Web Books

The Linux Web Server CD Bookshelf is an excellent valued reference tool for programmers wanting to develop software in an open source web environment. Not only does it contain the full text for six of O'Reilly's best sellers on open source web development, a search engine for each book, and a master index, but also it has a number of relevant articles that have posted to the O'Reilly Network. It has a easy to read web-browser interface.
The coverage of the topics in this CD library is simple enough to get a newcomer's feet wet in open-source development and keep him up and running, as well as in depth enough to be an asset to the experienced developer who need a easy reference tool.

Just as the Web Programmers CD bookshelf that I had the opportunity to read, the searching abilities of the cd bookshelves are excellent. Being able to search a certain topic across 6 books at once makes searching for quick answers easily accomplished. Being able to buy 6 books on a single cd also helps to save money while at the same time helps to build your own library of in depth books. The combination of books included in the Linux web server cd bookshelf has enough detailed information to help teach you the ins and outs of running an Apache web server on a Linux platform. Also the Programming PHP and the Managing & Using MySQL books should help you make full use of your Linux web server and understand the flexibility of what can be done.

The bonus paperback version of Linux in a Nutshell, 4th Edition, was a nice addition to the 6 book cd bookshelf. I found it useful for when I wasn't around a computer and felt like reading. The Linux in a Nutshell book gives a good summarized rundown of the entire Linux operating system. Included in the summary is about 464 pages of Linux commands which are great for quickly checking a description or options of a certain command. Also, a basic rundown on system administration, boot methods, package managers, shells with a nice section on bash, editors, cvs, and more. At the end of the book is where xwindows and desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, and fvwm2 are covered. The Linux in a Nutshell book basically is exactly what it says, the Linux operating system summarized and crunched into about 930 pages.

Throughout all of the books I did however notice that the references are made mainly on the 2.4.x kernel along with mentions of 2.2.x and 2.0.x kernels and the 2.5.45 development kernel. Now that the 2.6.x kernel is out, I would love to see how much O'Reilly goes into discussion about it, possibly in the next editions of these books.

I'm not sure If these books would be great for learning from the very beginning on, but they do give plenty of information about the different parts that make up a Linux web server. The books are great sources of info to help you get a Linux based web server up and active, but could be better in the teaching area.

I purchased this book for a college course, and I'm just about done with it. It has taken me from someone who'd never opened Dreamweaver in my life to being able to build a professional looking website in a matter of 2 months. I already had HTML experience, but had never used Dreamweaver software before. Highly recommended for a novice. The explanantions are detailed and easy to understand.

It has color pictures on just about every page! This book is great in that it explains just about everything and does not assume that you have any prior Dreamweaver experience, yet it goes all the way through to explaining Cascading Style Sheets and layers. It combines explanations with tutorials - it explains what you are going to do and shows you how to do it, so you are not just following directions blindly with no clue as to what you are doing.
Here are the chapter headings:
Introduction: Web Site Development and Macromedia Dreamweaver 8;
Project One: Creating a Dreamweaver Web Page and Local Site;
Project Two: Adding Web Pages, Links and Images.
Project Three: Tables and Page Layout;
Project Four: Forms
(Note that it covers how to set up forms, but does not cover the server-side coding you would need to process forms);
Project Five: Templates and Style Sheets (CSS);
Project Six: Layers, Image Maps, and Navigation Bars;
Appendix A: Dreamweaver Help;
Appendix B: Dreamweaver and Accessibility;
Appendix C: Publishing to a Web Server.
Note that this book only covers Dreamweaver. It does not cover Flash, Fireworks, or Contribute.
Also, according to the back cover, this book is part of the Shelly Cashman Series for Dreamweaver 8 that includes Dreamweaver 8 Introductory (meant for a 3-5 week course), Dreamweaver 8 Complete (this book) (meant for a 6-9 week course), and Dreamweaver 8 Comprehensive (meant for a 10-15 week course). I wish I had understood this before, because I probably would have purchased the Comprehensive instead, which has 3 more projects, although I do not know what those projects are.

the book is great. as other books from Shelly Cashman, this book describes in detail the steps needed to master dreamweaver.
one bad point that I don't like about Shelly Cashman series is that they repeat in every lesson a very easy step that any one who use PC knows such as :
to close the file click the X mark on the top of the page.

overall I recomend this book to people who never use dreamweaver before.

