Hardware 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 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.

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.

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.

Hey they are right; it covers Oracle 7 perfectly but there is Oracle 8 and now Oracle 8i. But for the basics, well this is a great starter. It will explain how to tune Oracle and why; after that get another and explore

When I used to work at Oracle, these books were our bibles. I had to learn a great deal about Oracle in a very short time (I knew extremely little about technology, and didn't know a database from a ring ding). These books are remarkably thorough, and go into a lot of detail. The added benefit is that they are extremely widely read by Oracle developers (both working for Oracle and not), that they get TONS of feedback, so any inaccuracies, development or new ideas/tricks get back to the publisher and often get incorporated in new editions. The Oracle series is general is a great foundation to start with for Oracle knowledge. The thick white Oracle PL/SQL guide is also extremely good, and comes with the server software. I believe that it is more easily available in soft copy, as Oracle is trying to limit the documentation that they distribute with their software.

This book offered a complete look at high performance computing for an Oracle7 database. It covers everything about Oracle7 server and hardware tuning. It the best high performance Oracle database book I've ever seen. I've used this book quite frequently when dealing and planning for performance issues. If an Oracle8 version of this book comes out - I will be one of the first to buy it.

No DBA's bookshelf is complete without this book. The authors covered some of the most important topics in oracle tuning and administration. This book gives the most complete and up to date information about underlying concepts and practical ways of using those theoritical concepts in day to day operations in oracle database tuning and administration.

The book is aimed at those interested in DBA issues however I recommend developers to shell out for the book just for the chapters on EXPLAIN PLAN and SQL Tuning Tips. My investment quickly paid back when I put the info to use recently for a major client.

I teach computer classes in Maryland and bought "Ask Mr. Modem" for my classes. I love the book! I love Mr. Modem's lighthearted approach, because I too feel that computers are not mysterious, inhabited beings, but tools or appliances.

The question-and-answer format makes it very easy to read, and you can pick up the book anywhere and just read some questions about email or browsers or any other topic. You don't have to read the book from cover-to-cover, though you probably will.

The questions Mr. Modem answers are questions from real people and it's true what he says, "There is no such thing as a dumb question."

Thanks for a great book, Mr. Modem. I hope you're working on Volume 2.

Mr. Modem has done it again with this new book helping all of us who have questions about our computers and the internet. With a thorough and extensive index and an easy-to-read question and answer format, you'll easily be able to find clear and concise answers to your questions.

How refreshing and what a joy to read a computer book that will make you smile and laugh along the way! Richard Sherman has a gift for demystifying the computer and making it fun. Forget the laborious manuals- just turn to "Ask Mr. Modem".

Five stars and three hearty cheers for Mr. Modem - keep those books coming, as you're the only one we know who can give us clear, easy-to-understand "geekspeak-free" answers. Bless you!

This book is fabulous! I use computers and the web a lot and there are PLENTY of things in this book I find useful. And the price is right: perfect to bring instead of a stupid bottle of wine when you're invited to someone's home for dinner! The recipients of Ask Mr. Modem have been tickled at this gift! Also a perfect holiday gift for someone who I know not that well but wanted to give something. I'm here ordering my fifth copy of the book!

I received a copy of "Ask Mr. Modem!" this past Christmas and it's the best computer book I've ever received (or purchased). I have a shelf of computer books, most of which I can't understand. This book, which is in question and answer format, is very easy to read. Just thumbing through it and seeing all the questions Mr. Modem answers, these are the same questions I've had. It's been a huge help to me and I've already given several copies of it to friends.

Mr. Modem has done it again with this new book as he helps all of us who have questions about our computers and the internet. With a thorough and extensive index and an easy-to-read question and answer format, you'll easily be able to find clear and concise answers to your questions.

How refreshing and what a joy to read a computer book that will make you smile and laugh along the way! Richard Sherman has a gift for demystifying the computer and making it fun. Forget the laborious manuals - just turn to "Ask Mr. Modem".

Five stars and three hearty cheers for Mr. Modem - keep those books coming, as you're the only one we know who can give us clear, easy-to-understand "geekspeak-free" answers! Bless you!

