Software Books

It is funny how I was glancing at the books and this book Voice XML caught my attention. I was looking for a book like this. This is a great resource for Voice XML developers like me. The book covers wide range of topics. The book is an excellent hands on guide to build voice applications with Voice XML 2.0. I liked the VUI design tips throughout the book. Great job!

This book is an excellent resource for a VoiceXML developer. It covers a wide range of topics in detail and has some excellent VUI design tips. I love the cross reference of voice technology companies and the services that they provide.

This is the best VoiceXML book I've seen. Most VoiceXML books try to do too much: talk about voice hardware, telephony, the history of voice, tts, as well as be a VoiceXML reference. The weakness of these books is that one or more of these sections reveals that the authors do not really command the knowledge needed to make these sections useful. This book also attempts to do these things, but for the most part is able to carry it off.

If you're looking for a reference, this is the book to get. The reference section is current VoiceXML 2.0 (October 2001), which is an advantage in and of itself. But the real strength of the reference section is its depth. Each element, (e.g., , , ) has an entry for syntax (how to invoke the element), a description (what the element is used for), a thorough discussion of its attributes (that is, a description of the attribute), a usage statement (the elements parents and children), and an example (a snipet of complete code that uses the element). The examples and discussion of attributes really set this book apart from its peers.

There is a brief discussion of the architecture of a VoiceXML app, and a couple of paragraphs discussing the differences between VoiceXML 1.0 and 2.0.

The book also gives, contrary to my expectations, a history of the voice industry, a history of VoiceXML, and a discussion of players in the industry. What makes this book's treatment of these topics unusual is that the authors (particularly Kunins, I suspect) actually know these fields. I don't normally want these sections in a reference book (it just adds bulk around the section I really want) but I found them quite compelling here. I learned quite a bit from reading them.

The book also contains sections on Dynamic VoiceXML, Security, Voice App Life Cycle, VUI Design, the Future of VoiceXML, and a case study. I haven't read these sections yet, so I can't comment on them. I do know, however, that the sections I have read are sufficiently superior to make this THE VoiceXML book on their own.

If I were to criticize the book, I would fault the authors' lavish praise of TellMe (this is minor and not unexpected) and the examples in the reference section. The examples are quite good for someone learning VoiceXML, and the authors are commended for including them. The fault (albeit a minor one) is that they are fairly vanilla. So, while I would have preferred more examples, I concede that such examples would make the book much larger and the inclusion of "advanced" examples to the exclusion of "canonical" examples would have made them less useful to developers learning VoiceXML.

Overall, if you are going to own one VoiceXML reference, THIS should be that one.

This is a summary of the full review available at:
http://voicexmlplanet.com/reviews/vxmlbook.html

In short, this is the VoiceXML book I wish I had written. The authors have produced a comprehensive title that includes gems that could only have originated from masters of the craft.

My only complaint is that the book is a bit too biased towards Tellme (one of the authors is an employee), but this can be forgiven based on the quality and depth of the content.

My judgement is that this book is the most well rounded in-depth book on the topic that's been published to date. I am very happy with the mix of content, summaries of important concepts such as linguistics, speech recognition, and speech synthesis, as well as the in-your-face examples and complete reference. In fact, I liked it so much that I will probably be using it as a standard reference in my company's VoiceXML training course.

I was mislead by the accompanying great reviews for this book. Having bought and read the book I find that it serves more as a reference than to illustrate how VoiceXML can be used through example applications. But I should admit though that this book does a good job of serving as a reference. I also bought "VoiceXML: 10 Projects to Voice-Enable your system" that helped me to come up to speed to do a VoiceXML project.

I used this guide for my Word Expert exam and passed. It's comprehensive enough to double as an intermediate course in Word. Unlike other study guides, it will definitely increase your productivity in Word. That said, the authors did leave me scratching my head over at least three objectives--they have a bad habit of skimming over advanced features, like forms, for which you'll need a third-party manual to figure out properly. That certainly detracts from one's confidence. The handling of Word's graphic/drawing features is only cursory and they stop short of suggesting logical solutions that would definitely come in handy during the exam--using tables to line up graphics next to bulleted lists, for example. For something as specific as an exam study guide, this is crucial. Also, though it wasn't a problem for me, there are no practice documents provided (the small download from the Sybex site is a joke) and they fully expect you to have to hand a cache of unformatted Word documents of all varieties as you work through this book--this wastes a lot of valuable study time. A major oversight on the publisher's part.

