Reference Software Books

The Open Source/Free Software movement can be very confusing because it is a mixture of ideology, politics and business. To choose the proper license for your purposes you first have to understand the purpose of the various licenses. Some, specially GNU/GPL, are mostly political and ideological in nature in that they try to create a 'right to software.' Others are designed to further either academic or business interests through free software.

Except for Chapter 10, I found the book to be eminently readable. Unfortunately, Chapter 10: Choosing an Open Source License, which can be considered the core of the book, turned my brain to mush and was no help at all choosing a license. The author states:

"If you expect a checklist method to select a license, don't bother reading this chapter; it cannot be so easy."

While from an attorney's point of view this might be correct, from a developer's point of view you don't really have an alternative to creating your own checklist to pick a license. An attorney will give you the attorney's standard solution: "consult your attorney." When you do, your attorney will not pick a license for you, he'll rehash everything in the book and you still have the burden to pick a license. So why not nip in the bud this Catch-22 situation?

My own checklist, created mostly from what I learned from this book, is as follows:

1.- Ideological intent? What is your prime intent, to make a political statement or is it something else like promoting academe or running a business?

2.- Reciprocal licensing? What is more beneficial for your project, reciprocal licensing which limits contributor's choices or non-reciprocal which allows alternative licensing modes for derivative works?

3.- Can you afford an attorney? If not, pick a license template used by a very popular and successful open source project that meets your first two requirements.

Remember that you can always relicense and if your initial choice is not perfect, it can be perfected in time provided you don't chain yourself to some irreversible license.

I purchased this book 18 months ago, along with two other references. Since that time, I have learned that when I have a question, this is the book to turn to first. In fact, I haven't read the others since first buying them.

This week we had a request to license some code under the CPL. Not only does this book cover that license, but it has a chapter interpreting each of the clever sections, and its repercussions.

As both a licensee and licensor, I have yet to come across an issue which this book did not address. It is the single volume you need.

I have studied and compared Open Source licenses for a number of years. I came to the conclusion that the licenses created by Mr. Rosen were the best and I adopted one of them for my own Open Source projects. I have also read his book on the subject and I have concluded that it is also the best in its field. I recommend his book as a must-read for licensors of Open Source content.

Open source software is growing explosively around the world. The SourceForge web site now lists 87,006 projects being done by 912,545 people. That's almost a million people writing code, probably more than all of the programmers employed by Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc. etc.

The code being produced is distributed free of charge. Free of Charge, but not without restrictions. This book, written by the general counsel of the Open Source Initiative is intended to explain the various licenses that are in common use in the Open Source Community. It is written in English, not lawyer-speak, and intended for developers, managers, users and of course lawyers. If this is what you need to know, you'll not find a better source.

When I recieved this book I was excited, finally I could read a book which would help my brain really understand all the licenses! I sat down to read it, and was impressed with how the author took the popular licenses and broke them down into more easily understandable. I mean, they *are* fairly straight forward, but the author gets into what they actually mean in legal terms, and that's interesting.

Unfortunately it turns out that reading about specifics of Open Source law is not terribly interesting to me (I guess I'll never be a lawer) After the few introduction chapters I had to stop reading straight through it and skip around and skim the parts that interested me.

In my case this is not such a good book for snuggling up with in front of the fire (some computer books are), but it is a fabulous reference book, written for us mere mortals.

Good resource. Could use a lot more illustrations to aid in understanding the text.

I have not purchased a "Dummies" book for years and was pleasantly surprised to find color photographs among the improvements in this series.

This is a decent enough intro to Photoshop Elements 4. It doesn't cover a great deal more information than what's in the manual, but things are presented in more detail, with more examples, so it's useful. The color illustrations are helpful.

If you use a Mac: this book is written strictly for the Windows version, so you have to ignore a small amount of Windows-specific material, but most of the functions and menus are identical in both versions.

Oddly, in the intro, the authors say Elements 4 is NOT available for the Mac. That's funny, because I've had my Mac version for almost a year, and this book was published in 2006, though obviously written earlier. The authors then helpfully suggest you buy a Windows PC in order to run Elements! Dream on ...