I think this book is well written and provides excellent detailed illustrations for book learners as well as hands-on learners. I'm not a book learner, but more of a hands-on learner. I appreciate that the author was thoughtful of the different types of learners who would be using this material.

If need some help for Macromedia Dreamweaver MX: this book can sure help you.
That is if you read it! Good luck, The Larghe's

This book is formatted nicley. One can just follow the step by step examples in the tutorials from beginning to end. Also, the provided case studies at the end of each chapter further reinforces what was learned within that chapter (if one attempts to do them). It makes the whole idea of designing web pages seem simple. Granted, you will want to be fairly familiar with HTML if you plan to use Dreamweaver often. This book is a wonderful teaching tool. I recommend using this book as an aid for anymone diving into Dreamweaver.

The authors do a great job introducing Fireworks MX 2004 to new users. They take readers on a thorough tour of the features and tools sets available in Fireworks. Experienced readers can also learn from this book as it talks about more advanced topics and even highlights the Fireworks Exchange by Macromedia which is one of the most powerful assets available to Fireworks users. If you want to learn Fireworks MX 2004, this is the book for you.

This book really helped me out with learning how to implement creative thoughts/ideas into a working navigation system. When read, it sounds like the authors are right there walking you through each and every step you need to understand and master FireworksMX 2004. As you read through the book, you'll find a lot of helpful tips that are in each section. I almost liked reading the tips rather than focusing on the main sections. Be sure to work through the tutorials, I picked up a lot of tidbits that I didnt think were possible.

:)

Alan

I am giving this book a five star review because it has some interesting content, and the author gives the material an original spin. The chapters on Flash 3D, XML, and Swift-Generator were very helpful and dare I say, sometimes insightful. In contrast, I wasn't that excited about the chapters on PHP and MySQL, but by the end, they proved interesting. My biggest problem with the book is its overall lack of organization, and personally, many of the chapters would have been helped by more examples. Bottom line - this is not a cover-to-cover read, but if you want interesting content on some of Flash 5's more advanced features, I would pick it up.

I vacillate between 4 and 5 stars...but it's truly a great book. The technical descriptions of various tools of Flash 5 are quite good. Mr. Woods handled the more complex ActionScripts very well, in ways that I could relate to what he was attempting to do...which was show the incredible versatility of the ActionScripts and explain ways I could utilize the programming. I learned (finally, still with some difficulty) to use the Bezier pen, thanks to Mr. Woods' enthusiastic endorsement, and was able to grasp many of the aspects of Flash that had been somewhat weak for me before. I have read many books on Flash 5 and cartooning, and definitely would recommend this book for a good underpinning of the basics as well as assistance with expert Flash development. Keep up the great work, Mr. Woods.

It is with great pleasure to read Mr. Champagne's book on the senses.

Often my day begins and ends without a single reflective thought of my body movements, the aesthetics, smells, sounds, and tastes. This book has brought the reflectiveness back.

No longer will I awake in the morning, open my eyes, stretch, yawn, and taste that first cup of coffee without awe!

Thank you for bringing the intimate being of self back to me.

I felt guilty. The day spread out before me had none of the time consumptions of its predecessors--no conferences, meetings, appointments. I would for a change be deliberately desultory among my dog-eared books and see again in their permanence lines I knew by memory from, say, Emily Dickinson

A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides [movement]

It goads me like the goblin bee
That will not state its sting [touch]

To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need[smell]

I taste a liquor never brewed
From tankards scooped in pearl [taste]

I heard a fly buzz when I died.
The stillness in the room
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm [sound]

I like a look of agony
Because I know it's true [sight]

It was then that I realized how much I was responding to the magic of the senses, to use the title of a new work by Jean Champagne delivered only the day before.

What Mr. Champagne has done is to explain each of the six senses in immediately understandable terms drawn from the latest scientific investigations and illustrated by quotations from pertinent authority. These he then follows by exercises and demonstrations the reader will be eager to apply. The inclusion of blank pages inducing personal augmentation of what has been learned is an ingenious encouragement to make the study of the book all the more meaningful.

Particularly useful are the references to further information on each topic via the internet and a generous bibliography.

Reading Mr. Champagne's thoroughly researched and fascinating book made me all the more cognizant of the basic principle it states, that "To be conscious is to be always involved in a sensory activity," and I found that my day had been redeemed after all.

