Desktop Publishing Books

I have found better books out there, but this one is okay. Good to get you started.

Awesome learn by example book IF you already have a little background in CSS, and even then if your knowledge is elementary you might be lost on some of the finer points. If it had a little more theory and explanations it would be a killer book, but I guess Eric Meyer didn't have patience enough for that. He is anyway a Master in CSS styling, no doubts about that, and the right author too look at for learning and inspiration. The book is structured around several projects that you see in the various developing stages from beginning to end in reasonably small steps. The explanations of what's going on are like what you would expect from a guru/designer/artist that is, far from complete and basic. Again is like you had the chance to peek over Eric's shoulder while he works, but he won't be bothered to lose too much of his time after you. But don't get me wrong, this book is a must have for anyone interested in CSS, even if I would not buy it now (it starts being a bit dated) but would wait for his next book that should come out this autumn.

The first seen this book seems one more technical guide about CSS, but to the first contact realizes that it is a great reference based on needs to everyday of the web designer.
The book starts boarding how to initiate layout HTML transition for layout hybrid (still with the tables use but of optimized way), and with that goes gradually preparing the reader to think and to create the such wished Layout CSS (Tableless).
Besides talking about CSS he shows how to conceive a semantically correct code HTML and thus obtain a more organized and accessible structure.
This book boards the structure and presentation separation concept, positioning CSS, columns in CSS, leaves creation of alternative style, forms and effects presentation in links, lists and images.
The book Eric Mayer on CSS is one of the best references about CSS who already I saw, and can tell that he is indispensable in the web designer library.

I wanted a quick crash course in CSS; instead this book gave me a comprehensive start that led me on a path to a solid foundation in designing with Cascading Style Sheets.

Attention to details, comprehensive and professional writing style, and superior clarity are just some of the strengths of this book. I only wish that more IT books were as easy to read as this one.

Before skimming through "Eric Meyer on CSS" I expected an introductory level CSS tutorial book that would provide readers with step-by-step instructions on how to create efficient CSS layouts. The back cover lists standard concepts that are covered in the book in addition to an accurate depiction of Eric Meyer's professional experience level and expert ability with CSS [...]. Yet, after reading the introduction and beginning the first few chapters, I quickly learned this book is ideal for persons with a solid foundation in HTML and at least a basic understanding of CSS. For example, project 1 (i.e. chapter 1) illustrates how to remove HTML markup and replace it with CSS layout, but does not go into detail about the HTML markup and mentions CSS properties/terminology as a side note rather than main point.

I think a major selling point of "Eric Meyer on CSS" is its excellent project based approach to CSS; each project can be completed in a single session and built my proficiency and confidence upon chapter completion. Additionally, the chapter layout is quite organized and easy to follow with full support and completed files available from the book's website. For example, the necessary steps for each project are incorporated into the main body of the text with illustrations and easily identifiable code. Go to the website to double check for accuracy or help troublshoot your work. Definitions, clarifications, warnings, and sample code links are neatly laid out in the columns to the side of the text's main body. Depending upon your comfort level of CSS, it is easy to skip around chapters and projects or work straight through.

An inconveniencing aspect of this book is that the CSS is difficult to reference. While the index lists the page numbers to CSS functions, the CSS is incorporated into any number of projects/tutorials, which may or may not be useful for the task you are performing. This book transforms HTML pages into CSS efficient pages; this is a positive consistent quality throughout "Eric Meyer on CSS", but it may have less relevance for people wishing to create HTML + CSS pages from scratch. In future versions of this book, I think it would be interesting to note layout differences between HTML versions and include CSS for XHTML.

Overall, I found "Eric Meyer on CSS" a transformational book for HTML and CSS and I give it the highest possible rating. I recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in CSS or who may use CSS on a quasi regular basis. It is a fine addition to any level (i.e. introductory, intermediate, advanced) CSS library or small collection. Essentially this book taught me how to do professional quality HTML "make overs" with CSS in a manner of speaking; it taught me how to convert HTML pages into more efficient and attractive pages using CSS.