We have used this book for over a year and have found it to be not only a study guide, but a good reference book. Our students have obtained results that we are proud of. I recommend this book if you are serious about taking you MOUS and Master certification.

I thought this book prepared me for the MOUS exam very well. The information is direct and exact. I look forward to other books by Gini Courter.

This Microsoft approved courseware is the ticket to achieving certification in either the core or expert Word 2000 exams. This book covers everything from using styles and templates to creating macros and generating reference documents. The information is clearly explained, logically sequenced, and surprisingly concise! You will find a comprehensive list of Mous objectives needed to pass the exam, and advice on how to best prepare for the test. No matter what level user you are, working through the exercises in this book will give you the confidence and know how you need to breeze through the exam. Even if you think you are a proficient user of Word, after reviewing this study guide you will likely find that the methods you have used are neither the most efficient, nor the most effective. Thus, I would recommend this book simply as a tool for improving your Word skills, regardless of whether professional certification is your ultimate goal.

After reading this book cover to cover and doing the hands on excercises, I passed both MS exams. If you know everything in this book, you KNOW Word. I wish every Office 2000 application had a Study Guide from these authors.

I have been using GoLive since the Cyberstudio days, and this book STILL florred me on how much useful information it contained. Everything from the "Well duh! I can't believe I didn't know that" to the "WOW" tips are in here.

Simple. Consolidated. Useful.

This book is a great catalyst for experienced as well as new GoLive users. It's great way to learn all those little hidden, new or forgotten goodies in GoLive, whether you want to know how to be a more efficient GoLive user or want to know what you've been missing and don't have the time to learn. This book is a quick, enjoyable, easy read. I'm already looking forward to a "More Tips & Tricks!" book, but it's hard to imagine they've missed any with this one.

Adobe offers GoLive as a powerful tool to build pages in a website. It is complicated enough that the authors of this book present 200 tips, to perform common and useful tasks.

The contents pages show a titular summary of the tips. Given that GoLive is from Adobe, it's no surprise to see an emphasis on the visual presentation of the pages. Typical is a tip about writing links in PDF documents, or another tip about converting an HTML file, and any associated referenced images, into a single PDF document. Of course, there are also several tips involving Adobe's flagship Photoshop.

Overall, the tips seem straightforward to understand and do. This appears to have been a deliberate choice by the authors. The book is most useful if you already have the basics of GoLive. A good companion to a standard text on GoLive.

I recently met the Author Adam Pratt at Mac Designers Conference this year in Chicago and Adam introduced me to GoLive CS, I was hooked within 20 minutes. Reading this book is like speaking to Adam but instead of 20 minutes, it feels like a 6-8 hour training. The book is simple and effective for the beginner and full of tips and tricks for the intermediate user already using GoLive. It covers the basics from setting up the site to advanced features like creating cool Quicktime slideshows with GoLive's impressive QuickTime editor. The book is filled with great resources such as hidden shortcuts (for Mac & PC), detailed descriptions of each object and there's even a resource listing sites that are full of GoLive Tutorials.

Being a Senior Web Developer and College Instructor, I highly recommend this book and give it 5 stars.

One of the best books on software that i ever bought. I've been working with GoLive for quite a while now and just can't believe how many useful things i didn't know about it yet. So many shortcuts that enhance productivity, so many features that i paid too little attention to.
Because of the way it's written - 200 tips, most of them on 1 or 2 pages - it's easy to pick it up at any time, read a minute, learn something valuable and put it down again. And you're almost sure to learn something new with every tip.

I bought a number of digital textile design books. This one is the most updated and simple in terms of the instructions. Also, the author is extremely accessible and available for support, questions and feedback. He was fantastic and very helpful!

As a Graphic Designer, I made a research and bough four products that were supose to solve textil design, and this was the best, It gives you meny alternatives: also the seller stood beside me when nedded.