Great companion book to your Photoshop Elements. Between the two books I feel I have all I need to know.
Simple explanations makes it definitely dummy-friendly. Easy index makes it simple to look up whatever you have in mind at the moment.

My husband and I are taking a beginning Photoshop class at the local adult school. Instead of a more extensive and difficult text we chose to supplement the class with Photoshop Elements 4 For Dummies. It moves in more logical sequence than the class and enabled us to begin editing our photos immediately. It also allowed us to focus on class instruction without taking notes.

Clear, easy to understand and complete. Very good

If you are going to be working with PostScript you will need this book (widely refered to as the "Red Book.")

It is indeed THE reference for PostScript, but the organizational aspects of the book itself are a bit confusing until you understand some PostScript fundementals and have a grasp for some oddball "Adobeisms."

In addition to this book I've always made a habit of leveraging the "suppliments" released for each version of an interpreter.

For example, PostScript level 2 actually consists of several versions of level 2 interpreter (2011, 2015, etc) all of which have associated supplements describing specific features supported (or not.) The supplements are available for download from Adobe's developer side of their web site (they are often far smaller than the Red Book, and absolutely indespensible.)

Additionally, each manufacturer who OEMs an Adobe interpreter sometimes release documentation pertaining to which specific features within an interpreter version are supported, and how.

For example, companies often develop specialized applications built upon frameworks provided by Adobe in an interpreter version. Understanding the customized PostScript commands for these applications enables you to take full advantage of them.

Either way, buy the book. Don't waste your time downloading it. Sure, that's "tree friendly" but we all know it will end up getting printed anyway.

If you're like me and just need to do a little bit with the language, you will need this book but you might want to consider downloading it directly from Adobe. They have it, in its entirety, in pdf format. (Why not postscript?!) On the otherhand, if you are going to be using this language alot, you will probably just want to buy the book seeing how an 897 page pdf is a bit unweildy.

This manual - the 'Red Book' - is absolutely necessary for programming in PostScript. It is the only complete reference guide to the language, and is so well-organized and thorough that no one else even bothers to publish a complete third-party guide. Many other books have been published on PostScript - and many are excellent - but they are books you will buy in addition to, rather than instead of, this manual. We can only wish that other software manuals were as well-written.

If you want to program in PostScript, you must have this manual. However, you need the newer version, since this second edition only covers version 2 of the PostScript language. The third edition covers version 3, and you can find it for sale here on Amazon using ISBN 0-201-37922-8.

Excellent for CPA's

As a frequent reader of accounting literature in my daily activities, I have used the Wiley GAAP Guide for several years. The authors have converted complex accounting issues into well written and easy to understand language. It's a valuable resource.

I have been working with this Wiley Gaap series by years, it is really easy to understand and gives to you a comprehensive backround to understand most of the common topics.

As an opportunity to improve, would be great if this book in a future, include a practical chapter with examples an study cases of the common practices as tips and falls.

a great complement to this book are the Intermediate Accounting (Kyeso) & Advanced Accounting (Baker)

This is a useful companion to any intermediate accounting text. It explains topics in plain English and in fewer words than most textbooks do. The best part about this guide is its detailed index that has come through in the clutch a few times during open-book exams and the cases that we prepare on a regular basis.

I recommend this book to finance-focused MBA students and anyone who has a job that involves interpreting financial statements or FASB documents.

GAAP is very hard to understand if it is not in laymen's terms. This book is great at "translating" the prounouncements. I definitely recommend it.

I am almost through the book (Phew, "Complete" means just that!)

The author's experience with the pitfalls in Word are evident by the tips and suggestions he offers throughout the book.

A great book as a complete reference, or as a quick-I'm-out-of-time-what's-the-solution book. The book is setup as a task-oriented reference and for once a computer book did not put me to sleep. This is a handy book to have on your bookshelf.

