Design Books

Pro Ajax and the .NET 2.0 Platform gets high marks from me because it is concise, informative and easy to follow. After reading the first three chapters I had a clear understanding of what Ajax really is. Author Dan Woolston has extensive experience with AJAX and he seemed to share it all here without overwhelming this reader.

Woolston did not waste my time in getting me up to speed. In the first three chapters I learned how to write my own reusable (cross browser) JavaScript functions that will work together to execute an Ajax call.

Of course I might rely on one of the various existing frameworks to do this for me. However, now I know what's going on under the covers and I can make an informed decision about what Ajax to use and when. I know exactly what is happening when Ajax is implemented and why.The book also does a nice job of covering CSS and the DOM (document object model). As you know (or will know after reading), these combine with JavaScript to create the foundation of Ajax! Once you understand how they work together you'll know more about Ajax than 90% of your developer friends.

Excellent Feature #1: The overview of JavaScript, CSS and the DOM is fantastic. I really appreciated the fact that it was concise and dead-on accurate in addressing the specific elements that a .NET developer needs to understand in order to code Ajax.

Continuing on, after the book had me up to speed with Ajax, it went into n-tier design. This is important because, in theory, a programmer can go hog wild on Ajax and break tons of rules regarding sound application architecture. So I was impressed that Woolston transitioned directly into best-practices for how and when to use Ajax.

The first third of the book covers Ajax theory and best-practices. With Ajax, one size does not fit all. Therefore, chapter seven includes overviews of many popular Ajax frameworks including non .NET frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, WebORB, xajax (PHP) and Direct Web Remoting (Java). It also covers .NET frameworks including Ajax.NET, Anthem and Atlas.

The other two thirds of the book are devoted to Ajax programming concepts. The author uses the Anthem framework for most of this coding. Anthem is an open-source, .NET framework in C# that is compatible with ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0. It is extremely lightweight, requiring only one class file for core functionality.

Excellent Feature #2: The book's code walkthroughs are based on a fully functional n-tier sample application that you can download free. The sample application uses the AdventureWorks database which is also a free download from Microsoft if you don't already have access to it.

You might think that some .NET features and topics lend themselves to Ajax technology and therefore should be covered in more detail. You'd be right. Woolston sets aside complete chapters on Web services, Custom Controls, ASP.NET Security and Web Parts.

Excellent Feature #3: When you're done learning how to build your own Ajax, there are two chapters devoted to debugging and testing Ajax.

One of the last chapters was my favorite. Chapter 19 is all about usability. As you may know, Ajax solves many usability problems. But can also create new ones. Woolston addresses the good, the bad and the ugly.

The book provides ideas and examples of good Ajax. The author has test-driven many Ajax controls and shares his trials and tribulations. This feedback no doubt will save developers valuable time.

The book also discusses potential pitfalls of using Ajax. Woolston tackles cross-browser compatibility issues and how to best overcome them. He also talks about how to deal with the browser's back button. How to handle browsers with disabled JavaScript and how to work past the problem of pageshifting.

Some of the other usability topics covered in Chapter 19 include Ajax menus, bookmarking, type-aheads, connected controls, code visibility and page paradigms.

Suffices to say this book packs a big Ajax punch. I highly recommend it to any of my peers who are interested in building Ajax functionality into their web applications. This book is applicable to .NET developers who are working with ASP.NET 1.1 or 2.0. In my opinion, web developers of any skill level will find it helpful.