I love this book! It saved me hours in learning specific aspects of textile design using photoshop - plus the author makes himself available for technical assists. Awesome.

This is an excellent book for textile designers. Easy to follow and Frederick has been a pleasure to work with. Thanks again!

This book took me to an advanced level of textile design! It was like taking a course in textile design in college except you can actually do things when you're finished! I'm ecstatic that I found this book. I have learned many new techniques. The explanations are very clear, precise and complete! I recommend this wonderful book and I fell grateful that Mr. Chipkin generously shared his years of experience. It's a book for professionals, freelancers and an essential book for the students.

I can't say enough great things about this book. It's full of interesting projects to try, and the design of the book itself is great, light and airy, despite being packed with useful information.

You'll need some software to try the projects in it, an image editor of some kind and a printer. But that's all you need for most of the projects described. Janet Ashford has really creative ideas for transforming every day objects like metal tins and boxes, using computer designs.

I can just about guarantee, if you're artistic at all and you buy this book, you'll not only enjoy it, but you'll wind up designing some really amazing things as a result!

Being an arts and crafts designer from way back, I have always wanted to own this book. I couldn't find it on the shelves a couple of years ago and proposed to write such a book when I found myself inventing paper crafts for PrintMaster, a card design program produced by the Learning Company.

But Janet Ashford beat me to it. And she has the know-how it would have taken me years to acquire. This is a magnificent tome, one that inspires as well as informs the crafts addict. Her expanations are sophisticated but clear to anyone who has passed beyond the basics. Lots of the projects are very artful and have the look of "handmade" without being too cutsy or too advertisingly slick.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves crafts and has access to a computer with the big three type programs: layout, photo adjusting, and drawing. If you are new to computers, an accompanying book or class will set you up for this one.

The potential of the computer in craft has been seriously damaged by the excitement computers have generated. A parallel can be found when the Russian novelist Tolstoy was given a dictaphone to help speed up his writing. After a few weeks he threw it out the window. His neighbor asked if it didn't work. Tolstoy's reply was "It worked fine, but I got so excited using it I couldn't write." For almost two decades a generation of designers have succumbed to the excitement and hype of the computer without significantly adding any real content or substance to their work under the digitized banner. It is time for that to change, and Janet Ashford is a winning harbinger of that change.

It doesn't help matters that most design software seems to be written by the left-brain dominant spouses of craft practitioners...well intentioned souls with no sense of the real kinesthetics of working color, form, texture.

Janet Ashford has navigated through the difficult middle course between technology and entrancement. She draws! She creates custom palettes in her application software! She doesn't hit you over the head or talk down to the reader. Perhaps her experience of designing for and with her daughter has given her the wonderful tone of teaching someone she likes, who is lacking in knowledge but not in ability. That is a prized gift in any teacher, and Ashford has it mastered.

She has maintained her enthusiasm, her innocent pleasure in sharing the joys of color and pattern, line, light and form. She is conscientious in gathering really useful resources together into a book that can pay off in serious fun the first weekend you get to use it, without resorting to false expectations. Buy the book. Use the example. You, and your craft, will be enriched without hype or over-simplification. Serious artists and craftspeople do not expect the tool to do the real work of creation for them. This book is written for the serious artists and craftspeople at any stage of their careers...from about 9 years old on up.

This is a good reference for general information about using a computer to enhance or create art. The author mainly uses Adobe products, such as Photoshop and Illustrator for editing images and graphics. Before you will be able to create these projects, you have to be familiar with your software AND have software to create some of the effect (image editor, paint and graphics program). If you are looking for a book that specifically tells you how to do these things, that will not be found here. You have to be "computer-literate" and software-literate to get the most from this book.

There is a lot of good information provided and several projects are shown using illustrations and photographs, not in a step-by-step format.

Ashford knows the art of computer craftmaking and provides the reader with very good starting points for crafts that intertwine computer and manual art. Regarding hardware/software she clearly favors Mac/Adobe, so her recommendations reflect this. In spite of this slant, she gives some helpful overviews of the technological side of various formats, graphic standards, etc.
Want to intermingle computer graphics with your arts and crafts? Here's a good starting point.