In an effort to study and pass the MOUS exam for Word 2000, I chose to teach Word 2000 at my company. Having a complete list of the MOUS objectives, Chapter references and examples for each objective, and practice documents was invaluable. But, to also have practice test questions was the topping on the cake. After I finished teaching the course, the students and I reviewed the MOUS objectives and walked through the practice exam, this really refined and focus what was learned from the book and CD.

I use Microsoft Word 2000 for nearly everything that needs to be typed, so I was really glad when I got this book. I learned a ton of things, like how to insert a boarder around pages, how to create special affects with WordArt,(WordArt allows you to create cool bubble letters, slanted text, and stuff like that.) how to double space a paragraph, even how to change the Office Assistant, and so much more! This is a fantastic resource, with even some humor thrown in. Very complete, very good.

This book has so far been a failure in my life. I totally regret having purchased it. I have consulted it only 3 times and each time there was nothing in the book or index about the subject I wanted information on. It seems more of a step-by-step for someone who knows nothing about Word or even how to use Windows, than a "complete" reference. The three subjects I looked up (to my disappointment) were: Digital signatures, security, and startup switches.

This book has so far been a failure in my life. I totally regret having purchased it. I have consulted it only 3 times and each time there was nothing in the book or index about the subject I wanted information on. It seems more of a step-by-step for someone who knows nothing about Word or even how to use Windows, than a "complete" reference. The three subjects I looked up (to my disappointment) were: Digital signatures, security, and startup switches.

The Adobe Photoshop CS2 A-Z etc, etc is a beautifull book. As a complement to other more accurate howtos is of a great help. The only complaint I found when I had on hands my actual copy was the so small point used on the summary tables at the beginning of each feature.

Easy to look for the subject you want, but the book was too succint and the character were so small that I had to use a magnifier lens. Where is the other author Peter Bargh who wrote the previous edition? I puchased both editions.

But not enough to explain any one process through. OSX users, be advised, most of the dialog boxes are Windows which you need a magnifying glass to see.

I'm new to CS2 and was having trouble weeding through all the possable ways of developing my photos. This book is a wouderful help with undrstanding some of the complicated tasks involved, the projects are simple to read and simpler to do, even if you are using your own photos instead of the ones that are included with the book on a CD. Having completing the projects in the book I reference it reguarly for my own projects.

Title: Photoshop CS2 A-Z
Author: Philip Andrews
Publisher: Focal Press
ISBN: 0240520025
Pages: 244 pages
Reviewer: Charles Renee
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


This Photoshop advice and teaching book by Phillip Andrews is a great find. It's not a sit by the fire and read book but, rather a wonderful ready reference.

Adobe keeps making great products and adding new features almost to the speed of "hold on I can't keep up.? This book offers some handholds on Photoshop. It is set up in dictionary style in which it describes every feature and action in Photoshop from A to Z with really nice color photos. In many cases it has multiple screenshots of features, filters and actions.

Even though the title describes itself as CS2 it has tips, tricks and shortcuts that apply to older versions of the program as well. It will tell you what versions each feature works with and highlights the CS2 only items. Photoshop CS2 A-Z might be the needed push for someone sitting on the fence about whether the program upgrade is worth it. This book is not a substitute for classroom type text books but a great companion for everyday use. My copy is already getting its share of daily abuse. Easy to use, easy to read, 5 star rating!

This book is VERY useful, I had to take an Algebra course where of course my teacher was horrible and I basically had to teach myself. This book has it all, Explanations on problems, example problems, Practice Problems (answers in the back), exercises (answers for ODD problems in the back), chapter tests and cummulative tests (answers on the back). As well as a CD-ROM to help with showing how to solve problems for each Chapter Test. Whether your taking a class or just want to get a head start for Algebra, this is a GREAT book adn you will not be disappointed. You will definately learn a lot!

I am highly pleased with my purchase. The item is in wonderful condition and the delivery was FaSt! Wow. Great Experience!

i read this book and it is the best. it improves your grades

Tobey and Slater's 'Beginning Algebra' text is used by my college where I tutor mathematics in the first course in Algebra, often the first course in Algebra many of our students have ever taken. It is very much a beginning course, as the course itself carries no official 'credit' (it is a zero-level course, as a prerequisite to other science and mathematics courses, that many students place out of on the basis of assessment scores).

