Adobe Books

This book was exactly what I needed to get quickly up to speed on web design and construction. I last built a site in 1997. For my new site I had designed an easy to use, but complicated to build site. I had no real idea how to build it. This book taught me how. It was easy to read and had hands on (my favorite) exercises. The best part was that it focuses on the preparation stage as well as the site production stage. I needed to learn all I could about slicing images and rollovers. This book covers them very well. It shows you how to shave off download seconds. I didn't really know what to do with ImageReady before. Now I am using it to its full potential! Unfortunately, I'll have to learn Flash to really speed up my site.

I found this book extremely easy to use and very helpful. The lessons were quick and easy to understand. I wish they would have gone into more complicated applications. For getting a handle on how to use Photoshop and ImageReady it was wonderful.

I received this book about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I just tore thru it! Linda Weinman and Tanya Staples did an outstanding job in covering and teaching me what I needed to know about Photoshop CS. It beat out Photoshop class room in a book by a mile!

To bad I can't take it back!{

This has revolutionized the way I design websites for my realtor clients at realtors-image com

Thank you Lynda, Tanya and special thanks to Garo Green....what an amazing trainer he is. I made the move from Frontpage to Dreamweaver MX with his training manual.

The field of Graphic/ Web Design is wide open if you just follow these manuals from Lynda Weinmans HOT Manuals,

Thank you all and god bless!

This is the first time that I've tried learning through the Hands on Training (H.O.T) books and after reading & practicing with the CD that comes along with the book, I think this is a great training book! The book was very well written and the having the CD with the practice files to train with really helps you learn. I am in no way new to Photoshop, but I'd never used ImageReady before. With this book, I literally was able to understand and learn ImageReady CS in one day, and I also learned a lot of useful tips in Photoshop CS that I had never used before. Plus, with the way the book is written, anytime you have a question or problem, you can skip to a certain page or chapter that should help you. I am very satisfied with this purchase and plan on using H.O.T exclusively to train on any other softwere that I need to learn.

The book description refers to the book as "this full-color volume" in error. The update from Photoshop/Imageready 7 to CS has added 220 pages of content, but to hold the same price point, it was necessary to produce the book in black and white. I really miss the color. I occasionally purchase a Photoshop book that is not in color, but with one exception (Deke McClelland's Look and Learn Photoshop 6), they always end up being returned.

Don't let me discourage you from buying the book -- it's still a great resource, even more so since Ben Willmore's Photoshop CS Studio Techniques no longer discusses web/Imageready topics -- but please be aware that it's not "in full color."

This book is one of the most information-dense Photoshop books I've seen. It specifically addresses selecting, layers, masks and channels, and is loaded with examples that are very pertinent to the material.

I consider myself an advanced amature with Photoshop CS2. I knew I needed to learn about Paths/Layers/Masks but was intimidated and confused (especially paths, masks, and channels).

This book is so well written that just into page 51, so many things just started clicking into place. Understanding what these things actually do, how and why made it seem much less confusing. I can hardly wait to sit down at my computer and start experimenting!

The only "negative" thing I can think of to say is the print in the book is just a tad on the small side ;).

I agree with the other reviewer in that this book tells you the how and the why not just a here is how you do it step by step with no explainations. I have several photoshop books; if I had to get rid of all but two, this is one of the two I would keep.

Though I havent finished yet it is i can say of a good value.
Easy to understand so i can recommend it for people who want to complete their existing knowledge with something else.

I've used both online and printed tutorials for Photoshop in the past, but French's Photoshop Unmasked is easily the easiest to understand and, most important, most helpful. Practical advice on real-world solutions, offered in clear, hands-on lessons with files stored on his personal website. After years of hobbyist use for amateur photography and web design, I finally feel like I'm unlocking the full power of Photoshop. The bibles are good for reference and some of the more arcane uses of Photoshop, but if you want a solid explanation of how to perform the actions you'll need to know regardless of how you use Photoshop personally, this is the only book you should need.

