Desktop Books

I am really impressed by the lucid style of this book. All commands have been explained in detail and with exercises.
Remember to complete all practice questions at the end of each chapter.
Great stuff overall !!!

The author of this text should be congratulated. He tackles a difficult (and scary) subject and makes it seem easy. And he does it with a sense of humor.
Five stars and my thanks for helping me master what I'd always been afraid to try!

Of all the books read - starting with Elements - it was Greg Georges who convinced me that RAW ("digital negative") photography is the quality way to go. Finding 8-bit Elements inadequate to the task, I switched to Photoshop and bought the companion "50 Fast Techniques". Sure wasn't a bit disappointed. In fact, this is a considerable step up in quality as the production is much superior to earlier books (recycled paper, with centerpiece color plates). This book is on a par with other topnotch Photoshop tutorials in being printed on quality paper, with color images on each page, and an attractively conservative layout to bring home the message.

Several unique features put this title on the front burner, not the least are the excellent 'full-strength' unedited images on the CD [Scott Kelby, take note], and the crisp explanations for more arcane (but very productive) features such as the histogram. Moreover, Chapter 1 (first 6 Techniques) is one of the best introductions around to the workspace and how to set its default selections. Chapter 2 (next 6 Techniques) introduces the basics of color correction, and Chapter 4 (5 Techniques) provides excellent guidance to enhancing portraits.

In between are some gems and pearls, while other techniques are more gee-whiz than broadly useful, seemingly in an attempt to fill the "50" numbers quota. In fact, the book no longer is well served by its irrelevant title; the author is fully qualified to go head-to-head with his peers in writing a comprehensive, understandable, and yet eminently readable tutorial to take Photoshop users from newby to medium-skill level, with some advanced bonus teasers thrown in.

I found this book to be loaded with useful, accessible techniques -- all supported by beautiful photographs. So many Photoshop tips books are packed with teasing, stunning images, but with techniques that tend to be difficult and focused on the esoteric. Fortunately, Gregory Georges keeps this one grounded in the real world, beginning with a step-by-step technique for properly setting up Photoshop, and moving on to scores of great effects - some subtle, some "wow" -that have allowed me to take my own photography and "kick it up a notch"! I especially have enjoyed the techniques for revealing detail in shadows and highlights, creating a duotone and adding "punch" to a black and white photo. An added bonus is a set of techniques using third-party plug-ins that are free and easily accessible online, though a few of those were for use with cameras other than the one I own. Mr. Georges is apparently an actual, working photographer, and in this book he always keeps his "focus" on meaningful results.

The book "88 Secrets to Photoshop for Photographers" is packed with helpful tips, from customizing program windows, to shortcuts, to image editing techniques, and more! Not only did I find the information presented valuable, but the explanations helped me understand why I should use a certain approach - key to integrating the new techniques into my current workflow. These tips are easy-to-read and sure to help beginner to intermediate Photoshop users make even better use of this powerful program.

Scott Bourne's 88 Secrets to Photoshop has been a valuable tool for me to quickly advance my Photoshop techniques. The sharpening secerts are worth the price alone.
88 Secrets is a super quick reference guide packed with info. I also like the compact size of the book so it easily fits into my camera bag.
Looking forward to the next edition. Joseph Walsh

I've never used PowerPoint before so I ordered this book. I'm so glad I did. I got started right away and in no time, I was creating my own presentations. The explanations are clear and to the point and the illustrations helped me from losing my place.

I should mention that even though this book is geared for beginners, it goes into enough detail to appeal to many different levels of users. Check out the table of contents and you'll see what I mean. Great job Mr. Gilgen!

I needed some help in creating a presentation. I checked out four books on Powerpoint from my library. I read them all, and this book was by far the best. I have returned all the books to the library, and I will now buy this book for my permanent, personal library.

I have been using MS Word to create and edit the publications that we use in our new teacher orientation programs, but every service bureau that I approached was reluctant to accept documents in MS Word format because of the myriad problems MS Word's "quirks" presents them at prodution time.