The first chapter is actually a Chapter Zero, covering review topics in the event students have not had mathematics for a while. These include topics such as fractions, decimals, percentages, estimation, and basic arithmetical functions. The chapter is a bit disorganised (however, every class seems to have a different intuitive feel for mathematics, so I have not discovered that one system of rearrangement that works for all classes).

The following chapters cover the major topics of Algebra systematically: Real Numbers and Variables; Equations and Inequalities; Applied Problems (this is the dreaded `story problem' chapter, where most students who seek tutoring first seek it out); Exponents and Polynomial expressions; Factoring (another major area of problem for students); Rational Expressions/Equations; Graphing and Functions (the third primary area of problem for students); Solving Systems of Equations; Radicals and Roots (including some basic geometry via the Pythagorean theorem); and finally Quadratic Equations.

Each of the sections includes pretests, post-tests and reviews, and plenty of problems to be solved to reinforce the mathematical principles being presented. There are a few issues with the organisation that we address in the course (sometimes the introduction of square roots and radicals needs to be advanced to assist in the discussion of factoring, for example), but these are fairly minor and can be adjusted as the instructor and/or course planner desires.

Each of the chapters deals with things in a mathematical as well as an 'English' way - explaining in words the concepts and operations being carried out in the numbers. Each section of each chapter covers only a few key concepts, with enough problems for solving that reinforce the principles thoroughly. Each section also as word problems (story problems) to test the real-world applicability of the numerical/mathematical concepts being presented, so when students ask (as they always do and shall), 'When am I ever going to use this?' there are examples drawn from typical situations.

Tobey and Slater have also worked to make various connections with geometry, graphs and charts, tables, as well as internet resources to provide the most up-to-date and useful text. There are specific problems along the way that assume the use of calculators (as most of real-life mathematics now involves calculators).

The book's design is interesting from a graphic-design standpoint, but from the standpoint of clarity to the students, the pages are a bit `busy'. While I appreciate the need to reduce the number of pages in an effort to keep the costs down (text-book prices are typically higher than popular-book prices, and this text is no exception), more white space on the pages would probably help the accessibility and make it a little less intimidating.

Most students who take the Beginning Algebra class using this text who then move on to the Intermediate Algebra class (which is the course level of mathematics required of most every degree programme at our college) find that, in many respects, they have already mastered the key concepts of Algebra, and find Intermediate to be new applications and more complex problems of similar principles they have already learned. In that respect, this text is a good one, and serves the students well.

