" have been removed.
* The chapter on developing for mobile devices using the contents of the System.Web.Mobile assembly.
* The appendix on VB 8.0 and C# 2.0 language enhancements (generics, partial classes, etc.).

COMBINED:
* The ASP.NET 2.0 book separated out the discussions of "ASP.NET Web Server Controls" and "ASP.NET 2.0 Web Server Controls." This is now one chapter that doesn't differentiate by version.

For the chapters that the two versions of the book have in common, really the only differences I could find were that the first few "intro" paragraphs for the chapter and the screenshots have been updated. A few sentences here and there have been updated to remove version-specific wording, but the copy is basically the same. I did a page-for-page comparison of one of chapters and almost everywhere it was exactly the same as the previous version, verbatim.

That commonality is not a bad thing. It means the new version still has the great content found in the previous version, so if you didn't get the ASP.NET 2.0 book, the 3.5 book will cover you. If you did get the ASP.NET 2.0 book, Wrox also has a Professional ASP.NET 3.5 Upgrade book that just contains the new stuff so you don't have to re-purchase content you already have.

Again, the typesetting irked me. The font really needs to be a point or two larger. Also, in the Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Special Edition, they used a light gray background to highlight code snippets so it was easy to make the distinction between prose and code. They lost that light gray background in the 3.5 book so the prose and the snippets run together a bit. (They use the light gray now as a "highlighter" for particular lines of code.) Of course, at 1600-odd pages, they might have to start shipping this bad boy on microfiche.

In all, still highly recommended.

I love the Professional Web Development Kit and use it every day. Lots of useful tools. Tons of useful reference material. Plus a great book. I don't see how you could go wrong. I really use the kit and the book an awful lot

I use this kit every single day to help me create Web pages and maintain my Web site. Tons of great tools that you will use all the time! Packaged with Web Publishing Unleashed Professional--which is a terrific Web publishing book

Definitely one of the all time great finds...Put this kit on your can't live without list

Version 1.0 of this kit was a bestseller but this latest version beats the old kit hands down! Anyone that is looking for comprehensive Web publishing and design solutions should BUY this kit, even if you have the previous version. On the CDs included with the kit, you'll find tons of software, 7 electronic books and a print edition of Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference.

Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference is a 1500-page book that covers every Web publishing topic imaginable. If you haven't discovered Stanek's writing yet, you are in for a treat! I bought this kit for use at home and then bought the Web Publishing Electronic Resource Kit for the office (which is also packaged with Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference). I don't know what I'd do without this wonderful resource.

As a graphic designer and Web developer, I use the tools in this kit to solve REAL problems every day. Because this kit is so comprehensive, it is perfect for beginners and experts alike.

I HUGE plus for this kit is that it is packaged with a print edition of the phenominal book Web Publishing Unleashed (in an all new edition)! Stanek understands Web site creation, design and publishing better than any other tech author out there. I bought his book on FrontPage 97 as well.

This book is excellent. Not only is it fun to read but also very informative. You can read it from front to back and you can use it as a reference manual. What graphics mode for tracks does what? You'll find it! What compression scheme do I need for what purpose? You'll find it! How do I change the movie controller? Why do I have to change it sometimes? Just look it up! Did you ever wanted to know how the people from Apple make movie trailers?

The CD contains an audio tour, many examples, and software (QuickTime 5 Pro, full versions and demo versions of various tools) for Windows and Macintosh computers.

This book was written very well, and is full of useful information. It isn't just for the web! It's a must-have for anyone working with Quicktime. Good book.

I like a lot Mr.Gulie's writing and especially the chapter about SMIL and how it can be used to create QuickTime movies.

The main reason I bought the book was that it had license keys for QuickTime5 Pro for PC and Mac. Those keys costed [price] each at that time if one bought them separately (supposing they had both a Mac and a PC). So it was a good deal apart from the book content itself. An unfortunate thing is that the QT5Pro keys won't work with QT6Pro and that QT6 can't coexist with QT5 on the same machine. So I do still use QuickTime5 (Pro) on my machine...

The book also contains a CD with lots of material which is a must for books about multimedia and rich content (would be a big download for one to get from the publisher's website).

Another thing about such books are that they're usually not printed in color :(, obviously to keep the cost low

This book contains all of the otherwise unwritten techniques for producing QuickTime movies and panoramas for the web, appropriate for both Macintosh and Windows users.