The book is great. a great part of it is devoted to precomputers. I mean, calculating machines. But nevertheless it is very enjoyable. You'll learn a lot from it. The photographs are very nice. And there are lots of them: there is no single pair of pages without a photograph. The style is careful, and well organized. There are plenty of data and curious facts about the history of computers.

Highly recommended. It is a pity you can find it only in the second hand market.

Aside from only briefly mentioning Englands EDSAC (as is the case with most non English accounts), this was a nice and entertaining read. Not only detailing the Computers themselves but the inventers, designers, craftsmen, and engineers of the machines. Technical enough to keep those who want it content, but written understandably for those who may not be so technically inclined.

A good source of data for those who want to know how the Industry of Computers began. If you want to understand why the Computer Science changed the world, and if you'd like to speak as an expert in all those fantastic words of the luckiest people on the 50's, 60's, 70's and even the 80's who had the opportunity to grow and deal with this technology, and feel how these people had to accept new windows-know-it-all-users with little or none at all knowledge about programming and other related training and long-time-consuming-hard-to-learn skills, you must read this book. Then, I'm sure, you'll know what I mean.

Without a doubt one of the best books on the history of computers that I've ever read. The author tells not only the story of the machines themselves, but also of the people who built them and why they followed the paths they did.

The photos and illustrations really bring the story to life; now you can actually see what these machines and people looked like!

A good source of data for those who want to know how the Industry of Computers began. If you want to understand why the Computer Science changed the world, and if you'd like to speak as an expert in all those fantastic words of the luckiest people on the 50's, 60's, 70's and even the 80's who had the opportunity to grow and deal with this technology, and feel how these people had to accept new windows-know-it-all-users with little or none at all knowledge about programming and other related training and long-time-consuming-hard-to-learn skills, you must read this book. Then, I'm sure, you'll know what I mean.

HomePage 3.0 is an older program but it has the advantage of being cross-platform (meaning Mac and PC) on the same disk. I have made a dozen websites using it and it is a wonder to behold. Newer standards have overtaken the WWW so not all of the new functions are integrated into it.

It has a first rate tutorial on the disk which can help you to make perfectly decent small websites. However, this book is the perfect manual to go along with that tutorial. In fact I think it is essential to own this book so that you can address problems as they arise without having to bounce around between the program, the Help, and the tutorial.

As with most of the Visual Quickstart series, this one is filled with pictures so that those of us who cannot grab the meaning from the text alone can guide ourselves with the screenshots showing what the text just spoke of.

I recommend both this program and this book to my students who wish to build their own websites, even though both the book and the program are out of print.

This book was very helpful getting me up and running and doing what I wanted to do--make my website. It was also helpful in stepping me through publishing my first database on FileMaker Pro. I would reccomend it to anyone wanting to use Home Page. I should say that Home Page is a very easy to use, but powerful program. It is quite intuitive. This book just happens to make it even easier to use. I just kept it on my desk and if I hit a snag it would unsnag me.

i need to know how to make a web page for 5$ if any one can give me instructions how to make a page mail me them thanks. p.s.hoss8617@aol.com

This book was very helpful getting me up and running and doing what I wanted to do--make my website. It was also helpful in steping me through publishing my first database on FileMaker Pro. I would reccomend it to anyone wanting to use Home Page. I should say that Home Page is a very easy to use, but powerful program. It is quite intuitive. This book just happens to make it even easier to use. I just kept it on my desk and if I hit a snag it would unsnag me.

I found this book very understandable and full of explanations. It summarized much of what the help menu in Claris Homepage offered, but showed detailed diagrams and steps on how to complete the functions for most web page design. I recommend this to any beginner with Claris Homepage to use as a basis to learn the program and understand the buttons and capabilities of the total program.

Most artists can't do everything - usually they are somewhere in the middle of a chain of production responsiblities that don't include the skillsets involved with presenting a portfolio, digital or otherwise. Many points of insider knowledge are invaluable - I was on the cusp of using PowerPoint for my CD portfolio (my wife has strong skills with this) before being warned that this bussiness presentation software's would be viewed with derision by art directors, and that a high resolution version of a website format is the way to go here - this one parcel of knowledge was worth the price of the book alone, but it is far from the only lesson imparted. Highly recommended - it doesn't stray into realms of esoterica for the sake of pagecount.