This widely-acclaimed textbook by Tobey & Slater is a valiant attempt to make elementary algebra both interesting and anxiety-free. I have been using this textbook [both 4th and now 5th editions] to teach in over 30 classes so far at a
community college and have found the book, despite its good intentions, to have many flaws, some of which I would like to touch upon here. The book comes equipped with many extras, such as lecture videos on CD ROM and internet support. I think the study tip boxes scattered throughout the text are condescending to the student and don't belong in an elementary algebra textbook. [If we want to avoid the words "beginning" ,"introductory", "elementary" in the title couldn't we just say "a first course in algebra" or just " algebra I"?] Next, the many "pretests" are a distraction and make no sense in this book. I've noticed that they cause anxiety and I never use them. Chapter "0" reviews basic math and could stand a lot better organization, which I have to do myself. One glaring omission in this chapter is proportion. Proportions are used to solve for a numerator after finding a LCD but the topic is put off until chapter 6 and even then barely discussed.But proportion is the key linking concept for all of our basic math and this omission, in my opinion , could prove disastrous as the course proceeds.The "blueprint for problem solving" seems useless, and I never refer to it. I am still mystified by what they are attempting to communicate. The touted "real-life" applications also seem rather contrived, repetitive, condescending, and plain boring ,so I hardly ever assign these problems. However, the "organizers" at the end of each chapter are superb. They neatly summarize every section and give an example or two as illustrations of the method. The algebra in Chap 1 is good, but could also stand better organization. I have a quarrel with modern notation of signed numbers. They should write the signs smaller and as which would eliminate the need for parentheses ( confusing for the beginner) and also conform to our newer calculators displayal of signs and operations.Quite a few of the word problems are confusing or imprecise so I tend to avoid these. A good example is on page 50 problem #28: "In a recent tire inspection for Ford Explorers, local dealers found that 12% of the treads were defective. For each Explorer that was defective, the dealer offered immediate replacement of all five tires (including the spare ).If the local dealers inspected the tires on 450 Explorers, how many new tires did they need?" The authors insist that the correct answer is 270, but I am not so sure....
I can go on about the cluttered appearance of this book, distracting photos, drawings,etc.
but it would be pointless.However, overall the editing is excellent with very few errors. [a glaring exception is problem #29 on page A-23 ].I would like to end this review with mention of the kind of writing I strenuously object to in a first course in algebra. On p. 526 is a discussion of complex numbers, which is irrelevant to the needs of the student:
"Thus the [square roof of minus 4 ] is not a real number...You may encounter a more sophisticated number system called complex numbers in a higher-level mathematics course. In the complex number system, negative numbers have square roots."
But in Chapter 10, when solving for roots of a quadratic, the authors reject imaginary solutions , so that this topic need never be mentioned in the main body of the text.

I had no ideal what I was getting into, when I decided to try to create web pages myself without going to school. I have had this book for awhile now. The book is pretty instructional. I like the step by step instructions that it gives. I recommend this book to people that are starting out creating web pages.

Every master was once an apprentice; the beginner must start at the beginning. For the author of an introductory text on a technical subject, the challenge is to adopt the "beginner's mind," which is characterized in Zen practice as "is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices." The teacher of novices must clear his mind and place himself in the mind of the student who knows little or nothing about a subject. He must be able to transmit complex concepts in clear, non-technical language and provide enough information to make the subject understandable, yet not overwhelm the student with too much information or information that is not pertinent.

The first two chapters of "Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference" satisfies the requirements of a beginner's book quite well. The language is clear, concise, and devoid of jargon. The remainder of the book is quite uneven, probably due to the publisher's decision to employ two authors for the book. Craig Cook (the author of chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 and 11) is more than capable of communicating technical information using plain language. His prose is concise and accurate, yet he maintains a gentle, witty tone that is ideal for making the neophyte feel at ease with new material. David Schultz is much less adept at maintaining the `beginner's mind.' His prose is often convoluted and awkward, making it difficult to decipher the terms he attempts to explain.

Chapter 4 is an excellent overview of the basic structure of a semantically structured web document. For someone looking for an introduction to HTML and CSS fundamentals, the book is worth buying for this chapter alone. It would also serve a more experienced hand as a concise guide to the proper use of HTML elements.

Chapters 3, 6, and 7 all have a common weakness: the author fails to provide clear definitions and explanations for terms. An example, from p. 164: "charoff: Specifies in pixels or as a percentage how far the alignment should be adjusted to the first character to align on. This requires the use of the align attribute with the value set as char." Contrast this definition with one penned by Cook, p.211: "disabled='disabled': When present, disables the control so that it cannot receive focus and its value cannot be modified. Many browsers will display disabled controls a `grayed-out' state. The value of a disabled control is not submitted."

It appears that Mr. Cook devoted a considerable amount of thought to writing his definitions, while Mr. Schultz was content to restate the official specifications. Cook takes the time to carefully explain a term, giving examples of how it is used in the real world. His definitions & explanations indicate a deep and nuanced understanding of the subject material.

Chapter 10 presents an introduction to JavaScript. Appearing out of place in a book on beginning HTML and CSS, one chapter on JavaScript is simply inadequate to explain even the rudiments of this powerful (but often misused) tool. This space could have been better used in covering CSS positioning in more detail and providing more visual examples.