Selections options often trip up the novice Photoshop user. Nigel make this look easy. His style is easy to follow for novices and masters alike. Knowing what to do when is the key to an efficient working environment. For imaging forensics, having the what to do when discussion of selection and masking techniques here in book form helps you prepare for an intense cross.

This one should be on everyone's shelf.

Jim Hoerricks
http://forensicphotoshop.blogspot.com
Author of Forensic Photoshop - a comprehensive imaging workflow for forensic professionals

This book meets the needs of many people who are happy with the best-selling Adobe Classroom-in-a- book series, but found their content to be more appropriate to novices. Using the same tutorial approach with concise, well-illustrated and clear explanations, this book is a must for web designers and any digital-era artist.

Ok, this is a good book. A very good book. It is well written, clear and easy to follow. And the projects are, for the most part, more useful in real-world than the basic classroom in a book series.

I just think the title is misleading. This is NOT a book of ADVANCED techniques. It is NOT "Bert Monroy" advanced techniques or "Photoshop channel chops" advanced techniques.

What this book actually is, is the NEXT STEP UP from PS & Illustrator basic classrooms in a book. And if that is where you are in your level of knowledge of PS & Illustrator, then put your money on the table and get this book because you will learn A LOT.

Maybe my problem is that I expect more from the people at Adobe. Every week they post these "showcases" at Adobe.com showing these amazing images that were created using their software. I for one wish they would start showing us HOW to create them instead of WHO is creating them. Anyway, I digress.

Here's some usefull information on this book.

Chapter 1; PREPARING IMAGES FOR PRINT OR THE WEB. (yawn) You got this in the basic CIAB.

Chapter 2; SHADING & BLENDING. Been there, done that. Nothing new.

Chapter 3; ACQUIRING DIGITAL IMAGES. Scanning, Photo CD, etc. (I kid you not).

Chapter 4; ADVANCED MASKING. O.K., now you're starting to learn something. A nice chapter on some neat masking tricks in both PS & Illustrator.

Chapter 5; ADVANCED COMPOSITING. Nice chapter on blending with layer masks, layer modes, etc.

Chapter 6; COLOR MANAGEMENT & DISTRIBUTION. Hey, you at Adobe... quite with the chapters on "optimizing web-art". WE GET THE POINT, already...Low resolution & Primary colors. Jeez.

Chapter 7; ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY AND LAYOUT. Always useful, always overlooked. Great stuff.

Chapter 8; MASTERING THE PEN TOOL. If you didn't get the hang of it in the basic CIAB, this info isn't going to help.

Chapter 9; TWO COLOR PRINT PROJECTS. Art on a budget. Actually, this chapter does have some nice info on getting good results with spot color.

Chapters 10 & 11; Throw away stuff used to fill pages (animated Web Ad Banner, etc).

Well, thats it. It's your call. If you need to bone up on some of the techniques listed above, they are well presented and you WILL learn from this book. It IS very well done.

If you are looking for REAL ACTUAL EARTH SHATTERING GURU advanced stuff on PS & Illustrator, save your money. You should buy "Photoshop Channel Chops" & Bert Monroy's "Photorealistic Techniques with PhotoShop & Illustrator". Now THAT book will put hair on your chest.

As with the rest of the "Classroom in a Book" series, this is probably the best way to learn Adobe Products. This is a great tutorial for intermediate-advanced users of Illustrator and Photoshop to fill in the gaps of their knowledge especially for anyone who doesn't understand the synergy that exists when these two products are combined.

I really hope more tutorial books using multiple software packages to complete projects are released.

The Adobe staff's training workbook Photoshop 5.5 And Illustrator 8.0 provides advanced users with a series of training lessons developed by experts and tested in classes and computer labs. Projects use both applications and include plenty of tips for preparing and editing Web graphics, animation, and skills already learned by the user. Ownership of these programs is a 'must' for users, with some prior background lending to these books' easy instructions.

Adobe Press finally gets it right with this in-depth look at Photoshop and Illustrator. If you use both of these products (and who doesn't?), you'll find this book the perfect blend of the two, contrasting and comparing the products and providing numerous workflow examples.