I do a lot of advanced ActionScripting and development, but I have had a lot of holes missing and things that I did not quite understand. This book fills in the gaps that are left out with other Flash books. This book explains the process and programming in a complete and easy to understand fashion. This books shows and explains the how and the why.

This is a great book, even if you are more advanced with ActionScript, you'll find yourself understanding more about it and new ways to develop and program your Flash development projects.

right now I have been tweening in flash for several months and I got some honest comments from visiters of my website that it was dull and boring. I aggreed with these comments and decided to take it one step further thus I bought this book to learn actionscripting. I have had a little previous knowledge of programming, I have learnt full HTML and a bit of visual basic 6.0. But none of this knoledge came in that useful when it came to action script. This book teaches you from the beginning, right up to the advanced. But the main reason I wrote this review is because I totaly disagree with the review writen by someone called 'A Reader from USA' I mean to say I no the title is a bit misleading but for god sakes, how on earth can you give this book such a bias and unfair judgement if you haven't even bought it and you said that you only ficked though it. Honestly how stupid can you get.

Before I bought this book, I only know a little about programming and knew only the basic stuff in Flash: tweening, point a to b animation, etc. Wanting to go to the next level, I bought this book. I never look back since. What makes this book perfect to learn actionscript, in my opinion, is that every line of code is always explained clearly and thoroughly in lay man's term. This book is written in such a way that as if the author's are there with you. By the time you finish reading this book, you'll be more than ready to make your own applications.

I found this book to be very helpful. It breaks Actionscripting down into easily digestible chunks and leads you through the learning process step by step. The lessons are clearly and entertainingly written and the humour is an unexpected bonus. I found it especially helpful that the book gives a detailed description of what each element in a script does.

If you're looking for a straightforward way to learn Action Script, you must get this book. It includes excellent examples in a hands-on, project-based learning environment. It really demystifies a lot about scripting in Flash. I've bought several books dealing with Flash MX, and this is definitely the best one I've ever read.

Several members of the Brentwood (TN) Camera Club have formed an 0n-line group where we report on how we are understanding the ideas being presented.

Dan Margulis is a key "guru" in color correction and the use of curves in PhotoShop and our group just wants to understand his concepts so we can individually improve our work.

Serious stuff and requires concentration and thought. This is not a recipe book as are so many books on PhotoShop. This goes way beyond and we feel it is essential.

This book will give you almost everything you need to know about Color Management. Margulis is a leading expert in the field of Color Management and he is thorough in his presentation. You may find that he is a bit difficult to understand, but if you read the book twice it gets better and easier to understand.

In the first 20 Pages I learned new things about color and image control. This book is jammed full of information and examples. While it is not an easy read it is a must read for anyone interested in getting better results from their images. Each chapter has something new to teach you. I know I will be re-reading this book a few times to try to absorb all the information in it.

The book is absolutely a treasure. It is not necessarily an easy book and beginners would find it difficult. However, any serious user of Adobe Photoshop should own and become very familiar with this material. Perhaps having purchased his other book Photoshop LAB Color, earlier in the year, helped me to more rapidly assimialte the material. In any event I give them both five stars.

I bought this book on Amazon sight unseen, after reading the glowing reviews. I wish I could return it. I consider myself above beginner level at Photoshop but found this book too difficult to follow. I found Dan Margulis' style of writing utterly frustrating and a bore to read. I may have gotten more out of this book if it was written in an easier to follow style like Katrin Eismann or Lee Varis' books. I also disliked the use of CMYK throughout the book. I have read others reviews and agree with one that this book is not 'user friendly'. Another reviewer says you will need to reread this book and I agree that is probably the case, however if you are like me you will struggle to read it through once. I'm desperate for a good book on colour correction but my search continues ...

If anybody is serious about editing pictures in Adobe Photoshop CS2 it is the best book on the market. Following the steps in the book you can achieve astonishing effects. Besides, this book is not so borring as Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book.