Steve Gulie is in constant contact with producers of QuickTime content (on the mailing list), and is familiar with their day-to-day travails. The book is essentially an embellished FAQ, plus suggestions from Steve's first-hand experience in producing QuickTime for the Web.

The book comes with a QuickTime Pro license for both the Macintosh and Windows, which more than pays for the cost of the book. In addition, the accompanying CD contains demos or fully functional versions of dozens of useful application, for Mac and Windows.

If you're doing any QuickTime production and delivering it on the web, then you need this book.

Steve Gulie does it again. It is rare to read a technical book that makes you laugh out loud, but Steve leavens the clearly-explained information about the intricacies of QuickTime and Web browers with wit and humour.
This second edition includes QT 5 Pro Keys for Windows and Macintosh - separately these alone would cost nearly (...), so the book is a bargain too.

Full disclosure - I am an engineer on the QuickTime team, know the author, and proof-read this book. I know that it is accurate and helpful, and that it will explain techniques that would take you a long time tolearn on your own.

I was first introduced to Kris Jamsa's books when I first took DOS Programming. When I saw it was written by Kris Jamsa, I bought it on the spot! It is very step-by-step. I used this book instead of the book assigned in my JAVA class. It also comes with software and shows you how to install JBuilder on your computer which I found out is a thousand times better for code writing than Microsoft Visual J++. More raw coding and less Microsoft's invasive code. I highly recommend this for the first time JAVA programmer.

I'm just starting JAVA programming and this is by far the best book I've read on the subject. It mainly deals with programming applets but explains the logic of JAVA programming well enough to extend what you have learned into more complex applications. The problem I've had with other books is that they don't teach the basics and by the third chapter you're completely lost. Short chapters make concepts easy to remember and refer back to. Examples are cogent and apply the material directly related to the current chapter. After I'm done with this book I will have a good working knowledge of JAVA and will finally be able to understand the more difficult books.

After scouring bookstores for a Java book that was to the point, didn't weigh 25 pounds, and best of all made immediate sense, I was pleased to find this book by K. Jamsa.

Each chapter is concise, tells you what you're going to learn, tells you about it, then tells you what you just learned. The ideal model for education!

The chapters are paced well, with little fluff, just well-explained examples. All the graphics are laid out quite well, all in all, a well designed book!

The CD that comes with it has everythng that you need to get up and running, no extra downloads necessary.

Hope that they come out with "Rescued Again by Java", covering advanced topics.

5 out of 5

Kris Jamsa has written some excellent C/C++ tutorials, so its no surprise that this beginners guide to Java is just as clearly written and explained. In this volume, Kris is giving you just enough of everything you need to know to get started in the right direction. You'll likely need a more comprehensive reference book (I recommend Ivor Horton's Beginning Java 2) if you want to turn 'pro'. But here's the best thing about this edition -- you get a fully functioning copy of Borland's JBuilder 2 Pro edition on the CD-ROM. That's a pretty nice bargain considering the price of the book. The latest version of JBuilder would costs many, many times that. I would recommend any book on programming written by Jamsa, and this one is no exception.

I was lost in reading on-line tutorials and Java books that claimed to be for beginners. "Rescued by Java" truly came to rescue. It allowed me to built a solid foundations of the language concepts and syntax. I can see it now possible to reach for more advanced books. The book is written in a very thorough way. The examples are simple but so well thought out that all the language concepts are easy to grasp page by page upon reading for the first time. By the way I'm a COBOL programmer with many years of industry experience.

this book will not leave my desk anytime soon. great source for information & all things blog: formatting, styles, and everything else you need to make your blog appealing and worth visiting frequently. the author is down to earth and doesn't overwhelm you with nerdy lingo. i would reccomend this to anyone that wants another creative outlet (it feels good to blog), as well as anyone that has internet access and can type.

Having had a blog for the past 5+ years, I believed the entire blogging phenomenon to be basic. Fun, but basic. I also simultaneously knew that I was deluding myself into thinking I fully understood the ins-and-outs to this world of personal on-line publishing. Little did I know that I needn't have been scared of undue complications when it comes to my blog... Mr. Jonathan Yang has made it clear that creating and manipulating a blog (and many other types of on-line personal media) is easy enough such that you can spend far less time immersing yourself in techno-jargon and more in communicating whatever you feel in whatever way you wish.

This book is heavy with fascinating topics, but at the same time extraordinarily easy to read. While I've already read the entire thing, this book will constantly serve as a refreshing guidebook the next time I'm blogging and wondering, "Alright... what now?"

