Browsers Books

It has been a couple of years since I read this book, but I'm sure most of it is still relevant. It's definitely one of the first books you should get if you're interested in web analytics. It's one of those books you can go back to and use as a reference when you need valuable input.

I bought this copy and Web Analytics Demystified. This book repeats a lot of information in "demystified" plus it gives you coding tools to build your own metrics. More bang for the buck here.

Companies are looking for more and more business intelligence from their Web sites, both to improve their marketing efforts and determine ROI. This is a good thing. This is an exemplary "how-to" guide for Web Analytics. Extremely useful.

I think that the book is for differente people: programmers and marketers. But I found it quite interesting althought you have to select what hacks are appropriate for your job.

Web Site Measurement Hacks is the best book in the Web Analytics field. The book explains introductory topics as well as the most advanced ones in a chronological natural way. Subjects like what is web analytics, how to choose a vendor, how the technology works, and how to implement a web analytics program in your company are covered extensively.

Besides being well written and almost encompassing, it presents also the point of view of several of the Web Analytics' experts and vendors. Many of the Hacks are co-authored by big names, such as:

* Bob Page (Yahoo!)
* Bryan Eisenberg (Future Now)
* Jim Sterne (Target Marketing!)
* Jim Novo (Drilling Down Project)
* Jim MacIntyre (Visual Sciences)
* Jason Burby (ZAAZ)
* Brett Hurt (Coremetrics)
* Xavier Casanova (Fireclick)
* Jeff Seacrist (WebTrends)
* Akin Arikan (Sane Solutions)
* Jay McCarthy (WebSideStory)
* John Marshall (Clicktracks)
* ... and many more!

The index is very helpful and you find subjects very easily. The book is well organized and I refer back to it every time I have doubts. It works for me as a Web Analytics' Encyclopedia.

If you want to understand programming the Flash Communication Server and it's capabilities this is a good place to start.

Although I'm using Flash Media Server 2, this book is still highly relevant as not much has changed. The core objects and language is the same so I would not hesitate to recommend it for anyone looking to use FMS.

This book is all about the design of applications using Macromedia's Flash Communication Server MX. FCS MX enables the building of media-rich web applications by taking care of the basic tasks required in the networking of the applications. Thus, you can focus on the application itself rather than worrying about low-level communication details.

Since this book is concerned with situations where multiple Flash applications will be executing on the same server simultaneously, there is going to be considerable effort involved in coordinating events, which is addressed by this book. You should already have FCS installed and running on your server and you should also have Flash MX available on the client. The following is description of the book by chapter:

Chapter 1, Introducing the Flash Communication Server - Acts as an introduction to FCS and an overview of the whole book.

Chapter 2, Communication Components - How the FlashCom communication components encapsulate commonly needed features such as chat, video recording and playback, bandwidth control,and user configuration. These components implement many basic building blocks for your application.

Chapter 3, Managing Connections - This chapter covers connections in more depth past the SimpleConnect component, including how to write custom code to handle various changes in the connection status as well as different errors.

Chapter 4, Applications, Instances, and Server-Side ActionScript - This chapter describes how to write Server-Side ActionScript and work with the objects that control application instances and the Flash movies that connect to them.

Chapter 5, Managing Streams - Offers a somewhat oversimplified but complete example that shows the basic steps in publishing one live stream and subscribing to a second.

Chapter 6, Camera and Microphone - This chapter explains how to use both the Microphone and Camera classes to record live streams. These classes are at the heart of most communication applications involving multimedia.

Chapter 7, Media Preparation and Delivery - This chapter covers many details for compressing and streaming audio and video.

Chapter 8, Shared Objects - This chapter starts an entirely new subject - shared objects, which provide a mechanism for the transmission of data between client and server.

Chapter 9, Remote Methods - This chapter also shows how to broadcast method calls to every movie and application instance connected to a shared object or stream, or send them to and from individual movies using RMI.

Chapter 10, Server Management API - Discusses the Server Management API and its applications, including monitoring a FlashCom Server, gathering statistics on application instances, and managing the log streams.

Chapter 11, Flash Remoting - Demonstrates how Flash Remoting can be used to add data connectivity to FlashCom applications. Flash Remoting can access web services, server-side scripts, CGI applications, XML files, or the local filesystem with the help of an application server such as ColdFusion.

Chapter 12, ColdFusion MX and FlashCom - Teaches some specifics involved in using Flash Remoting with ColdFusion MX and FlashCom. There are some practical working examples shown that demonstrate how you can leverage the benefits of Flash Remoting in conjunction with FlashCom.