About 3/4 done with this book. Today I just built my 1st Ajax feature in a few hours at work with the suff I learned. This books is a quick read with great examples works in both 1.1 and 2.0. Buy it!

i didnot think that i would like this book because for me apress is famous with their books having lacking style of examples. Normally you find yourself lost in the examples eventough the topic is covered very well.
This book is different than others absolutely; it starts with what is ajax; and why ajax and with simple examples.
if you dont know javascript; it is still ok because one of the chapters covers javascript; so you can learn enough javascript to handle the simple ajax pages.
Before diving into ajax; it tells you about different ajax libraries; so i like this part too; you will have an idea about other ajax libraries too.
I could not run the first example which is the easiest one and i struggle a lot to solve it;but most of the codes in the book is easy to implement.
And guess what; as you can see from the title; the book is for .NET developers; so if you are a .NET developer; this is right book to buy.
It is not like other apress books that have coding examples problem. the sequence for the chapter makes the book easy to follow.
After reading this book; i start reading some tutorials about Atlas ( which is basically Microsoft's Ajax ) and it really helps you to understand atlas too;
If you like google maps; or virtual maps; this books has a suprise for you :)
i read 4-5 different books from apress and this one is the best; i will highly recommend this book to all .net developers who want to learn ajax with .net

I hardly ever review books and probably wouldn't have bothered this time if it were not for an email from Amazon seeking one. I decided to go ahead with a review because this book really filled a need I had for working with AJAX for the first time. It had me up and running in very short order. Did it go over a couple things along the way that I already knew? Yes. But I didn't mind it in that it treated all topics in an intelligent manner and helped explain where AJAX fit into the broader world of web development. Definitely geared for .NET. That's what I wanted. If that's what you're looking for, you won't be disappointed.

I had done some little test applications utilizing Ajax and/or Atlas prior to reading this book, and I wanted this book to really give a solid base from which to move forward with.

Mr. Woolston's writing style is personable but not too over the top. One thing I did not like about the writing style is the manner in which code is laid out at times. For instance, with many of the sample applications, Mr. Woolston will dump about 5-6 pages of code into the book and then work towards restating it in part afterwards with some explanation. I can see where it would be useful if not in front of the sample code/a PC, but in reality this book will not be useful if not in front of a computer working on the examples.

There are other times where some of the content is not really useful in furthering education about Ajax and certain examples it feels are stretched to make the chapters longer. I think there was likely a challenge in filling out a reasonable sized book because simply put - the fundamental elements of Ajax aren't that complex. I found myself done with the book in a period of less than a week.

Those things said, after reading the book I can certainly say the overall content has an excellent "perspective of the landscape". From a history of Ajax to a little primer on Javascript, CSS/DOM, and the XmlHttpRequest, he moves forward to examples of Ajax demonstrating the technology with an Ajax framework named Anthem. The main meat of the book are really these examples, where practice implements the ideas from the prior chapters.

Lastly, the book closes with a few chapters covering security, testing, usability, performance, and a token chapter on Atlas.

One other element that I appreciated in this book was the identification of a few free tools out there to aid in Ajax development. Those tools in their own right would have definitely contributed to some time savings a week or two ago when I was struggling with a couple DOM/CSS issues prior to reading this book!

In summary, perhaps a book stretched to fit it's cover but nevertheless a very useful read to me and I would certainly recommend it.

This book was a joy to read. It gives a great overview of quality issues within "Web systems" - meaning Web applications and architectures. The book balances a too-specific look with a too-general look and succeeds quite well in a balanced treatment that will make the whole worth the attention of any quality assurance or quality tester professional in the Information Technology industry.

In particular, the second chapter, on the RSI Approach, is a nice addition as this is something that most practitioners of quality subjects will not find elsewhere and the general subject matter is generally that which is avoided in books of this type. Another topic often avoided in these books is that of usability and accessibility concerns and yet these are covered here in good detail chapter six.

In general, I think the book offered a great amount of detail just where it was needed and gave a lot of "mini best-practices" in each chapter with the use of bulleted lists to highlight specific points. The detail of the book extends to various topics, like performance, compatibility, usability, and security - all topics that are of high concern in the current world of making qualitly Web systems that customers and user respond to. The appendices in the book are also excellent. The "Test Tool Evaluations" section will be a welcome addition to those who wish there are more concise evaluation forms for automated tool solutions.