Excellent book: clear, succint and detailed in explanations of AutoCAD design. I tried other books before, but this one really motivates you to keep going and review all the tricky parts of this program.
The following is not a critique of the book but rather my wishes on my engineering field: I would have liked to have several examples of electrical design applications in the book.
Anyway, thanks for your book.
Joseph

I recommend this to anyone who is interested in learing the basics of autocad. After using the book, I can now create professional floor plans for the apartments that I own and manage

Follow the instructions and you will be able to navigate through Auto Cad in no time at all. Easy to understand,well written and illustrated for the first time Cad user. Excellent reference manual.

Great, easy learning tool!
Highy recommended as navigational reference of "how to" design.

As the title says, No Experience Required. I tried several AutoCAD books including the"Dummies" series and it seems they all assume that the reader has some basic knowledge of AutoCAD. Frey assumes nothing and teaches by example, which to me is the best way to learn. Start with this book, learn a chapter a day, and in a couple of weeks you'll have a good working knowledge of AutoCAD. Then you can pick up some of the other books and go from there.

This book is by far the best AutoCAD book ever written. It is full of practical everyday shortcuts and general information that the average everyday user needs to know. Your productivity will increase by just reading the first chapter. This book is written is plain easy to understand english. A very easy read!!!! I loved it.

I've been using AutoCAD for many years and have seen many books rehash the same old stuff.
This book addresses Autocad from a user standpoint, written by someone who not only completely understands AutoCAD but also knows how it's used in the real world.
A "must-have" for all AutoCAD users.

This is the first CAD book that I have bought in years (using AutoCAD since release 2.5), this book is a must have for anyone using AutoCAD. This is not a command reference guide, it truly shows you how to use the software through best practices, customization, automation and programming. It is a comprehensive book filled with tips, tricks, pitfalls, and examples. Mr. Abbott has brought together enough productivity tips for the user that the book will pay for itself through increased productivity.

AutoCAD Secrets every User should know is a fantastic Book.It helps me in my CAD Life.My favorite Chapters are Why Dos isnt dead yet and Chapter 7 AutoCAD Scripts.The Book has improved my productivity, and has enlarged my time off,making my Job easier.AutoCAD Secrets is written in a nice and understandable way.I hope that Dan Abbott writes another Book soon.

Thank You

Jose De Jesus

I've been a user of AutoCAD since release 10 (1991), at one time I used to purchase 2 to 4 reference books per AutoCAD release. I have not purchased a book on AutoCAD since AutoCAD 2000. Until now. Mr. Abbott's book is by far the best AutoCAD Productivity book on the market! If you have had formal or informal training for AutoCAD, or are a seasoned user of AutoCAD, get this book! Although Mr. Abbott packs this book full of real-world tips and tricks and enough examples to give one a good jump-start with customizing AutoCAD, my enthusiasm for this book is based on the fact that Mr. Abbott explains how and why AutoCAD works without being geeky. "AutoCAD: Secrets Every User Should Know", is a well written reference and tutorial book which will not become obsolete with the next release of AutoCAD.

This book is the most complete and clear text about the transition that many companies are doing from product centric to solution enabler organizations. A must read, highly advisable if you are in the IT business.

This book is absolutely the best! It provides frameworks to structure and implement an effective professional services organization (PSO) for an IT product vendor. A product company PSO matures over time through various phases characterized by the types of services it offers. This book is full of practical yet winning strategies and tactics to maneuver the high risk waters of professional services. There are clear directions on how to manage key levers that increase profitability but it also sets realistic expectations. Although the book provides the `recipe' for a sample $100 million professional services organization, it lists all the necessary `ingredients' to cook up a PSO of any size.

I liked the fact that it is written in a style that is free of any jargon. Authors are professionals who clearly understand the industry from inside. My least favorite part are the diagrams and illustrations which are at best adequate but could be better. Highly recommend this book!

This is the absolutely best book devoted to building pro services organization in a product-based company. While there are a lot of sources on managing stand-alone pro services firm (i.e. accounting, law), this book addresses the common pitfalls in moving into services for product-oriented companies.