If you like this book, be sure to pick up Wendy Crumpler's Photoshop, Painter, and Illustrator book.

I purchased this book in Carmel, California. We then moved to Florida and my sons rabbit basically ate the book. I was so upset and thought I would not be able to replace it. I found it on Amazon and purchased it. Of course it was used because you cannot buy it new, but it was in great condition. I collect these types of books and would have been heartbroken if I could not replace it. Thanks Amazon!!

"Earth was used to create farmhouses in France, cottages in England, castles in Germany, and missions in California and Arizona. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century adobe buildings still stand today in New York, Boston, Virginia, and South Carolina." ~ pg. 35

The cover picture is a picture of Mision de Sol, a resort and spa with vibrant colors, dramatic waterfalls and beautiful adobe walls. Throughout the pages we are introduced to textures, interiors, surroundings, traditional adobes, modern adobes, adobe escapes and building materials needed to create a rugged home with romantic appeal.

The decorative iron sconces with glowing candles are inspiring and the use of reflective pools and lush plantings adds artistic appeal. I loved the bookshelves in a room with a chandelier, table with a vase of lilies and rough terra tiled floor covered with a beautifully textured red carpet.

~The Rebecca Review

Casa Adobe depicts homes, haciendas and holiday getaways that have blended handcrafted details, natural materials, and cross-cultural furnishings to express the elegant simplicity of adobe homes, from their humble beginnings to their current renaissance.
--Natural Home Magazine, December 2001

Casa Adobe is a terrific source book for those contemplating living in an adobe or any other earthen style home. Photographs with informaive descriptions tease the casual reader, while those already familiar with Mexico, Arizona, and the Southwest immediately jump head first into the well-written, beautifully illustrated text. Joe P. Carr and Karen Witynski take you to Sante Fe and the surrounding areas with early photographs of adobe structures. Then you are taken to country and contempory homes and structures that best reflect what Casa Adobe is all about. The last chapter of the book is especially helpful foranyone interested in adobe, stucco, or rammed earth homes. It gives sources and individuals to contact as well as galleries and suppliers. My next purchas will be Casa Yucatan, written and photographed by the same collaborative authors.

Many people find the lines and textures of an adobe building at once seductive and compelling. This book is all about the unique aesthetic of houses made of mud. Third in a series of four books on popular residential design in Mexico and the Southwest, this book contains photos of spectacular adobe homes, inside and out, in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and various places in Mexico.

The book documents the evolution of adobe from its historic past to its most modern applications, including interior details and architectural elements. The authors chose well the buildings they use as examples for their premise that "adobe is an old tradition with a new future," the recurring theme of the book.
--New Mexico Magazine, May 2002

Graphic Design Portfolio Builder is a good supplemental book for designers and beginning students. I wrote supplemental because this book does not comprehensively cover the features of Photoshop and Illustrator software (and it wasn't suppose to) but to help beginners you get familiar with the software and up and running.

The book is very colorful, well laid out and full of useful information. What is comphrehensive is that it covers all aspects of what designers or artists would face and be challenged at work or in classrooms. Each lesson is written by an professional designers and artists with years of experience and I highly enjoyed reading the chapters so far.

The projects in the book are fairly challenging and somewhat time consuming which is good since it makes you explore the software to its full potential if you're feeling ambious.

For inspirations, I recommend you checkout other students work in the book or on their website. It really challenges you to come up with your best work and experiment with different ideas and creative concepts.

PROS:
Easy reading... lots of hands on pratice, which is also worded in an easy to understand language... Comes with a FREE membership to basically a webgroup website, but if you choose to take advantage of the service, the very authors of the book will critique and help you develop your projects, VERY HELPFUL/VERY COOL

CONS:
You have to have photoshop and illustrator in order to take advantage of this product

This book was so very helpful in aiding my desire to build a portfolio! It helped me learn more about Photoshop and Illustrator - plus gave me assignments that were reviewed and critiqued by a very helpful and polite instructor. This is more than just a book it is a full class at a book rate! I would recommend it to anyone looking for this type of work or just to improve what they already know.