I highly recommend this book to quality assurance/testing professionals, quality assurance managers, and even those who work more in the project management and development spheres. Those latter will get benefit from the book because the book manages to highlight topics of concern to both groups and also gives them insight into the quality aspects of the projects and products that are developed within an organization.

Although the authors of this book are noted experts in software testing this book goes far beyond testing by addressing the full range of quality and design issues for web-based systems.

All of the major elements of web-engineering and quality are addressed, including SECURITY (this is the first test or quality book that fully acknowledges the relationship between quality and security, which is a cornerstone of the Reliability-Availability-Support triad for systems in production), PERFORMANCE (I especially liked this section because it got into the guts of performance and scalability), COMPATIBILITY (essential for ensuring that your system works with the world of users over whom you have no control - web-based systems can and usually do extend into the great unknown), and USABILITY (this will make or break a commercial web site).

Aside for the complete coverage of all of the important topics that need to be considered, and the life cycle approach to quality and testing this book contained a real gem: RSI approach to use cases. RSI (Requirements-Service-Interface) is an interesting and highly useful approach to use cases. Some key strengths of using the RSI paradigm is that you will ensure traceability between requirements and the services and interfaces that are implemented. Moreover, this approach partitions services and interfaces, which allows you to manage the complexities when developing a test strategy and associated test cases. To me the chapter on RSI was worth the price of the book.

Overall, this is a solid book that covers testing, as well as the larger domain of systems quality. It gives some unique insights of issues and factors related to testing, but is not solely about web testing. It should be read by all key team members including requirements analysts, architects, developers, test engineers and project managers *before* a web project is initiated.

This book is excellent for any web systems tester. It covers all areas of functional and non-functional testing related to the Web.
It covers how to most efficiently model a web application using a specific use case approach, in addition it covers how to test for security, performance, usability of a web site. The book has been very useful in our testing efforts.

This book covers quality assurance of web systems beyond merely testing. It offers practical insight for designers, developers, project managers and quality assurance team members. A big bonus is the appendix which details and compares automated test tools.

This is one of the best quality assurance books in a while... Thinner than Automated Software Testing, but as informative! If you are doing any kind of web testing, this one's a must have for your library. Talks about all aspects of software testing on the web. I give it 5 stars hands down!

In all my experience with fine woodworking I haven't had the pleasure to read a book that so well written that it is as exquisite as the pieces within. This book is a must for every serious furniture maker or perhaps collector who wants to learn and appreciate this magnificent craft. How did I miss this one?

In all my experience with fine woodworking I haven't had the pleasure to read a book that is as exquisitly written as the pieces within it. This book is a must for the serious furniture maker or collector, or anyone who wants to learn more and appreciate this magnificent craft. How did I miss this one?

Norman is obviously as incredibly talented an author as he is a cabinetmaker. I couldn't say enough about how great a job he did with the content of this book and drawings. I only wish he would write another one for each of the 18th century styles( Federal, Chipendale, etc) This is definately the bible for 18th century reproduction cabinetmakers. Please write another one Norman!

I agree with all the other reviews and can't really add much, except to say the photos are many in magnificent full colour, and he even has photos of incomplete pieces which is great for seeing how they are put together (I am specifically thinking of the easy chair). He does not stick to strict Queen Anne but covers the subtle variations such as the Gaines chair (one of my favourites) ... this book is a true gem and since receiving it I can hardly put it down. A great resource and would make a fantastic present for someone interested in woodwork. Queen Anne furniture would have to be near the pinnacle of woodworking but with this book it seems reachable.

Truly excellent.

Wish that author would write some more on other periods (ie ALL other periods from early medieval to modern). I would not hesitate to collect them all.

Recognizing that Queen Anne furniture is one of the timeless and most beautiful designs, I realized, on starting my first project, that I hadn't the foggiest idea of the history, the elements, or the construction techniques of Queen Anne furniture. This book has it all. The sections on history and the making of the cabriole legs in themselves make this book a "must have," both for the collector and for the cabinetmaker. To top it off, there are scaled plans for several projects, and some time-saving techiques for construction. If you get only one book on Queen Anne furniture, this is the one.