Ashley Friedlein guide is a must-read for anybody managing a website or looking to start one up. It is a detailed exposition which explores concepts such as Change Management in a lucid and informative manner. Highly recommended.

This is the second book I've read by Mr. Friedlein that shows his extensive experience and ability to clearly impart realistic advice (his other book is "Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites", ISBN 1558606785).

What sets this book apart from others is the way he focuses on two critical aspects of web site maintenance, (1) change management, and (2) content management. Whereas there are a number of books that address content management, this is the first I've read that goes into detail about change management. Many books mix the two, and fail to emphasize the criticality of change management on site reliability and availability. These two parts of the book alone warrant reading it.

There are two additional parts of the book that provide unique insights into critical success factors of web site management and evolution, which are customer relationship management, and site measurement. Whereas the first two parts deal with behind-the-scenes maintenance, these deal with business aspects, which do need to continuously evolve if a commercial site is to provide revenue in a highly competitive environment.

The part on customer relationship management starts with a primer on CRM to assure that readers understand a much-hyped topic. It then goes into how to achieve success factors by addressing understanding your users, personalization, community building, and customer service.

Site measurement, the final part of the book, is also detailed and filled with advice. Topics include: an overview titled, "Promises and Challenges of Web Site Measurement" and chapters on evolution of E-intelligence, measurement approaches and techniques, and reporting and analysis. This part of the book wraps up with chapters on how to improve a web site and tackling a web site measurement project.

Like his first book (cited above and which I highly recommend), this one is essential reading for anyone working with commercial web sites. The author, in my opinion, is one of the most savvy experts who has unique insights in all aspects of web site project and management. This book is yet another achievement and contribution to the body of knowledge by Mr. Friedlein.

This is one of the first e-marketing books I purchased when I entered the field in 1999 and it really gave me an invaluable education in online sales and marketing.

Back in the days when sock puppets sold bags of dog food online (or tried to, anyway) and gerbils were fired from cannons, Ken Evoy had a very simple proposition: if you're going to have a website, you might as well sell something. Here's a step-by-step guide to selling that something.

This book is filled with timeless tips, tricks and techniques that Ken himself has used to make money online, and he continues to use them today to sell products and to educate others. It's filled with advice on copy, pricing, positioning. guarantees... the tactics you need to know to be successful selling online.

It doesn't have fancy graphics, just a lot of screenshots and practical know-how on making sure visitors to your site actually buy your products.

Regardless of today's new sock puppets (blogs) or flying gerbils (Web 2.0), Ken's message is just as important today as it was in 1999: if you're going to have a website, you might as well sell something.

In "Make Your Site Sell", Ken Evoy explains the vast opportunities presented by the internet. The e-book is easy for non-experts to read. It is an excellent reference when I need assistance on any issue pertaining to the internet. Using the thousands of hyperlinks in the electronic book makes it very easy and convenient to get the information I need.

The "Make Your Site Sell" book explains clearly how to sell on the web. The e-book has thousands of hyperlinks to and from an extensive index, table of contents, glossary, the web as well as links within the content of the book. The author explains how to succeed in a web based venture by following three steps. The first step is the development, positioning and testing of a product. In this case, the author outlines the products with high potential for sales, how to evaluate and re-position products for web-worthiness, product pricing and testing, among other things. The second step is building a website that can be trusted and liked by customers, which is simple to use and easy to navigate and many other aspects which make it really sell. It is necessary to get paid for one's services through the web without problems. The third step is to build a high volume of targeted, motivated traffic timely, ethically and cost effectively.

Ken Evoy needs to be applauded for such a comprehensive user-friendly e-book. He is truly a "guru" for having produced such a high quality, informative and helpful book.

Small companies with or without sites often struggle to decide what business - if any - should be offered or conducted on the net, and how a business can build the most effective web site. Enter John Heartfield's How To Make Your Small Business Website Work: the subtitle is 'Easy Answers to Content, Navigation and Design' and chapters to just that, covering the basics from devising effective home pages and automated navigation to stressing simplicity and consistency between pages. Plenty of web site examples demonstrate good versus bad site structures.

Mr. Heartfield's broad fund of knowledge regarding this subject and his easy-to-read writing style made this book not only useful, but an enjoyable read. Lots of great ideas regarding structuring my website. Big bang for the buck. Highly recommended.