This handbook is targeted at beginners in designing portfolios to submit their artwork or photos when job hunting. It is filled with information, however most is very basic and will only be a review for most readers.

If you set can aside the near 100% focus on digital media (though it is excellent for that kind of format) and not hyperventilate in feeling like you need to come up with Flash or DVDs after reading this, it offers solid points on portfolio content, whatever format you choose.

It covers what should go in, what should not go in, how much should go in, how/if to deal with process pieces, storyboarding,
thematic ties to pull a disparate portfolio together, and sage advice on basics like the kinds of written copy you want to include, such as design briefs, problem statements, and tag lines. It's my favorite book for this effort right now. My husband's, too. I have to pry it off his desk.

It's also savvy when it comes to marketing, so I think it will have a long shelf life in my library for the days when I need to market myself on other things besides landing a job, like marketing my firm.

It has some printed web site design examples which offer visual eye inspiration for printed page layout. It even has great image workflow tips, towards preserving the best image quality with the least needed resolution, that are comprehensible to the lay person as well as meaningful to someone with a high degree of digital photographic processing background.

For several months I searched for an appropriate textbook for a course that I was developing. Several days prior to the deadline for the course outline, "Designing a Digital Portfolio " was published. After reading the book, I realized this was the authoritative text for anyone in a creative field. The book asks and answers all the essential questions. It is perfect for the technological savvy multimedia programmer or for any artist with limited technology expertise. I urge anyone who is even considering developing a digital portfolio to buy this book. Without qualification, this is the most valuable book on the market

Multimedia Portfolio Instructor/Art Institute/Art Institute Online
Subject Matter Expert / Curriculum Development Multimedia Portfolio

This is one of the best books on its topic that I have ever seen. From the title, I expected to find advice on preparing images for the screen, how to put them on a CD or DVD, etc. Those things are there, but the book begins in a logical place that I wouldn't have considered. Brown's approach is truly holistic.

Check out page 23 for the first page of a three-page self assessment check list. It has you evaluate your professional strengths and weaknesses, goals and personality.

Chapter 3 asks you a bunch of questions to help you identify who your audience really is and focus on them.

The rest of the book covers various digital formats, how to organize your work, how to get images of 3D and oversized work into your portfolio, including choosing a camera and setting up for shooting.

Ms. Brown covers editing your images to remove the most common problems, such as moire, sharpening needs, bad crops, etc. And ... she devotes a section to creating written content to accompany your stunning images, telling you how to write to that audience you defined earlier.

She explains the differences between a monitor screen and a printed page. You need to know that to design the correct interface for your portfolio. She also has a full chapter devoted to marketing and copyright issues.

The entire book is scattered with quotes (in friendly green type) from experts and those who have gone before you. The quotes tell you what agencies are looking for in a portfolio, how others have found success at this, what things you can do to streamline the process, etc.

i am Happy to see the site, i cannat spellwords,

sorry

nithyanandan

I found this book to be a great way to become familiar with the range of issues that come to bear on incorporating graphics into a web page. Despite the exclusive use of Photoshop in the examples, the concepts are explained in such a way that makes it easy to identify the same graphic-editing techniques needed to be used with other software such as Paint Shop Pro, my graphic editor of choice. Good clear explanations and excellent examples do a great job of illustrating how "tweaking" things like the color depth and color pallete affect file sizes, download times, and picture quality. Originally, I kept renewing this book from my local library until I finally just bought my own copy. A great book!

Although the book is oriented around Photoshop on the Mac (which is even better if you use a Mac), the concepts are universal. The book is visually pleasing, very informative (especially on graphic formats), and an inexpensive way to get started

The book is deceptive. The author makes it seem simple. In fact she packs in a lot of very cogent points whilst retaining a friendly style. Great for anyone starting out in graphics for the Web (though it does more or less assume you will be using Photoshop).

I found this book by accident in the library when I was starting the process of designing our office's web site. Because I was a rank beginner to the world of web design (although I knew the PC, Windows 98, Microsoft Office, FrameMaker, PageMaker and a little Photoshop), I needed some hand-holding to get my feet wet. This book was better than anything else I found for that task.