I have owned this book for one year and have been intimidated by the many favorable reviews this author has received. However, after looking up a topic in this book and, once again, having minimal clarity shed on the subject, I've decided to tell it like it is. It reads like an encyclopedia. I have 2 advanced degrees and learned chess, photography, and photoshop from books. But this book is user unfriendly and if I do not tell that to others, then they took will waste their money. If you do not believe me, then leaf through the book at one of the local book stores and decide for yourself. At least I've warned you. Stick with Scott Kelby, Rob Sheppard, Ellen Anon and Tim Grey.

I bought this book on Amazon a few weeks ago. Normally I have a difficult time staying interested in a how-to book. The Kelby books keep me interested with wit and charm (and they know the subjects they write about well) but Martin Evening has a way off keeping my interest with a minimum of humor and anecdotes. The book is laid out so well. Every subject seems to be in it's proper place to allow the continuity of the book to progress in a logical manner that will help a novice photoshop user to learn CS2. Don't worry about having to go ahead in the book to figure out something they assume you should already know. I surmise that Mr. Evening is an Englishman because of some of the spellings and terminology, such as colour vs color. But he avoids the use of any terminology that Americans will have difficulty deciphering. The CD presents some of the topics in the book in video plus it provides some sample files to work with. Of all of the Photoshop CS2 books I bought I would reccomend this one over any other. The author has worked hard to make this one a real winner.

Great onfo, just starting out on Mac...so anything seems great to me. I am a photographer and like the way the chapters are done...informative!

This book is better than an owners manual for cs2, taking you through step by step instructions, if you already know something just skip that section, if you don't then it works, and it's easy to understand. The pages are color coded, great index and it has lots of picture examples.

Takes you step by step, just like a classroom. Covers items you can't figure out on your own!

Bought this ages ago, when I was considering Adobe Photoshop Qualification. Now, Photoshop integrates tutorial videos into its newer Photoshop models, but the Classroom in a Book was an excellent way to learn. It provides images on a disk to work with while you follow along in the guide book.

For the most part it covers the basics of photoshop, nothing to complicated. It explains the ground-level functions in a way that anyone can understand. If you want to become a image master then this is a great starting place for the Photoshop beginner.

I was expecting a guided class ,instead I found no instructions at all, no exercises to practice on the CD.
I was sitting in front of the photoshop screen with a picture and that's it.
I guess it would be better that the publishers explain somehow that you need a previous knowledge of the program.
It must be good for people who just need to upgrade previous knowledge, but I won reccomend it if you don't have it.

One thing I have learned after using Photoshop for over 15 years is, there is always something else to learn. The Photoshop 7.0 Classroom Book is a great tool for this purpose.

Tomese tiempo, mucho tiempo si desea comprarlo para leerlo.
Dan Ablan es sinonimo de detalles importantes para hacer 3D, este libro aunque es transitorio es muy detallado para conocer y reforzar la informacion que ya dispone de LW

From 2004's 'The Incredibles' to the great 2006's 'Monster House' & 'Happy Feet' knowledge of LightWave is at the forefront for how-to in spell-binding 3-D Animation. And this book takes you from a basic start to accelerating your own imagination to new heights. Ablan is able to make quite complicated procedures simple and step-by-step understandable. Those who complain may just want results without the time taken to learn. If you have thorough grounding in Photoshop you can do this! Once you follow Ablan's direction you discover your own. A fantastic book, excellent resource as part of your digital design library.

While still trying to appreciate the huge task that the author undertook, I must say for those who consider buying the book to be aware that there are quite a few errors in the exercises that take some time to figure out (trial and error) for a LW newbie like me. At least I couldn't understand quite clearly how to get around LW's user interface just by following the explanations in the book.

The explanations about Lighting and Rendering are good, I didn't find any satisfactory coverage regarding texturing though. The best that I could do in that regard is just following the examples without knowing the "why" and consequently I don't think I have a thorough understanding to do any original texturing. Maybe there's assumptions that the target audience already know about texturing and the author just provided additional tips.