[...] The company is centered around on line training in the general area of graphics design. ==This book is designed to go with one of their courses. The goal of this course is to help you create a portfolio of your work. It has a series of projects where you download various components of a project, then you do the project and post your results back on-line. A Sessions instructor will then give you a short critique of your work so you will have specific person to person contact that lets you know how you are progressing. This is kind of like working as a designer and having the client look at what you've done.

As you might well guess from the sub-title, these projects are oriented to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. This is not exactly a beginners course in these software package. You should have at least some beginning understanding of how to use these packages. The concentration hers is on improving your design skills, not on the details of the software.

Having taught graphic design for the last 13years, I am always looking for material to use as a reference or even text in my classes. This book gives many ideas on projects that students can use to create a quality looking portfolio for that first job interview. Even though I am constantly encouraging my students to go beyond the simple text assignment, many do not. This book my just give them that spark to do just that.

A pleasure to read, both for the inspiration coming from reading about people being very successful being idealistic, and from learning about the history of the Desktop Publishing revolution.

We at the Designer's Bookshelf have just awarded this book "THE BOOK OF THE YEAR" award for 2002. These awards are given by the editors and staff at the Design Bookshelf, DT&G Magazine, and the Graphic Design network as top choices for all those involved in the design, publishing and visual arts fields.

The only real flaw in this book is I want more. Adobe's story is fascinating, and I could probably read a detailed history of each product without being bored. (And I would have loved to have found out why Adobe never made an Illustrator 5 or 6 for the PC).

I got the book in the morning and started reading right away, skipped lunch and finished. Short read you might say... not at all; the text and the images are excellent and the book reads like a novel (reason why I skipped lunch). What a story!

It answered many questions that came up in my 10+ years of experience as a graphic design professional. Why Adobe this and how Adobe that.

The great thing about the book that it made me re-live my experiences; the advent of the mac and the LaserWriter, early releases of the software (it is quite touching to see pictures of the first, say, Illustrator), the successes and the failure the company went through. Those of us (graphic designers) who have pasted photostated type on the blue outline grid by hand will relate.

The book is about what and how things happened to allow us (graphic designers) to work the way we do today; it is, however, also about how Adobe changed the publishing world and global communication altogether.

Thumbs up on this one. Thank you Pamela Pfiffner for a great piece of research and writing. Thank you Adobe for the perseverance in bringing it all together towards the age of Network Publishing.

Anyone who uses a computer to design graphics, create printed documents, edit Web graphics, make movies and animations, or just type a letter should read this book.

While most people recognize the contributions Apple and Microsoft made to computers, few realize how much Adobe was right in there with those other companies.

This book tells that story--and does so with humor, behind-the-scenes gossip, and inside information. What were the "Font wars" of 1989? What were Adobe's original plans for Photoshop? What was the original purpose for the Acrobat PDF format?

Even better the quotes from industry greats. What did Steve Jobs think the first time he saw PostScript added to a printer? How did designers such as Roger Black and Louis Fishauf feel about products such as Illustrator and Photoshop?

The book is filled with tons of candid photos of those early days. You'll gasp as you see the much-younger versions of today's famous speakers and industry giants. My favorite is the extremely young Steve Jobs (in a tie and jacket!) at the debut of the PostScript LaserWriter.

The author must have been given quite a bit of leeway with the writing because she also describes those times Adobe didn't get it exactly right. What were the mistakes Adobe made in their first Web page-creation program? What was the problem with the original distribution of Acrobat Reader? And who was the only person at Adobe who could easily use the original Illustrator Pen tool?

And in an age of trade paperbacks, this book is a physical joy--a beautifully bound embossed-hardcover book with a varnish-coated dust jacket. The inside pages are exquisitely designed, with full-color photos throughout the book.

This is the sort of book you pick up and read, then pick up again, then again, then again. There's always one more little tidbit to laugh or smile over.

I liked "Photoshop CS3 for Dummies" as a good overview text - then I use this "Photoshop CS3 All-in-one Reference for Dummies" as a detailed text on most of the heavy features of Photoshop. I was pretty good with Photoshop CS and all the versions of the program before - but I am learning a GREAT deal from this tome on the more sophisticated features.