Chapter 13, Building Communication Components - This is the first step in building complete applications, and is demonstrated through an extensive example.

Chapter 14, Understanding the Macromedia Component Framework - How to modify an existing component and how to create a new one. Also discusses server-side framework code and its core features and data structures.

Chapter 15, Application Design Patterns and Best Practices - Describes some of the best practices available to application developers. This chapter provides some useful design options, patterns, and best practices that will help you build better applications.

Chapter 16, Building Scalable Applications - Deals with building multi-instance and multiserver applications that don't bog down as the number of client connections increases.

Chapter 17, Network Performance, Latency, Concurrency - Traditional network design issues affect FCS also.

Chapter 18, Securing Applications - Specifically this chapter examines the three A's of security - Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.

Excellent book, stuffed of examples very well explained, easy to read and to understand, essential for who desires initiate or even though to profound itself studies on FlashCom.
Obligator reference in projects involving FlashCom, either for fast consultations and advanced tasks.
Excellent approach of subjects as Design patterns and security, yonder a perfect demonstration about audio, video and much more.

If you're a developer looking into real-time server communication using Adobe Flash, this book is a must-have. It guides you thru various levels of application development in an easy to understand format, and provides well documented pieces of code to assist you in the learning process of putting together your project:

Topics covered include:

- learning about components and how to use them
- establishing and managing client connections
- publishing live and recorded streams
- local communication with clients
- remote communication with outside applications

The book also shows how to build and integrate your own custom components, and how to scale your application using the components that you've created. Other highlights include information on how to use shared objects and server management API, as well as ways to improve both design and performance.

I found it best technical book till date but you should know Flex & Ruby before you can jump into this..

This is a great book. Peter is the #1 expert in Flex + Rails.

I wasn't sure whether a mixed-technologies book would be adequate for both reading and reference, especially with two technologies. As both a software engineer and a moonlighting instructor this book was an easy read from the start. Mr. Armstrong explores both Flex 3 and Rails 2 with enough background information on both technologies to get a reader ready to code--and that was just Chapter...err...Iteration 1. The second iteration begins with coding (Hello World) and it doesn't stop. This is a must for your coding library and makes a great textbook for students who enrolled in courses geared toward building web and Rich Internet Applications.

The author goes into great detail on how to efficiently get Rails and Flex working together. The book is updated for the latest version of Rails as well as the upcoming Flex 3 release. I've found the book easy to follow along with and enjoy the author's humor spread throughout the book.

As a developer I'm often tasked with making "things talk to each other". Typically if I can I'll use a tool like Flex Builder for a project and if I have a choice I'll pick Java, .NET or Ruby for the server back end - whatever is the best fit. This book only backed up my belief that Rails and Flex really do work very well together. I've learned a lot going through the code both on Rails and Flex.

I also liked how the author is continually refactoring the application (called "Pomodo"), that is where your learning kicks into overdrive. He uses the Cairngorm framework and even RubyAMF. I didn't have any experience in either up until this point. Now I can say I do and it all fits together nicely.

I have used Flex for about a year and I have only dabbled in Ruby/Rails development. I have been curious how I might back a Flex front end with a simple service layer that isn't hard to create, maintain or host. So far I have only worked with Java/Spring/Hibernate backend services which can take a little while to build and integrate (Grails is MUCH faster).

After about 100 pages I'm in interation 4 building an interesting RIA with a Rails backend that I can host on relatively inexpensive server if I wanted to. My only struggles thus far was getting MySQL going properly. But that was only because I forgot a step in installing it.

If you have little exposure to Rails and/or Flex and you feel at home on the command line as well as you do in an IDE like Eclipse, this is a great "project" book for you. I'd say you probably want a primer in Ruby, Rails and Flex before you get going but it is pretty easy follow and has a lot of free professional advice from someone that has obviously been around the block a few times. Peter is very upfront about some things that he has done in the book that should not be considered "best practice".

I am hoping to get some good insight how I might do something similar for Flex and Grails. Regardless, I am confident this is going to be a fun journey!

I just finished reading, and before I even finished I had success. Will recommend to anyone who wants to increase networking skills and research ability for projects, clients or prospects. This will be a powerful tool for many different levels of education.

After conducting an audio interview with the author, I've used his suggestions multiple times. Most recently, it led to me getting called back for a second meeting about what could be a large piece of business. The tactics work!