Chapter 11 is a solid walkthrough in putting together a basic website, from the design process through to final markup. This chapter pulls together what has been presented in the rest of the book and would certainly enable a beginner to create an attractive & functional website from scratch.

Finally, the book provides four appendices. The usefulness of these appendices varies widely. Appendix A is an XHTML 1.o Strict reference: it would be useful but for a complete lack of examples. Appendix B covers color names and hex values: does anyone actually use these? HTML colors are notoriously hideous and their use should be avoided. Appendix C covers special characters: this is a good reference to have. Appendix D covers CSS browser support: again, a useful reference.

But why is there no glossary? A glossary of terms is ESSENTIAL in a beginner's book. Please, leave out the scary HTML colors and give us a glossary!

Despite its shortcomings, "Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference" is a useful book for a person needing to understand the fundamental concepts and application of HTML and CSS. The publishers would have served their readers better by providing a consistent authorial voice throughout the book, including more thorough coverage of CSS positioning and layout, and providing more high-quality graphical examples. This book is a good bet for the beginner who wants to learn the fundamentals of HTML and CSS to create well-structured and usable websites.

Despite the "Beginning HTML" in the title, this small horror is a densely packed text of incomprehensible jargon.

This book is only useful for balancing wobbly table legs and for teaching writers how NOT to write a reference work / tutorial.

I bought it based on the title, not the contents. (It was shrink-wrapped at a brick-and-mortar bookstore) Had I seen a sample of the text, I would have reshelved it hurriedly or offered a dime to buy it for firewood.

As a reference work for web designers, or a tutorial for beginners, it ranks below any other book I've seen on the subject.

APPENDICES:
1) The promised CSS is scattered throughout the book, with no CSS reference guide in the appendices.
2) The appendices for HTML and XHTML describe each tag's parameters in such a way as to leave one wondering how to use them, and what each tag and parameter does.

EXAMPLES:
The authors clearly did not proofread the version that reached the printers, or the editors made unexpected, inexcusable last-minute cutbacks. This is most obvious in photo captions that ask us (unbelievably) to find the differently colored text in identical B&W screenshots (p. 143), and in examples of JPEG artifacts/compression (p. 108) and pixelating (p. 106) that are unnoticeable because the example photographs have been shrunken far too much or carelessly created.

INDEX:
Carelessly assembled, neglecting common terms like "mouseover".
LANGUAGE:
Professorial pointification and obfuscation rather than real advice to beginners or helpful reference for experts. Reads like a fillibuster performed by a student defending his masters' dissertation.
For example, what beginner could make use of this entry in the appendices?
(p. 353)
"The param element allows you to set run-time values for objects that have been inserted into a document. Required attributes: type: specifies the MIME type of the resource specified in the value attribute when the valuetype attribute is set to ref; value: specifies the actual value associated with the parameter"
...and so on.

Sentences are needlessly wordy, overly technical, and filled with passive verbs. In short, the writing bores and frustrates more than an afternoon spent with an enthusiastic life insurance salesman.

For example, from page 352: : "disabled": Sets the control as "disabled"; "value": Specifies the value for the option that will be sent to the server.
Why would anyone whose first language is English say "as" instead of "to"? What writer uses a word ("disabled") in the same word's definition? What "control" are the authors talking about? Why was ink so valuable that the authors couldn't give examples these options in use? What are the possible values for "value"?

Buy this book only if your goal is to frighten a web designer's boss away from learning what the designer does for a living....or if you need something slim yet heavy for flinging at life insurance salesmen.

Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference by David Schultz and Craig Cook is an excellent beginners introduction to HTML and CSS. Through each of the eleven chapters the authors walk through the basics and foundation of HTML. For those who are just treading in the waters of HTML and CSS, this book will help you understand the tools available to you as you craft your markup. You will learn about the tags available, their available attributes and purposes, and how to finely tune these into a semantic layout that ultimately gives your content more meaning.