Plenty of Photoshop CS3 books on the market update information to this latest Photoshop release, but few offer an extensive desk reference packing in the latest tools and techniques of the latest program with easy details on how to do everything from simple adjustments such as specifying size to using layering and blending modes for advanced compositions and refinement. From full color screen shots and color examples of modified photos to techniques and strategies, Photoshop CS3 All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies is one of the most extensive coverages on the market - and a perfect pick for any who find detailed Photoshop coverages confusing.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A complete analysis of the subject with the risk to be excessively rich of information

If you are like me -- an intelligent (I hope) experienced computer person who has never used Photoshop but wants to learn how to do useful work (not just play around) -- this book is for you. For example, you can actually look in the index and find what you are looking for.

This is a great resource at a fraction of the price of the book from adobe. Highly recommended!

This book was excellent and very informative. Mr. Young impeccably explains how to use PDFs to achieve the desired results of your product. I've often been confused on how to precisly use various PDF products, but with this book, I can now design my product the way I want it to look. This book is definitely a "must read"!

I'm one of those people who buys every software book on the market. I've looked at lots of books on PDF. This is the best yet. It's practical and tells me how to avoid making the most common mistakes in creating a PDF. I wish the rest of my colleagues would read this.

Unlike many books in this category, Carl Young's book is not a rewrite of the Acrobat Help file. He lays out the most common mistakes creators of PDFs make, and then provides step-by-step solutions. Highly recommended.

Every graphic designer should own this book! Designers constantly send PDFs
that are waaaaay to big, or have missing fonts to my small marketing/pr
firm. I may buy copies for every designer I work with.

This one is the best book i've had so far because it's just as the title says. hands on training books are perfect for learning

As an educator who teaches Digital Imaging on the college level, I have become familiar with hundreds of training texts through the years. This book is excellent in that, unlike so many others, it starts at the beginning. I am not entirely sure why training books and digital courses so often pick up somewhere near the middle when we are all trying to encourage others to surrender to the digital age.

After completing 3 books on Adobe After Effects 7, I think I have a fairly good view of the types of instruction books that are available. "Classroom in a Book" by Adobe, this one by Fahs & Weinman, and "Creative After Effects 7" by Taylor.
My earlier rating of "Classroom in a Book" should probably have been at least 4 stars since it's the best of the 3 (for beginners) that I've read.
This one by Fahs & Weinman is straight forward and easy to follow, but isn't quite detailed enough in comparison to the "Classroom" book.
The book by Taylor mentioned above is so filled with typos that it's virtually unreadable and that's why I rated it poor and is definitely the worst of these 3.
After Effects is a very complicated video software effects program and has a steep learning curve on par with the still image processing program Photoshop. The more time you spend with it and the more instruction you can get, the better.

when you are done with this book, wade into the massive haphazard stew that is the Meyers books. Start with this one though, it starts at the beginning, tells you what you need to know when you need to know it, breaks it down just right. AE is a fairly vast program, and it's easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged, so getting the right book can be the difference between sticking with it or not.

Well-written, easy to follow, step-by-step, thorough and includes many course files (so you need not construct entirely new pages/graphics/etc.). It's laid out like a textbook and the spiral binding makes it easy to keep open on the desk while you work with Dreamweaver CS3.

Hands-on lessons, easy to follow, useful tips and introductions to the latest features. Not a lot of unnecessary (boring!) reading, just straightforward instructions and key explanations.

Once you've mastered the basics of Dreamweaver CS3 and web design, this is a great resource for taking the next step and designing more complex sites with richer content. Easy to use, very descriptive and comprehensive.

As a web developer who codes by hand, I wanted a quick intro to Dreamweaver for a client who insisted I use the software. I had worked with Noble in the past and knew the book would be my best bet. But I was surprised at how concise and efficient this book was. It exceeded my expectations and taught me so quickly that the time saved more than compensated for the hefty price tag.