"The Rough Guide To Blogging" is a deceptively small book, but it has virtually everything you need to answer your questions. There are clear, concise chapters on getting started, acquiring skills, and getting your blog noticed. There's also an up-to-date (as of 2006) guide to a dizzying number of current blogs, as well as evaluations of and instructions to providers like Blogger, TypePad, and Yahoo. This is definitely the best value for your dollar of all the books about blogs that I know.

This is a wonderfull book about blogging. It is mainly an introduction. The book starts with some general information about blogging. Next it explains the different kind of blogs, were to host your blog or use a server side blog. It also guides you how to write a blog, how to earn money with your blog. The last part of the book consits of a list per category of the most important blogs. It is not a book to read from cover to cover. I used it for inspiration and examples as well as instruction book. What I did was read a chapter and followed the links it provided. The design of the book is very pretty, well done a pleasure to read and a excellent introduction.
It doesn't go into details how to maintain a blog or how to do research for your blog e.g. using e-mail alerts, website monitors etc.

I was very pleased with this book. After only a couple days of reading through it I was able to grasp the concepts of blogging and begin my own blog like a pro!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in blogging, it is a MUST HAVE!

I am currently working on a compiler that outputs SVG. 'Teach yourself SVG in 24 Hours' has enabled be to gain a good understanding of how to use some of the nice, handy features of SVG without having to spend ages geeking around on the internet looking for online tutorials!

It was a pleasent suprise to open a computing book that wasn't in too much jargon - quite a handy thing when its your first exposure to a new language. This book it written for everyone! (unless you have no interest in computers or the internet etc..)

I am a graphic artist using Adobe Illustrator and I wanted to learn more about SVG. I asked the Adobe people about this file format that is included with the newest versions of Illustrator but was unable to find out much. Finally I found this great book.

This book begins with an overview and describes the justification and process of development of SVG. In chapter 2 it jumps right in and teaches the nuts and bolts of creating images with SVG. As I am not a coder or programmer, I was amazed at the simplicity. Once a few basics had been explained I was off and running. Anyone with even the most basic computer and a simple text editor can create sophisticated graphics.

Towards the end of the book is a section on using Adobe Illustrator and in the back there is a reference section for oddball color conversion. The book also comes with the Adobe Web Collection CD that includes the viewer and tryout versions of Illustrator and Photoshop.

I'm really excited by the potential of this technology and can recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop some expertise in a hurry.

Good Luck...Tom Burns

Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours, I believe, is one of the best computer books I've read. I am a computer savvy with 5 years experiences in programming and network administration as well as database management. Recently I am working on a project involving SVG.

This book walked you through a series of detailed tutorials to build a dynamic weather forecast web page using SVG step by step. In each chapter, a new topic is covered in an easy-to-understand and informative manner, which makes the learning curve pretty flat. As the title suggests, this book is an introductory primer to a new technique so it is not intented to delve too deep into a specific topic. However, a good many hyperlinks to W3C's online SVG specification appear here and there for your reference if you would like to make your hands dirtier...In a nutshelll, if you would like to teach yourself SVG from the beginning, it is The book, though it may, by a large chance, take you more than 24 hours to go through it.

Web developers and designers alike should have a full acquaintance with this exciting new technology. There aren't many resources yet available, and this book will prove to be a trailblazer.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML implementation utilizing a markup language similar to HTML but created specifically to render and control graphics. It is a robust mix of technologies including the DOM, CSS, Xlink, XSLT and JavaScript, and using the Adobe® SVG Viewer (a free plug-in), it supports static and dynamic graphics and WAV or MP3 audio.

Web developers should learn SVG because it is open-source and built in a simple text editor. It gives complete control of each graphic element. Web designers should use SVG because it is powerful -- graphics packages such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Jasc Web Draw and others support SVG output. SVG also enables flash-like animation. In fact, SVG is THE open-source solution to web animation. No longer do you need expensive proprietary software to get the job done.

Anyway, this book is what you need. (That's how I learned all this.) Author Micah Laaker, while presenting the material in a comprehensive, straightforward and exciting manner, will leave an excellent reference guide on your book shelf. Buy it, read it and keep it handy.