The book is easy to read, well organized, and packed with sound practical advice you can start applying right away, whether you're in delivery, sales, or marketing -- you'll be going back to it often.

This book absolutely is the best book I've ever ready regarding professional services. They describe a pragmatic approach from their experience at SGI services. This book will take you through planning an PS organization, development of various groups, reporting strucutures, templates for tools to help you.

It's focus in on a PS organization of a product company but you can take much away from this book if you are purely a services organization.

What I like the most is that it helps you do begin to address the various challenges where other books gloss over these topics and leave it to you.

This book as become my day-to-day bible to managing a professional service division within our product-oriented company. If you have your objectives and strategy clear, this book will help you getting organized with the tactics.

I bought this book for Computer Graphic Course for Animator class, and I found it really valuable because I wanted to learn much about history of computer softwares like painter, photoshop,and Maya. Anyways, this book is superb! This book is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in working in Entertainment industry.

Superficially subdued by a bland title that reads like a basic, frills-free "Introduction to Computer Graphics" course, Terrence Masson's CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference, by New Riders Publishing, nevertheless dispatches preconceived notions with its exquisitely detailed history of digital art production. A visual effects director and the founder of Digital Fauxtography, the author has spent at least two stints with Industrial Light & Magic and once served as a technical director at Digital Domain.

An amalgam of CG terminology (pp. 1-209), impactful corporate industry presences (pp. 210-347), programming and mathematics terms (pp. 348-361), fundamental and miscellaneous terms (pp. 362-385), a computer graphics timeline (pp. 385-437) and other mini-sections on CG FAQ (pp. 438-451), job descriptions (pp. 452-461), previsualization (pp. 462-467) and the analog computer era (pp. 468-476), this unique text probably represents the definitive chronology of computer graphics' evolution. The resource's 500 pages belie the mundane name and cover by chronicling numerous advances marking the historic progression of computer graphics-from the pre-mechanical days of the 1940s to the archaic, punch card-based leviathan units of the 1950s and `60s, to the sleek and potent desktop workstations of the late `90s. (The book was published in 1999.)

With the ambitious aid of 97 other industry sources, Masson begins the book by defining "color and light," "painting and graphic design," "modeling," "animation," "rendering," "compositing" and "input & output" terms alphabetically, per section. Processes, programs, properties, rules, companies and more are clearly defined during this first section, accompanied by applicable screenshots, diagrams, quotes and informational tidbits. For the purely artistic members of the digital art community, this material doubtless will prove dry and unpalatable. But for those having more of a technical and scientific bent, this comprehensive industry reference is a fascinating excursion into the intricacies that help materialize the eventual pretty, pixelated pictures so many of us enjoy producing and admiring. Learn what "pixel" denotes ... who invented the Phong shading method ... what "pixmap" means ... the origin of the omnipresent teapot icon ... the beginnings of morphing ... who started Atari ... the conception of ILM ... the significance of SuperPaint ... and much more. It's all here.

Section 8, "Historically Significant Companies," really is the beginning of the salivating learning experience, though, introducing readers to pioneering companies and people whose prosperous contributions have nursed CG through its proverbial growing pains. Some of today's popular and recognized field leaders appear, such as Industrial Light & Magic and Robert Greenberg and Associates, and they're graced by numerous lesser-known but equally essential precursors. Remember the 1979 feature film The Black Hole? Think Abel Image Research and Robert Abel & Associates. Recall 1984's The Last Starfighter? Think Digital Productions. The list and sundry, voluminous details are phenomenal.

The second portion comprising stellar, historically intensive reading, Section 11, "Computer Graphics Timeline," lists and delineates all key advances in the industry, throughout the 20th Century's final half.

On the downside, some of the quotes by CG experts seem to ramble, are inapplicable or just plain too long, but they appear to represent Masson's method for best expressing these individuals' contributions to the digital art community-or just relating arguably interesting events. (Besides, art often is about storytelling, anyway.) The text also is somewhat outdated, having been printed three years ago. But this does not diminish the paperback's essential overall value.