I would recommend to buy the DVD tutorial "Get Into Seven" to help you get started, some of the explanations there are much better to understand and can be combined with this book to help you learn LW. And with the basic skill from the DVD, the material in the book is making much more sense and you would even be able to spot the errors and correct them.

I hope all the errors are fixed and more explanations would be included in the "Inside Lightwave 8" edition.

I purchased this book in the hopes that I'd be able to learn LightWave 7. Sadly this book is definetly not for beginners. Early on I realized something was wrong when the book jumped straight into the Suface Editor. The chapters on modeling could hardly be described as tutorials. One modeling chapter dove straight into modeling a large skyscraper without teaching you many of the fundamentals of modeling. I felt like I was following a cook book. Step after step of 'type the following into the numeric window, check this option, uncheck that option.'. This is not how you learn. I had no understanding of why I was using the specified values and most of the time the author didn't go into any detail regarding it. The chapter on modeling a human face was both exciting and a let down. Hours upon hours of work and I still felt like the fundamentals escaped me, yet I had a decent looking model.

I went out and brought Inside Lightwave 8 soon after. I have to say, it is many many times better. It's written by the same author, but the pacing and examples are greatly improved. Even not having LightWave 8, I learned more in chapter 1-3 of that book then I did reading Inside Lightwave 7. Unfortunetly, for those without Lightwave 8, that book has limited usefulness.

I would not recommend this book to a beginner or newbie looking to learn Lightwave 7 from scratch.

I was new to Lightwave when I purchased this book. On the surface it looked like it covers a good deal of material and it does. However, I take issue with the way some of it is presented. To the beginner, it felt like, "getting a drink from a fire hose." I was looking for a few simple examples to learn the basics from and gradually work to larger tutorials. I didn't find too much of that here. The first parts of the book jumped into texturing objects, before it really explained how to make the object in the first place. (i.e. modeling) This made it difficult to build objects that you could experiment on using different textures. The modeling section jumped right into designing a large city block or an entire human head at the start. It never really demonstrated how to do "simple" objects from start to finish. The closest it came to that delt with making subsections of skyscrapers that didn't look like anything until the entire building was completed. It would have been nice to do a few simple models before trying to build complex items like a city or human head. If you worked slowly through every step of the tutorials, you will eventually learn quite a bit. Unfortunately, by that time you've spent many, many hours before you have anything to show for the effort. You don't feel like you accomplish very much in the process. You can skip sections of the tutorials, but if you do, you will miss a trick or key that may not be repeated elsewhere.
The book has a good deal of tricks and information in it, but I still had to keep jumping between it and the Newtek manual before I was able to understand some sections.
Overall, it does cover a very large amount of modeling and texturing. I like that, but I didn't like how it didn't ramp up to "large projects." Finally, I would like to have seen a little more information on actually using Lightwave to animate with. It goes into overwhelming detail on modeling and texturing, but very little on making the model actually animate.

Complete Digital Photography (4th Ed) is a good basic explanation of how digital photography differs from film. Having browsed the 3rd edition before buying the 4th, I found much of the 4th Ed to be repetitive and there was not substantive new material. That does not diminish the value of this book if you are getting started in digital photography. This book should be of value to the novice photographer as well as the accomplished amateur who is switching from film to digital. Warning: if you are looking for a book to guide you through the artistic side of photography -- the 'how-to-take-a-great-picture' instructions, this is not the book for you. This book explains how things work, why they work the way they do, and can serve as an excellent reference for the novice digital photographer as he or she gets more into the craft and wants to try new things. As a relatively accomplished amateur film photographer, it has eased my transition to SLR-digital.

In depth yet easy to understand topics regarding digital photography and use of dslrs. highly reccommend.