The best part about this resource is that it assumes nothing. It takes a complete novice and explains that RSS means really simple syndication. Then it goes into the value of having changing content, the need to choose an RSS that is not only compatible with your content, but will add ever-changing, relevant content. I am using the resource to be sure that I have an accurate understanding of what it is, who it helps, how it helps, when to use one, and how to subscribe to an RSS Feed.

Being a sometime web developer, it is important to keep up with the latest web technologies. If you have never heard of RSS or are not that familiar with it, I recommend this book as a great introduction to what RSS is, and how you might use it in a website.
It is not expensive, and is a good foundation in that it explains the basics of news feeders and how they are used, but doesn't go into a lot of technical/code information. In other words, if you want to code your own newsreader, find another book. On the other hand, the author does explain how to syndicate any item you want for RSS.

I just finished reading Ellen's book. For a year or more, I have seen webfeeds on some websites, and those little XML and RSS buttons showing up everywhere. For the life of me (and I'm pretty technosavvy), I just couldn't put it all in context. This book lays it out concisely and makes a compelling case that news and webfeeds are the next communication phenomenon, likely to be as ubiquitous as faxes and email.

I'm not always a "Dummies" fan, but this one rocks! My website will have a feed very soon and I'm already thinking of many ways to use this new technology in creative marketing efforts and to deliver content in a more useful way to our clients.

Colorado divorce and family mediator, Lawrence King, J.D.
Divorce Resolutions, Colorado Center for Divorce Mediation

I love this book, it has broaden my horizons. I didn't know anything abour rss until i read this book, I'm now well on my way. If you are looking for a book that will teach you the basics of rss and that will get you started on your rss project, this is the book. Because of the vast amount of information in this book, you will actually be more confident in any rss project you start, even if you are just looking to buy another book on a related topic. This is the perfect book to start working on syndicating websites and rss, or just to understand why it works.

I should be finished this book in about two days. It has been very helpful and specific and a vast improvement on some others in the Dummies series. Ellen Finkelsrtein has done a good job and crafted a good book. I particularly like the wayu she says: go to this web site and do this this, So I go to the webiste and bookmark ans I find it very valuable.
feedvalidator.org was one such site. I went and it complained soem of my taigs.com blog was not properly validated: litle things like a ">" i na closing tag omitted. So I fixed them. Without this book, they would still be broken. The little things add up in this game.

Another thing: she does not waste time explaining irrelevant basics. She sticks to her topic and does not squander time telling you how to install this, that or the other. She also divides up the programming bit from the take it and go bit. There is an acompanying site which gives you the code to write your own feeds. All in all, I concur with the earlier reviews and give it top marks.

What a tangled web indeed! Beres' novel is an amazing and poetic journey through the modern day music industry. With his easy prose Beres weaves a great story tinged with the mythos of today's music scene. Reading the book is like being on tour yourself, experiencing the blown tires, ridiculous schedules and money grubbing a**holes who inhabit this world. A great read, it could be titled "Fear and Loathing in the Latin Music World". Buy it.

If it's news to you that the music business is full of corruption and greed, you probably also still believe that [...] had WMDs. What's so enthralling about 'Tangled Web' is not only that we experience the day by day play by play of how a promising contemporary Latin music tour imploded from day one and went downhill from there, but how Beres' account tells us so much about the state of the arts in this country: how little culture means to so many and how we are all guilty of allowing this [...] to take place. Just as the doomed Musica Fresca tour should have been a huge hit that would have introduced so many to some great music that gets a fraction of the exposure it deserves, 'Tangled Web' should be required reading for everyone in what's left of the music biz, particularly those who have no understanding of why music IS more than just a biz. Take this journey.

Beres has delivered once again! Tangled Web is a masterful blend of behind-the-scenes narratives, combined with authoritative commentary. He makes a scathing, no-nonsense call for industry reform in a way that will make you unable to put this book down. No need to be up on the heartbeat of the music scene to enjoy this one: Beres speaks to anyone who has ever wanted to blow that whistle.

This book is a very easy read, Derek takes you on the journey, not only through the tour, but gives you insight to all parties involved in this project as people. Anyone trying to put together a tour for any artist should read this book before they spend on dime. Thank you Derek for making this real!

it's no surprise that the high levels of corruption and greed in the world affects our most earnest efforts of art and expression, and as Beres writes of often in Tangled Web, the human connection.
A timely and important piece of work reminding us about what truly matters in our personal and professional endeavors. Beres writes with grace and poetry as he documents the fascinating twists and turns of the modern music industry's challenges.