I am a private school elementary teacher, and was given this book as a gift by one of my students. It is a superb introduction to the state, and especially appropriate for children in the third grade and above. Many of the subjects that are included in the book are part of the Rhode Island curriculum, and many of the places included are field trips that our class has attended.

The writing is clear, crisp, and clean, and the drawings are age appropriate and very engaging. I highly recommend this book as an adjunct learning tool about Rhode Island, as well as a fun introduction to our state. I plan on recommending it as a text book for our school system...

Even though I have lived in New England for years, I learned a great deal about Rhode Island from RIAtoZ. The illustrations are charming, and the text makes this much more than a typical kids book. It's written from the perspective of someone who knows and truly loves Little Rhody. There should be a book like this for every state in the Union!!

We had Adam come to perform his Acme Miniature Circus at our Theatre in Brookline MA. He brought some books to sell, and I wanted to comment on how great the books are. Our patrons really loved them. We get a lot of kids and parents as patrons, and they all thought the book was fabulous. We are not even in Rhode Island! The book is entertaining, informative, and well worth getting.

From beginning to end, a wonderful book filled with interesting tidbits to get you started on an adventure in Rhode Island. For being the smallest state in the Union, we have a grand amount of history and Rhode Island A-Z is a perfect introduction to local landmarks. Just trying to drive around finding everything in the book is entertaining. Well written with clean artwork,
I highly recommend this book for young and old alike.

We got copies for all of our friends because kids really seem to like it--the coloring part is really, really well done, and they like having the history stuff read to them (unless they're old enough to read it, themselves).

Highly recommended.

I salivate over this book, and look at it daily. Diebenkorn has always been a big inspiration to my artistic endeavors, and the images in this book (plus the text, which is well written) is such a treat. Really covers it all!

Good book at an excellent price. It is worth it. Good pictures. Reading a little bit heavy.

I give it a 5 star because the content was exactly what I was looking for. To own a book by the author is difficult to find. The text is very informing and the photo's are true to color. I am always interested in abstract art, and I found it very informing.

One of the best art books I have read so far. The reproductions do justice to this master of color, virtually unknown outside the U.S.and, as a French reader,thanks to this book, I discovered one of the most impressive achievements in recent modern art: the Ocean Park series which Diebenkorn painted in the late 60's and early 70's. The other aspects of his oeuvre are, in my opinion, not as imposing, but to understand an artist, it is necessary to have a global vision of his output, and this is what this book manages to give.

Excellent monography about a painter all to discover; all the periods and technics are overviewed in a very pleasant language; a lot of place for reproduction of works of Diebenkorn and reproduction work is very meticulos. So, probably the best book about the work and life of Richard Diebenkorn

This is an excellent book. Starts with an overview and pictures of all the trucks needed to build a road and then proceeds with step-by-step with a picture of each truck doing its work. My son (who is 2 and 1/2) and I really enjoy this book. Our other truck books tend to show the whole process of building a road on one page and that is too overwhelming. This book does it just right!

My little boy has always been interested in machines and equipment as his daddy runs a blacktop plant. Imagine our surprise as we read through this wonderful construction book and learned that Simms Taback is our neighbor! All of the places listed in the book on road signs, equipment, and on the map are from our area. We were so intrigued by all of the familiar sites that we pointed it out to our local librarian who informed us that although she was not aware of the sites in the book, YES, Simms Taback lives in our town. ....It makes us wonder about the loader operator named Joe, who has the same name as daddy, who runs the loader at our asphalt plant! GREAT BOOK!!!!!

I bought this book second hand for 1.50 and wow, 1 year later it is still his favorite book. Our copy is held together with packing tape and glue. Every time I get bored with it and hide it, he still manages to find it. My two year old will never part with his road builders book

He doesn't get sick of it! He loves pointing out all the different types of trucks, finding the boss, and talking about the road builders going to build their next road.