Sam Richter's Book, "Take the Cold out of Cold Calling" is exactly what he says it is...a tool to help the reader find enough information to actually make the call a warm, informed call. There is no reason to be nervous when you feel you have a reason to call...and that makes the call warm.

I tried many of his tips on getting information quicker and they all worked! I actually researched a company that I was calling on, found the most recent press release, which revealed that my current contact had RETIRED!!!! It pays to do your research to avoid looking stupid.

I attended a webinar that Sam held and learned valuable useful information. As a result I purchased his book "Take The Cold Out Of Cold Calling" and I highly recommend this book it is a valuble resource tool. I write Business Plans, Marketing Plans and Request for Proposals (RFPs) for a living and I cannot begin to count the total number of hours spent on research this book has saved me. If you utilize the internet to research or if you are a salesperson looking for leads you need to purchase this book. -Leah E. Curry

As a business owner I am always looking for tools to improve. Within the first couple of weeks it has paid for itself. This is a "must have" for all business people whether you are in sales or not. The tools and suggestions will help you in all areas of your life. If possible attend the seminar!

Charles Panati has always been a fascinating author. His books are typically dedicated to information, mostly about the origin of things. There's his Browser's Book of Beginnings and his Sexy Origins of Intimate Things. But I use this book the most by far when it comes to information I need to know, along with his Sacred Origins of Profound Things. Where as most of his books deal with beginnings, this book deals with endings. There of course origins of instruments of death such as the electric chair and the guillotine, but the whole is concerned with death and the ways it happens. Great for reference and great for just reading. Though at first it is a grim subject, Panati deals with it in such a way, that you could almost read it as humorous yet respectful. Points of interest include last wills and testaments of past presidents and the last words along with cause and description of death with famous figures in history such as Buddha, Joan of Arc, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ludwig van Beethoven. And in reflecting how these monumental people died, we also reflect on how they lived and realize that no one is exempt from death, and that we need to make the most of it, and laugh about it in the end.

All of Panati's books are a good read, just the kind of book you need if you've got a curious mind.

For a rainy day read, or a break from more 'serious' reading, Panati is the choice. Hey, it beats watching television!

Recommended!

A great source for all sorts of useless (and not so useless) information on just about anything. Highly recommend to anyone who likes weird stuff.

Oscar Wilde's last words? What caused the extinction of the Dodo bird? Author Charles Panati has compiled a most fascinating look at the end of practically everything and everybody. Last words of famous folk. Final resting places of the rich and famous. Bequests of dying Presidents. There are all here, in this witty (and highly readable) compendium of all things dead and dying. Think of it as the beginning of the end and you'll finish first. Or is it last? As for the answers to our questions . . .

Panati reviews all forms of endings, and writes well and frankly---there is much good historical information here, and he touches on little discussed topics!!!

This book is clearly written and user friendly. Biafore gives links to information sources, making it easy for the reader to get more information on each of the hacks. These links alone are worth the price of the book.

I've been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.

Well written, easy reading, well organized

Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word 'Online', I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.

Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD's to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.

The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O'Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.

One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft's Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office's Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.

It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it's my money. How can I be sure I'm investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.

This book is written in the same format as the other "hacks" series by O'Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book's format works to its advantage.

The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company's balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.

The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child's education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it's better to start saving earlier than later.

This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.

Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O'Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.

Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index

I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that's what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn't. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.

If you're an Excel user, you'll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She'll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don't care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn't know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.

As with all Hacks titles, you probably won't be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.

PCs: The Missing Manual is written by Andy Rathbone, one of the greatest computer book writer. For me he is. You know what Andy Rathbone, you are right. You should come with that book a long time ago. I was bad at troubleshooting computers. Since I bought that book, I know how to speed up my computer, remove viruses and many other threats. There is another tricks that remained unknown to me: Disk Defragmenter. After I knew how to run the Disk Defragmenter, my computer become as fast as Sonic. I did not finish reading that book yet, but if I finish reading that book, I will be a good computer technician or even a good computer engineer.

Andy is an excellent professional and his literature work is awesome and very simple to follow. And if you ever requested a tech support on his Web site, you'll know that is the best support that any body can deliver. He's the best among the best without any doubt !!!!....Rafael Sanchez from Caracas-Venezuela :-)

Andy Rathbone's PES: The Missing Manual is another recommended winner, again helping bridge the gap between program and learner with a book which moves quickly from the basics to more advanced computer concepts - all linked to user needs. With its surveys of how software and hardware interact to how to tweak either for maximum performance, and how to troubleshoot common problems including spyware and Internet viruses, PES: The Missing Manual not only tells all, but in user-friendly language.