I have never written a review on anything, but I felt compelled to write a few lines about this book. It is simply AMAZING! I went from nearly zero knowledge about digital photography to producing great looking images with my Nikon D40. As a matter of fact, I just put one of my first photos in a frame and I'm ready to hang it and display it in my home. The feeling of accomplishment is just great.

This very thorough book begins with a non-intimidating review of technical aspects of digital photography (focusing on digital SLRs), follows with tips for better shooting (composition, exposure, etc), and finishes with post-processing (color and tone adjustments) and output (printing). It truly offers EVERYTHING you need to dive into digital photography. The post-production tutorials are particularly useful. I would suggest that you download a trial version of Photoshop CS3 or get a copy of Photoshop Elements in order to enjoy tutorials in the included CD.

Five stars! No question about it.

I got this book for a digital photography class and I love it. It is easy to undersand and well put together.

While Ben may have some good ideas, he clearly lacks in the knowledge of the cameras. This shows through time and again. For example, the fact that he will choose a camera of a specific brand over a better camera from another brand only because of the name printed on the body is simply laughable. Very biased towards certain products without regard for what works best. Sometimes when he gives advise that is completely wrong simply because he doesn't know enough on how to use a particular device or technique.

Excellent book. I can't put it down. It's giving the answers to my questions. The AE manual is dry with short descriptions. AE CIB is OK for teaching where to click etc. This book tells the whys, hows, etc. Detailed but easy to read.

I've been a long time fan of the Meyers' column on DV magazine, so when I heard they were publishing a book I knew it would be great. I think that this book and it's companion After Effects in Production should be in every motion graphics artists personal library. The tutorials are beautifully explained and illustrated. Even advanced users learn new ways of doing things. For what I've seen beginers can use it as a text book and follow it sequentially, for advanced users it's a great reference book that completly substitutes the original manuals.

Well, I bought this book after the glowing reviews. But in all frankness, I found the beginning chapters and tutorial to be very difficult to follow. The authors do write that in this book, you are immediately thrown into the AE process...they weren't kidding.

Rather than start a newbie off with a simple composition, they throw a very complicated at you from the get go. I'm pushing buttons and following instructions the best I can, but for the life of me, I don't understand the process. It would have been much better for them to start off with an explanation of all the buttons, switches, boxes, icons, commands, etc.

So, if you're new to AE, I'd steer clear of this one. I've already been through the first tutorial twice, and it still doesn't come any easier. Yes, I do realize that AE is complicated software, but there's GOT to be a better way to present the material!

I am probably destined for an actual classroom training course just to first get over the hump....and I'm a 25 year veteran of film/video production. Photoshop and Illustrator...no sweat.
Other than that, the book looks like it has a lot of good stuff in it...but it will collect dust on my shelf.

PM

I was a beginner and this was all I ever used to learn AE. I left out the Z b/c obviously they must have left out a technique or two, but otherwise this is all you need to get up and running. Forget the videos others offer, they're a waste of time and money. There's plenty of online support and training offered from various user groups, some with FREE video clips. LES MEYERS get an A+++++ from this DV Editor.

I Have the videos ...I have the books, they are all collecting dust except for this one. Trish and Chris Meyer are the Ae guru's. I have been using Ae for about 2 yr.s and I have dramatically increased my income because of this book. Now all the :30 and 1:00 commercials I do are done in After Effects. I strongly recommend this book for an intermediate to experienced editor wanting to break into motion graphics and compositing. This book is guaranteed to raise your IQ (and could quite possibly help in raising your income).

Katrin made a believer out of me in just a few pages. I have been using Photoshop since 1991 but, like other reviewers here, I was "freehanding" it and some of my methods were somewhat less than efficient. Within minutes of opening this book I realized there was so much more than I knew, and quite frankly I was enlightened by this book where others offered shortcuts to less-than-relevant issues. In this book you are sometimes offered multiple solutions to the same issues, which is SO how Photoshop works insofras a pathways to resolutions can be so various, so there's room to incorporate what you already know. This was the first volume of hers that I bought but not the last. I strongly recommend this book and this author to anyone who's serious about photographic restoration.