There are other web design books I like (like Roger Black's book on Adobe Press) but this is the best one I have seen for the person who literally knows nothing about the topic.Yes, it was written in 1996 and is somewhat dated for the person who wants to be cutting edge, but you have to crawl before you can run, and this book got me through the crawling stage so I could start to feel comfortable with the concepts I would need to work with my Adobe (and now Macromedia) software.

The writing style is crisp and clean and right to the point. I read it in three hours.

Try this book if you don't know anything about web design, then take a look at Roger Black for one designer's viewpoint on design issues. Once you have those two books under your belt, the author's latest book, Web Design in a Nutshell, would be a great next step.

Great reference guide for video production especially for beginners. Simple easy to read and apply!

I wish I had bought this book initially.
I was pretty new to digital video. I had lots of questions about transferring, capturing analog, audio, and so far this book has answered them. It would have saved time to buy it first.
I'm using the digital video for a vidcast.

If you're new to video editing, it is the one for you. It'S a good start

"3rd Edition" I would recommend this book to anyone interested in becoming a Video Editing Guru. Now there isn't much fame or glory in such a title, and I'm not implying that after reading the book you will be able to instantly break into the "Pro" video editing business either. But it does give you some useful information on how to digitize those video clips and turn them into a respectable home movie or corporate presentation.

The book is very much based on Apple's "iMovie" and Pinnacle's "Studio 8". You'll skip around a bit because of the 2 different programs it explains, but you're really just getting 2 books in one if you ever decide to dabble in the 'other' program. If you're using a video editing program other than these, you may want to pick a different book.

Well organized and "dumb-ed down" enough for the beginner. The projects and included clips on CD Rom keep it interesting. I learned about many tips that I plan to use all the time in my projects now. Good work Underdahl!

Based on what I've seen in this book, I would definitely check out the Adobe Premiere Dummies book by the same author if I decide to move up to that program. I'm confident that I would not be disappointed.

The "Dummies" folks seem to be able to get it right pretty consistently, and they also seem to be willing to update titles with some frequency -- publish a new edition, that means.

When I bought this book, I bought another on the same topic from another publisher and neglected to check the date of publication. Well, it was antique, relatively speaking, so when I picked this one up, suddenly things started to make a lot of sense.

Also, the author seems to be able to cover three editing products without a lot of repetition. This is a good, workmanlike job.

Have used the book over and over and have been delighted with the help it has given me. While checking the chapter on "Opening folders" I found pages 61-72 are missing. It looks like a printers error to me and I wonder if others have reported this to you.

I am more of a visual person, so the easy to understand pictures and details are great..It makes it so much easier to understand when you can actually see where to point and which keys to type.. then someone telling you without the pictures especially if you are a beginner...

     The Windows 98 operating system is now standard on most new computer systems being manufactured today. Many are clamoring for an easy reference guide to get the ball rolling. There are many fine books available but when it comes to a beautifully illustrated learning guide, look no further than Shelly O'Hara's Easy Windows 98. This book offers a quick, fun, enjoyable, and easy way to learn about this new operating system.

     Readers are walked through the basic Windows 98 functions and settings. Brief and concise instructions are provided on how to customize the desktop, setting the taskbar, adding programs to the start menu, managing files, running applications, viewing documents, installing Windows components, installing software and hardware, setting up printers, using the Internet Explorer Web browser, the Outlook Express mail program, and much more!

     Easy Windows 98 is large, fully-colored, and features above average size printing that makes it easy to thumb through in a casual manner, allowing readers to move easily from one topic to the next. Readers will like the open workbook style format of the book. It can be placed on one's lap or near a computer and opened for convenient hands-off viewing. Quality color screen and menu shots show how to make the right moves and clicks necessary to make Windows 98 easier to live with.

     As are other books in Que's Easy ... series, this book is well-suited for students, beginners, and even senior citizens who desire or may require an illustrated approach to learning. This book will provide many hours of exciting reading. Readers will have no trouble at all picking up the skills necessary to successfully use Windows 98. Great for classroom use and makes an excellent gift!

Very Useful Book.. It explains everything with graphics which make it very easy fast and practical to use...

step by step instructions for anyone starting out and having little knowledge of how to get to certain areas and make specific changes. graphics were excellent!!