This is THE book for the novice pc user or even the more experienced user, the Missing Manual truly should have been in the box when your new PC was brought to your door!It covers every subject from setting up your PC to connecting your favorite printer,digital camera,webcam,also, how to connect to the internet,surf the web, set-up e-mail, and so much more.
For the more advanced PC user, in the back of the book,The electronic reference library for programmers and IT professionals.
There is still more to be offered in this book, several useful and informative websites as you read from chapter to chapter, and finally,"as if there could be more to offer" visit [...] for a tidy list of the shareware programs described in this book, ready for you to download.
I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to be as proficent and up-to-date as they can be with their PC.

Once upon a time, computers came with big, thick, intimidating manuals filled with every bit of arcane knowledge the designers thought that the user would need. Nobody ever read them, partly because of their size, but mainly because it was tedious, time-consuming work to sift throught the manual to try to find the answer you actually needed.

Eventually, manufacturers stopped making these massive manuals - instead, they printed up short "quick-start guides" to get people started. Unfortunately, these guides served much the same purpose as detour signs do in road construction. They take you just far enough to get you lost and then leave you there with no clue what to do next. Readers end up like drivers: lost, confused, and frustrated.

PCs: The Missing Manual is designed to change that. This book, like each of the other Missing Manuals books, gives users a base of knowledge to build on. Unlike those early computer manuals, the book does it in a way that people can understand and follow, and it doesn't just drop you off in the middle of nowhere. Also unlike the early manuals, it goes beyond the PC itself and covers many popular peripherals and accessories - including scanners, digital cameras, and MP3 players.

When writing a book like this, covering such a broad topic as PCs in general, it's easy to go into information overload. That's something that Rathbone manages to avoid, mainly by offering a lot of content online through O'Reilly's Missing CD web site.

The most valuable resources in the book are the troubleshooting guides. Printer troubles, camera problems, even network difficulties are covered and in enough detail that the average user can solve the most common problems quickly and easily. There's also a section covering security and maintenance, including combating spyware and phishing schemes.

PCs: The Missing Manual is basic enough that average computer users can read it and make good use of it. If you are looking for something that will teach you details about modifying and upgrading your system, this isn't the book for you - you'll want to get a different O'Reilly book - Repairing and Upgrading Your PC (review forthcoming).

Years ago, I created my own website from scratch using HTML. It was an extremely simple format with no bells or whistles. Over the years, I have tried to keep up with all the new options in HTML and XHTML. The ability to do more with the code has given me far more options. Now I can use code to do what I envision my website rather than work within strict parameters of what the text will allow.

With this said, I am not a professional website designer by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure if I'm following proper HMTL (or XHMTL) protocol or if I'm using a lot of code that is just confusing my viewers' browsers.

The Ultimate HTML Reference can be used in a variety of ways. The first chapter explains the differences and uses of HTML versus XHTML. The rest of the book is separated into intuitive sections so that those new to HTML can learn step by step. Finally, the author has added a variety of extremely useful appendixes: for code that is rarely used anymore (and often no longer supported by common browsers), for non-standard elements, and code in alphabetical order for easy reference.

Great reference as I'm using HTML on our website and with job postings. I needed something a little more in depth so that I can do fun things with them and this has been great. Some of it's a little over my head which is why I purchased a second reference. What can I say, I'm kind of a techie, office geek and I like to learn. :^)

HTML is the root and powerhouse of every site, and the only language key to every web site's existence. So THE ULTIMATE HTML REFERENCE is also a key source for any who would master HTML programming. One of the world's experts in HTML produces a comprehensive reference on the topic, packing scripting notes with explanations and examples. Any library catering to programmers - and any working Web programmer - as well as many seeking a clear reference introduction need THE ULTIMATE HTML REFERENCE.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I'm a old fan of the Sitepoint books (and sitepoint web site). Generally speaking, the books of Sitepoint are truly "delicatessen" books because the quality of illustrations, typography and richest content. This book is the best fully reference about HTML and XHTML that I know. I believe that is an indispensable book for anything interested in web standards.

For over ten years, I have enthusiastically promoted Dave Taylor's "Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages" book as my favorite HTML reference book. Its organization, code examples, and writing style are first-rate. I think I may have found a worthy replacement in Ian Lloyd's new "The Ultimate HTML Reference", though I say this with the understanding that this book is really intended for the hard-core HTML coder who needs a handy reference for one of those weird commands that didn't come immediately to mind. This can be a really useful reference for the super-advanced coder, though beginners can get a lot out of this book, too.