As for the seemingly innumerable industry term definitions, these provide industry professionals -and interested hobbyists-with a valuable reference resource. They also remind the reader that, despite all the creativity involved in generating digital art, CG's undergarments are math and science. It's always technicality before imagination.

Quite simply, if you're genuinely interested in computer graphics as an artistic medium, and you value the learning experience, CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference is a must-read. All told, this undoubtedly is among the most interesting titles-of any kind-this reviewer has ever read. (No kidding.) Assuming you possess the technical interest in these details, you'll find yourself perusing this gem night after night, until you've marked your last highlight with a neon felt tip and a corner page fold. (I tallied 14 page folds and 39 blue highlight markings in my copy.)

It's not as full featured about technique and practice as I had hoped, but certainly a fantastic reference for the terminology, and techology employed in Digital Production today. By far my favorite parts of the book are the historical references that help really put my daily work into perspective.

CG 101: A computer Graphics Industry Reference Terrence Masson: PUBLISHER: New Riders REVIEWED BY: Barbara Rhoades

BOOK REVIEW: CG 101 is a great reference guide. Forgotten what a particular term means? No problem! Just Open CG 101 and look it up. The first 208 pages and a few more inbetween are jam-packed with terminology and what they mean. There are side bar "blurbs" that contain factoids and quotes. This provides great bits of trivia.

The next 148 pages tell about the history of the graphics industry and how it has progressed from the start to what we know today. CG 101 tells about the companies and the people who use computer graphics to provide us with entertainment in movies and much more.

The 22-page index provides an easy way to find items, people and companies you want to know about. And just in case you wanted to know more than the book has to offer, there are URLs and telephone numbers to give you added places to glean information.

This book covers the bases quite well. Not only is it useful to industry veterans, but more importantly I feel that it's essential reading for people starting out a career in computer graphics. It gives a very detailed background of not only the history of CG production, but also the innovators, movers and shakers, to include production houses and developers. The glossary is very helpful too.

This book works through some great effects in cookbook style, such that if you follow the recipe, you can great some fantastic results. Although I am using CorelDraw 8 LE on the Mac, and am a beginner when it comes to graphic arts, I was still able to amaze friends and family with the output!

The written style is clear, concise and easily understood, and the side bars are very informative. The color pictures in the center of the book are helpful in defining the target look, and the enclosed CD with electronic "recipes" and results is great.

This is now in my top 10 technical book list!

I absolutely LOVE this book. It's opened up a whole new world of possibilities with Corel Draw 9. By the time I've experimented with all of the tutorials, I'm sure I'll be quite the whizz kid. Unfortunately, I'll have to do it all without any help from the CD. There is no INSTALL.EXE on the CD. Therefore, I am unable to install it. Although I can access its contents through my CD-ROM, using it that way tends to freeze up my system and it's just not worth the aggravation. But the book itself is a real jewel and I truly enjoy reading and learning from it. Shane Hunt's writing style immediately puts the reader at ease. This alone is worth its weight in gold and is a rare and welcome commodity in "How-To" books. Thanks Shane!

This is the best how to book I have ever worked through. It is a must have for Corel Draw 9 and 10 users who have never learned all the hidden secrets and shortcuts to this program. After learning each and every technique in this book, my talents in graphic design have multiplied greatly! I find my self creating amazing graphics I never would have believed possible. Thanks Shane Hunt for writing this incredible book!

After trying several of the web based tutorials I decided to try Shane's book. One of the best things about this book is that it takes an artistic approach in the instruction. I have used what I have learned from this book in all my projects to date. Shane has made me a more creative Corel Draw user. After several years of just using Corel Draw I am now creating on a level I never could have attained before. One should know the basics of Corel Draw before using this book. If you know how to access the menu commands then you should get this book. Highly recommended.

The CorelDraw 9: FX and Design is one of the best books on the market to get the most out of your software package. Author Shane Hunt knows his stuff. He presents facts, tips and creative ideas in a fun and entertaining way. This book is exactly what I needed to teach me the 'how' of CorelDraw 9 and at the same time teach incredible creative tools I can use right away. The Official Guides are fine but this book gives you the tools to think not only 'outside the box' but outside the stratosphere.