Chapter 1 is our quick history lesson and introduction to HTML. They give background and insight into the goals and purposes of HTML, and how these were shifted during the browser wars and the battle for browser dominance and market share. They introduce the different versions of HTML available, and what they mean for your markup and the rendering inside of the browser. As CSS is discussed, there is also a discussion on keeping a clean separation of content and presentation. Chapter 1 lets us see the big picture and evolution of HTML.

Chapter 2 builds the foundation for the rest of the chapters. This chapter discusses the basics of XHTML and CSS. The building blocks discussed here will be addressed in each and every subsequent chapter of the book. Things such as tags, elements, attributes, and formatting. We are also given a snapshot view of what comprises an XHTML document, the doctype, the HTML element, and the document tree. All of this plays into understanding the fundamentals of CSS, cascade, and inheritance. We now have our history lesson and basic constructs in place, it's time to take a look at the rest of the pieces to the puzzle.

Chapters 3 and 4 cover a large territory. From constructing a useable head section, to walking step by step through many of the available HTML elements available to you as you put your content together. With discussion of each element, you are given detailed instructions of how and when it should be used, with an exhaustive list of its available attributes. CSS is briefly discussed, but will be re-introduced in a later chapter after we have our content constructed.

Chapter 5 is all about images. This chapter gives a brief primer on how digital images work, and what are the formats you can use within your content. Images can serve different purposes: icons, decoration, background, or context. Each of these are discussed with information on how to place them accordingly with CSS or the img tag.

Chapter 6 is all about linking. You are introduced to the a tag, its available attributes, and how you can create different types of links. Textual links, anchor links, and linking an image are all discussed.

Chapter 7 is all about tables. Despite what you may hear from others, tables have a very good semantic use in regards to tabular data (who would have thought?). However, tables are also misunderstood in relation to the tags and attributes. It is important to build tables with accessibility in mind, and this chapter goes over some of the elements that haven't received as much exposure. These include, but are not limited to: caption, colgroup, and tbody. This chapter will give you the information necessary to build a powerful and semantically rich table.

Chapter 8 discusses all of the little details to building a usable and accessible form. Just as with tables, there are some elements that are often forgotten about when building forms. This chapter does a great job of covering all of the necessary components for a form, and how to structure them. Form elements are rendered with the underlying operating system, so the end of this chapter discusses CSS and some of the ways you can spruce up the look of your forms. This is to be used with caution, as forms are rendered differently in each browser.

Chapters 9 and 10 discuss the other 2 pieces of the trinity of the front end: CSS and JavaScript. These chapters are meant to be brief primers, and will most likely whet your appetite to learn more about each aspect. They are also placed here to give you a good foundation as the final chapter will roll everything up into a case study.

Chapter 11 is the end of the journey. What good would the book be if you couldn't put what you have learned into practice? This chapter creates the fictional Spaghetti & Cruft website (you have to read the book to find out the meaning of the name). This chapter starts with the design process, moves to the building process, and then polishes it off by adding enhancements with CSS and JavaScript. The humorous name aside, this chapter is one of the most valuable chapters of the entire book. This final chapter brings the book to a close, and with it leaves you a solid foundation as you continue your journey of building other sites.

Conclusion
Many would argue that they don't need to learn HTML, that is what a WYSIWYG is for. This book shows you the value of understanding the history, the basics, and the semantics of HTML. It is important to note that nothing found in this book is earth-shattering, however, if you are a beginner and new to HTML, this book will give you the proper start you need to begin developing right away. If you are moving away from the reliance of a WYSIWYG, you may be surprised at many of the elements available to you that are covered in this book.

I ordered this book along with Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML. I was worried based on reviews that this might be a little over my head. My only program experience is with VBA macro writing. I wanted Head First's book to protect myself from getting lost.

What I found is there was no problem understanding this well-presented and clear text. In fact, I much prefer it to the "dummy downed" Head First book. Had I to do it over, this would have been my only purchase.

I suggest reading the definitive guide first but I keep this pocket version on my desk (well, I know it's around here somewhere). A useful quick reference for web designers that have abandoned the outmoded world of tables-based layout.