Every printing house that I have contacted responded that Quark 5 is the industry standard, that they preferred files in Quark, and that if I sent my files in MS Word format I would have to pay a hefty pre-production fee to get them ready for the press. I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and switch to Quark.

I normally just "dig in" and use a brute force attack when I purchase new software. Quark has a learning curve that was too steep for this very busy administrator. So, I checked out the reviews at Amazon.com and "Accelerated QuarkXPress 5" looked like a winner. I ordered it. I started using it. It is a winner! (Thank you to the other customer reviewers.)

From the spiral binding, the appropriate size type, and the clear print conventions, to the clear layout and the to-the-point text, Accelerated QuarkXPress 5 has been the BEST tutorial I have even purchased.

I recently purchased QuarkXPress 5 but was baffled by the user interface. I looked around for an affordable training company to teach me the program. I found plenty of companies, but it was the affordable part I found lacking. Then I stumbled upon this book. What a find!

Let me preface what I am about to say by telling you that I am a writer. As a writer, I can tell you that this book is, quite possibly, the most lucid learning book I have ever read. Short, easy-to-read, to the point and relevant exercises highlight this modularized tutorial.

The author obviously knows how to write in a concise manner--and he knows how to teach.

The lessons presented in the book start you where any good tutorial should--from scratch. You will learn how to create new, custom documents. Then you move smartly to formatting text, working with pictures, adding pages, working with styles, master pages and more. This book even made quick work out of creating Web pages and PDF files.

I see that this review has gone on a bit too long. So let me end with five simple words: "This book is a buy!"

This is one of those books that I use all the time. Because this is the first book I've given 5 stars, I'd better explain.

First, I like the way the book organized itself along the lines that the ActionScript editor or toolbox lists the different ActionScript terms. The parallel makes things easy to find. Second, I like the way the examples are used. For instance, the author explains the geometry behind the cosine of an angle explaining the Math.cos() method and then provides an example that draws a perfect circle. That's a lot better than I get in just about any other book. (Maybe that's more than some need, but I appreciated it.) Third, I like the level range. The beginning of the book is only 2 chapters, but it's a good 2 chapters that provide a quick explanation of ActionScript and scripting. However, further on in the book, it also covers more complex things like registerClass() with a detailed examples. The same is true for all of the new objects like LoadVars().

Finally, I have found myself using the last several chapters covering UI components. Before I got this book, I really didn't use UI Components very much, and now I use them constantly. In fact, those chapters (Pt IV, Chs 14-21)are what I find myself using the most. If this book had nothing but Part IV, the book would have been more than worth it to me.

I think the book is worth 6 stars -- 5 for the first 3 parts and an additional one for the last part covering UI Components.

After Flash 5 ActionScript, I didn't think that it would get much bigger. Flash MX ActionScript is huge, and this book makes it available. The author spends only the first two chapters with the basics of writing ActionScript in the context of Flash MX and makes a nice transition from Flash 5 to Flash MX.

Then, from Chapter 3 to the end of the book's 21 chapters, the author decided to follow the order of actions in the Actions toolbox in the Actions Panel. That makes it very easy to find stuff because it's organized along the same logical patterns as the toolbox. Even so I found myself going to both the detailed TOC and appendix to look up terms, and I never had problems finding what I needed.

Anyone can explain the easy stuff like the old gotoAndPlay() actions, and so I went to the new OOP materials and XML socket section. The OOP stuff was mixed with non-OOP throughout the book, and OOP-related methods like registerClass() were explained in detail and supported with a good example using something that made sense in the context of Flash MX. In fact, the whole book was filled with good examples. Some examples extended over several pages and others were little ones that gave you a quick insight. Sanders is an ace with examples. As for the XML socket material, not only did the explanation explain to me for the first time ever what the blazes a socket server was, it provided a URL where I could download a free socket server, which I did. Then I worked the example, and now I have my own mini-chat in XMLSocket. I'm happy.