If your little one is interested in construction machines, this book is a must. It is great. My boy memorized the words to this book when he was three and it helped him learn to read. The pictures are wonderful-- colorful and cartoonish yet very detailed as well.

I have a library of over 60 watercolor books, and this is by far my favorite. I also own all of Wades's tapes, and his new CD. I find them to be an extension of the book. I took a workshop from a famous watercolor teacher who had us doing wash on top of wash. She must have gotten the idea from Wade as he has a section on just that topic. He covers washes on top of finished paintings that changes the character of the painting completely. A fasinating book that I return to over and over again.

I was very impressed with this book. The side tabs make it easy to go directly to the section you want. Advice was excellent and well presented.

A beautifully printed hard cover book by an extraordinary watercolor artist. The book is filled with outstanding examples of landscapes, cityscapes from all over the world. In addition to being an inspired World class watercolor artist, Robert Wade is also a great teacher, the book is filled with practical advise and hands on lessons on color mixing, painting people,skies,glazing,location painting and many other subjects.Just to be able to look at his outstanding paintings would easily justify buying this book.

Excellent handbook for the serious watercolorist. Robert Wade has a great approach to some of the more difficult aspects of painting with watercolor. He is brief, to the point, yet his explanations make sense! Enjoyable reading and a great reference tool.

What a wonderful book with terrific instructions and insights. Replaces 20 books in my collection which don't come close to the wisdom this book provides.

It was the perfect help to work with Freezer-Paper, the describtion and Visual Guide are very clearly.

Unfortunately I missed out on a live workshop with Ruth and sent my best buddy in my place instead. She LOVED it!!! Even though I tried to practice her techniques in her other books, I never quite 'got it'. I guess I'm just more of a 'show me what you do' kind of person.
This book changed all that and I made her sugar maple quilt quickly and easily and I'm thrilled with the outcome! Also, with her guidance on inset seams, I finished a difficult navajo quilt that had had me stumped because I couldn't get the seams set in just right. But with her latest book, it was like having this amazingly talented and wonderful lady right there with me! She is such inspiration, her quilts are outstanding and absolutely fabulous! Thanks Ruth, -can't wait for the next one!!!

Certainly a 5-star book. You can take your quilt piecing to a new level with Ruth's piecing techniques. The instructions and pictures are very detailed, concise & clear. Combined with her "Designing Workshop" book, you could produce gorgeous, detailed art quilts.

Ruth B. McDowell's Piecing Workshop: Step-by-Step Visual Guide, Indispensable Reference for Quilters, Bonus Projects
My first quilt was by Cynthia England and was a parchment paper design. I won viewers choice with this quilt. I was anxious to find out more about this techinique and ways to creat my own designs. I chose Ruth's book because I own several of her other books and knew that I would not be disappointed; and I'm not. The how to instructions are not complicated and in an easy to understand format. I would recommend this book for the quilter whose time has come to move on to more inovative expressions of her art. Enjoy! Rose Germaine, Los Angeles

As with all of Ruth McDowell's books, she is very detailed and comprehensive on her instructions for accomplishing flawless piecing with minimum effort. She also makes you want to break out of all the quilting boxes and explore your own world of creativity.
I really enjoyed the book and will add it to my collection of reference quilt books.

This book is an excellent application of formal methodologies for e-business cases. The examples are useful according to the explanations. I was expecting more emphasis on cost of IT resources or methods in order to calculate. But, the authors guide the book in the resource and performance chapters showing an approach on how to measure from regular sites not from new e-business projects which begin from nothing, without any data from logs or similar metrics. However, the estrict compliance with the methodology presented and the explanation about security provided me with a good reason to have it.

I think it is the only book that deals with the e-business implementation methodocally and lays down a formal procedure. It is very well written and contains appropriate examples. It is recommendable not only for designers but also for managers.

There's not much else I can add to the string of reviews before mine, which ALL give full marks. The words in this review's title are the only that might add value.