The CSS Pocket Reference is just that, a "reference". It is not a lesson guide on using CSS. It will give you the quick syntax when you need it. It also gives a list of the browsers that support each element. Very helpful if you want your page to be compatible with more than one browser.

You can't go wrong with this one-stop shopping reference book on CSS. You need to know or, at least, have a familiarity with CSS to take advantage of this tool. Highly recommended for CSS geeks & web designers. Eric Meyer is The Man.

It must be very hard to pack the perfect reference about CSS in a small book that you can fit in your pocket. But this Pocket Reference about CSS by Web legend Eric A. Meyer himself is very close to being perfect.

The information on it is impeccable and serves as a great resource for those who what they are looking for (think of it as a dictionary). However, if you are clueless about CSS and want to learn from scratch, look elsewhere (his title CSS Web Site Design Hands on Training (Hands-On Training) is a very good starting point) as there are no concessions made her for newbies nor any illustrations to help you visualize the impact that changing things in a CSS expression can have.

Exactly what I was looking for - all the codes needed for CSS at my fingertips, in a compact, easy to carry size. Great reference!

The main commentary component is the same material as the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary. It's a very good commentary, I should say, but that detail is not made clear, especially in light of the fact that Amazon is offering both products as a package. If you have the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, a significant component of this software program will be redundant.

The Expositors Bible Commentary 5.0 software is easy to use and contains exceptional detail of Bible book introductions. The overviews that I have examined so far are full of usaable background material. The individual comments have been helpful. The whole package is to be commended for general use re Bible knowledge and is of use for teaching purposes/

I initially wanted to purchase the volume series to place in my library. This product is definitely good for reasearch, whether you are a beginner, inter-mediate, or advanced Bible researcher; and for the price, it's definitely worth it.

This is one of my favorite commentary series, and for the price that it is available digitally, how could I pass it up. I have been blessed many times already in the few months since I have owned this commentary series, particularly by DA Carson's Matthew commentary. Hands-down, without-a-doubt, I highly recommend the conservative, generally reformed Expositors Bible Commentary series.

However, the interface is, for lack of a better word, horrible. I have been using Bible software since the late 1990's. I have managed to port the majority of my reference library to digital from traditional ink-and-paper books since Libronix (logos.com) has begun to release massive amounts of resources at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, I have grown accustomed to Libronix's well designed, aesthetically pleasing, and easily navigable interface. Pradis, the software that runs the EBC fails on all three of those accounts. Using Pradis after working on BibleWorks or Libronix is reminiscent of using Windows 3.0 after growing accustomed to using Windows XP (or Vista).

Also, unlike other Bible software publishers, Zondervan's proprietary Pradis does not offer free upgrades. So when EBC 5.0 is outdated and no longer runs well on new machines, you will have to shell out more money for new software, whereas Libronix offers free upgrades.

I will not be buying any more Pradis software. I hope that Zondervan will, like almost all otehr Christian book publishers, release their books on other platforms. Let the publishers do what they do best, publish books. And let software developers do what they do best, develop software. Don't make us fight with bad software to get to the treasure that is within the books.

5 Stars for the commentary series.
1 Star for the software.

If you are a pastor, then you do not need to read any further: Buy this commentary right now! It costs in the neigborhood of $270 to get this entire set in hardback volumes. You can get it here on one single Cd-Rom for $80. It's a no-brainer! This set represents the exciting development of 1970s-1980s burgeoning Evangelical Scholarship. You have a young D.A Carson's excellent contribution on Matthew, Richard Longenecker's terrific exposition of Acts, Willem Van Gemeren's insightful commentary on the Psalms, Walter Kaiser on Exodus, Ronald Youngblood on 1 and 2 Samuel, and Charles Feinberg's wonderful offering on Jeremiah. Oops, did I forget to mention John Sailhamer's terrific commentary on Genesis? That one has helped me out a lot through the years.

I also appreciate the opening volume of introductory articles dealing with both the Old and New Testaments.

This CD-Rom is a steal at $80. Get it while it lasts!
Rev. Marc Axelrod