The last several chapters were in-depth explanations of the different ActionScript terms used with the new UI Components. Each component got its own chapter, and I found it invaluable for designing with the components. It does not cover re-skinning, but I was able to get the look I wanted by changing every element in the components and I am a big user of UI components. (You can change all the little parts of components like highlight, higlight3D, face, darkshadow, etc. without re-skinning.)

There were a lot of little details I liked in the book. The examples were mixed, interesting, and clarifying. Undocumented terms, like onData with LoadVars(), were included, and I found what I needed. One suggestion for people getting this book: buy some of those little colored tab stickem things to bookmark all of the part of this book you'll need to reference again and again.

i'm a designer who knows nothing about html and the web. my web designer friend was supposed to work on my site and he blew me off. so, for my new year's resolution i decided to do it myself. i had all my content and pages done in adobe photoshop. i finished my site in about a week. i probably could have been done sooner but being ...(particular) i kept tweaking my content. this book along with "teach yourself adobe golive in 24hrs" saved me. both books are similar and there's some overlap but having these two books to consult was a life-saver. some areas are explained better depending on which book you read so they balance each other well. also, the price of both books is dirt cheap and well worth it. if you're a beginner this and the other book i mentioned are perfect. the visual quickstart guide isn't written with as much personality as the other book but is great nonetheless. i didn't have time to consume a "bible" because i wanted to launch my site fast and these two books really helped. i just wish had guts and bought these books sooner. after reading these books i'm ashamed that i was intimidated by the web. i did more in a week than my friend did in three months. the best part of doing it myself is that i can have control and update my site at will. ... if i did a design using a template or something not as graphic intensive i'd have literally been done in a few days. if you want something done do it yourself and with this book.

For someone just getting going with Web authoring, this book is a breath of fresh air. I have a stack of other, more expensive books but this one, with its clear, visual layout and lucid explanations, was the one that got through to me and helped me achieve results. What I appreciated was that they way it told me all I needed to know at each step -- but no more! Some intro books are guilty of TMI -- Too Much Information --or talking down to the reader. This author does neither. The book's stated purpose is to be an an intro to GoLive. In that sense, I think it succeeds admirably.

I have a number of books on Illustrator 10 and this is the one I refer to the most. It is detailed containing more information in one book than most others, although I haven't found a book yet that answers all of my questions. It is written in an easy to understand way clarifying details that are hard to understand in some other books. Recommend.

Being in the graphics industry for many years and now teaching visual communications at a local college I found this book to be one of the most comprehensive books out there. The title really sums it all up ... A step-by-step approach. The book illustrates and walks you through each topic clearly and thoroughly. After each topic the books is filled with activities and assignments to reinforce the topics.

After reviewing many books this books is top on my list. This is one of the few books that covers graphing.

All in all the book is excellent.

By using this book, I learned Adobe Illustrator 8.0 without ever attending any formal class. I highly recommend this book to any other person who is intersted in learning this sophisticated application on his or her own.

By using this book, I learned Adobe Illustrator 8.0 without ever attending any formal class. I highly recommend this book to any other person who is intersted in learning this sophisticated application on his or her own.

Instead of telling you what's wrong with a zillion websites, the author has picked a few good ones, and lets you see behind the scenes how they got that way. The sites range from big business to one-man shop, which is refreshing -- you can apply the principles here without a huge budget. You get to see how these sites have changed for the better over time. Very nice.

I didn't expect a book with only 9 case studies can be quite comprehensive and enriching. Other books can provide 24 or 50 cases, but Web Site Redesigns was more useful to me, because the websites are all unique from one to another, well researched, with all kinds of issues from user profiling, content architecture, the design itself, and even programming. Each story is well written, along with sketches, diagrams, screenshots, and there are even several small ideas that we can quickly put into our websites. Good addition to my collection.