This is one of those rare works which does not care to have one eye for the wannabe market. Suitable for both technicians & those folk needing to see the "big picture" (e.g. Managers)

This is one of a series of books about performance and capacity metrics by the authors. Each of their books covers a specific environment (client/server, mainframes, web services), and each explains the theory, quantitative methods and practical approaches using common tools like Microsoft Excel.

This book's focus is on performance and capacity of applications in the e-commerce infrastructure, and like the other books by the authors, it covers every facet while explaining the what's and why's. More importantly, this book will not overwhelm readers who are rusty in math because the authors weave in refresher material as they go along.

What makes this book valuable is the blend of business and technical topics, particularly in Part I where business models are thoroughly discussed. I personally believe that this material is as important as the more technically focused material in subsequent chapters because it wakes up the technical reader as to why their job of developing scalable solutions is important by linking the technical aspects to business imperatives.

Parts II (Evaluating E-Business Infrastructure and Services) and III (Capacity Planning for E-Business) are the heart of the technical matter, and the chapters systematically dissect each aspect of an e-commerce infrastructure from the application layer point of view. This is where quantitative methods are introduced and where the value of the spreadsheets on the CD ROM increase. Note that there are more up-to-date versions of these spreadsheets on the book's associated website, as well as errata for the book.

Practical considerations that blend the business and technical perspectives are presented in Part IV (Models of Specific E-Business Segments). This chapter consists of case studies that tie together all of the preceding material using real world examples.

Because this book is more focused on performance and capacity at the application and business model layer, you should read the authors' newest book, "Capacity Planning for Web Services: Metrics, Models, and Methods". That book covers the lower level details of the infrastructure
to round out the picture of an end-to-end view of performance and capacity management.

A Excellent Book witht a lot of examples and mathematical models that will help to found the correct way to implant a dot com business, Every IT must read it

I use this book frequently, especially when studying art books of Christian art as well as during a recent Bible study of the Book of Exodus. This was an invaluable guide to the symbolism used in art and the various meanings. For example, when studying the symbolic meaning of the priests robes of the Old Testament, the meaning of the pomegranate for the OT and NT is significant. In the OT, the pomegranate stood for the 613 Mosaic laws (the pomegranate was thought to contain 613 seeds). In the NT, the pomegranate is the symbol for the resurrection of Christ. The Hebrews believed following the law led them to God. For the Christian, belief in Jesus' death and resurrection leads to God! Enjoy this read.

When I bought this book, I needed a quick and dirty reference to religious symbolism in western art--I was pleased and surprised to find out that it's small, lightweight, and therefore portable when I visit museums. (Why don't more publishers consider weight and size when they print books for travelers? Lonely Planet and DK, I'm looking at you.)

Its easy size belies the incredible amount of useful information it contains; there are fourteen sections covering everything from the significance of certain animals to religious garments to a brief hagiography for commonly portrayed saints. About one-third of the book is a set of reproductions (sadly b&w in this edition) of famous renaissance religious paintings. There's no discussion or explanation accompanying the paintings--which is the only thing I don't like about the book.

And if you read one of the earlier reviews and are wondering about the chocolate mouse in Rosemary's Baby, it's a reference to mice as a symbol of evil because of their destructiveness.

Although not encyclopaedic, this book, first published in 1954, is indispensable to the art history, religious art, iconographic, and religious lives student. The essays are of significant depth without excessive volume, and the illustrations, although of a limited period (Medieval through Renaissance), are pungent enough from which to learn. Two limitation I will remark:
There are no representations from Eastern- or Byzantine- iconography.
The illustrations are all black and white.

I study Art history, and christian art. This book primarily focuses in on Renaissance paintings and thier symbols. I found it to be useful and detail orientated. A very good reference book.

If you are an art history student, this book is an absolute must. While there are many books that contradict one another when it comes to symbolism, this book is one that commonly agrees with others I have read or consulted.
For as inexpensive as this book is, you cannot afford NOT to get this book!