Too many mediocre Photoshop books haunt the market. RESTORATION & RETOUCHING ain't one of them.

High praise: I've reached for this book over and over again when faced with new Photoshop challenges.

Only just noticed I have the First Edition and not the Third... Clicking-through now to purchase the latest edition. I know it'll be worth it.

Kirtland Peterson

I will admit it. Many of my photos have flaws. Many have not been preserved properly.

They represent memories, however, so I am reluctant to toss them in the trash. Katrin Eisman's book equipped me with the skills to restore them to a state to which I can be proud. This book has helped me take my well-intentioned, yet poorly executed photos, correct the color, contrast and tone. Mold, cracks and torn edges mystically disappear.

The moments I attempted to preserve were precious to me. The beautiful images that result from her easy to find, easy to follow, step-by-step instructions are a gift.

I've been thru this book, was not able to put it down. After going throught the tutorials and reading through the chapters I feel very confident that I will be able to really bring poor pictures back to justice. Katrin really knows how to explain the subject along with showing very good examples of work done, this is a must have for anyone wanting to step their feet into photo restoration and retouching, and not just switching a monkey head for a real one. I have actually read through this book twice since I've had it.

I'm a novice who wanted to restore a whole bunch of all photos from family that my grandmother had in her atic, so I decided to buy Photohop by recomendation of a friend of mind. I have no previous experience in this field, but this book was everything I needed it.
The author is so detailed and the practices so well prepare that it took me no time to hands of it, and look like a profesional in front of my entire family and friends. I would recommend this book to anyone, experts or novices like me.

Overall, this is a good book that thoroughly covers all the essentials of putting together a system and practices to organize and preserve your photo collection.

On the hardware side, he shows excessively expensive harddrive setups, when 2TB Western Digital MyBooks are dropping under $500. (Such statements are always relative to the date they're made -- 18 months from now that might be 4TB for $400.) I do agree with some comments he makes about RAID not being such a hot idea. The increasing size of individual drives is making the time it takes to reconstruct a failed drive in a RAID configuration reach absurd levels. When it took five or more drives to assemble 1TB, RAID seemed pretty clever. It's time has passed.

On the software side, he pushes Bridge plus iView MediaPro. That may have been the hot setup when the book was published, but Lightroom is gaining converts at a high rate. A 2nd edition revised to center on Lightroom would be good. At the very least, he'd need to explain exactly what Bridge + iView MediaPro can do that Lightroom can't and why it matters. I believe Lightroom alone offers a much less convoluted system then that combination.

Finally, for a book whose entire point is organizing and preserving photos, it has a curious hole. If your photo archive is all of your family's pictures, as opposed to a wedding photography business, how do you ensure it will outlive you? He makes a few remarks about how having things well organized will make it easier for your family, but that's it. Thinking about such things proves I'm getting to be an old fart, but it strikes me as a major omission in a book on this subject.

My criticisms shouldn't detract from my original statement -- it's overall a good book. Even if I don't follow his exact hardware and software recommendations, he made me think through whether my combination was completely sound. I've changed how I was doing some things, and changed some of my ideas about what I plan to do in the future, as a result. It's the best and most thorough book on the subject available to date.

If you're an amateur or a professional getting into digital photography you need to sit down and read a book like this. Managing your photographs (your "assets") is necessary and it will help you find, print and publish your work.

This book isn't 100% up to date but the book's web site is a nice supplement with active discussions.

This is a must-have book for photographers who are amassing a large collection of photos.

I needed to read it 2 times before getting a feel for how to impliment it.

Great strategies and it has now changed my workflow completely and for the better

Money very well spent (although it cost me many thousands more since I also updated my computer, server, and softward to impliment this)

Regards, Dean

This is a good book. It is very helpful in determining how to organize photographs. It also is a give a good review of Bridge. It would be nice for the book to be up dated to cover CS3.

I found this book to be an excellent resource to help you to understand how all the pieces fit together.