Unlike Taylor's book which was laid out in a format that permitted the user to start with simple tasks and build on them, The Ultimate HTML Reference is organized by HTML elements (Structural Elements, Head Elements, List Elements, Text Formatting Elements, Form Elements, Image and Media Elements, Table Elements, Frame and Window Elements, and Common Attributes) and the attributes within the elements (for example, Chapter 4, List Elements, is divided into the various attributes like dl, dd, dt, dir, li, menu, ol, and ul). It even provides a little instruction for basic Javascript commands like onkeydown, onmousedown, ondblclick, and others.

One of the appendices covers deprecated elements - that is, those elements and attributes that are no longer supported by the newest HTML and XHTML standards (but most browsers still permit their use, just the same). Another covers some of those special (read that annoying) proprietary and nonstandard elements (remember the "blink" command in Netscape--that only worked in Netscape?).

The organization of the book makes it very easy for individuals with at least some HTML coding experience to locate the elements and attributes they need, and describes in just enough detail how to apply them. While there aren't as many examples as I might like, there seem to be enough for most users. What I do like is the compatibility chart that goes with each attribute. The chart displays compatibility (Full, Partial, and None) of the attribute against several versions of the most currently popular browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

Within the book's first 25 pages, readers receive preparation for upcoming changes to the HTML standards, as XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language, a hybrid of HTML and XML--eXtensible Markup Language--a highly structured, rules-based markup language) begins to take over. XHTML tightens up some of the structuring that was missing in HTML, which makes the code much more readable and easier to modify as needed, and if you need to transition to full XML (for things like content management systems), much of the work has already been done. HTML 4.0 and earlier code, in comparison, can be really sloppy, but it still renders just fine in most browsers. For example, in HTML 4.0, capitalization is optional, and line endings don't need to be terminated in a formatting attribute, like "".

XHTML also imposes more stringent rules on quoting. Every attribute value must be quoted. For example, quoted attributes like class="gallery" are mandatory in HTML 5.0 and newer. HTML 4.0 code permits code like class=gallery.

The author takes pains to differentiate the older HTML vs the new XHTML, and if you haven't started coding in XHTML, be prepared to break newer browsers on their way to a computer near you. Not today, but maybe a year or two (or three) from now, the older HTML formats will begin to disappear as XHTML becomes the new standard. If you want to read more about the differences between HTML and XHTML, check this page out. But I digress...

What surprised me were the number of new attributes and elements that I had not used before that are a part of XHTML as well as newer releases of the HTML specification. It turned out to be very useful in a recent office project where we converted one of our product manuals to HTML--a project that had plenty of tricky points to deal with.

What this book only briefly touches is Cascading StyleSheets (CSS), which are used to apply more advanced and creative formatting to web pages. That said, CSS is completely out of scope to this discussion, though it may be good to know that the same publisher, Sitepoint, has a companion volume, "The Ultimate CSS Reference", by Tommy Olsson and Paul O'Brien, also $44.95. I was so impressed, I bought a copy for myself. I've already discovered that The Ultimate CSS Reference is equally valuable to a web programmer's arsenal of reference materials. A Javascript book from Sitepoint is also in the works.

A companion website contains everything in the book, fully hyperlinked and searchable, as an additional valuable resource. It's free, to boot. The free companion site to the CSS reference book can be accessed at http://reference.sitepoint.com/css.

What can I say? This book replaced Taylor's book as my primary HTML reference at home and at the office. It's well worth the 45 dollar price-tag. I can only find fault with the fact that it doesn't have enough chunks of sample HTML and illustrations of how the HTML will render. Most of my loyal readers (?) know that I'm pretty tough with my ratings, but taking that really small negative into account, I give this book the MyMac Magazine rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Putting Linux on the desktop has been the clarion call of many Linux users as well as people who want a system that does not crash almost daily or have multiple security and other problems. The problem is that a graphical interface that is similar enough to the Windows or MacIntosh systems that there would be minimal training and yet is easy to install without problems has been long in coming. While there are several contenders today, the Java Desktop System (JDS) Linux Desktop is one of the fastest, and easiest to install.

In Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop the authors take the reader through the installation process and all the basic information for using the JDS Linux Desktop. Not only do they go over the infrastructure items like networking and printing but also the most common applications that come with JDS Linux Desktop. These applications include email, calendaring, instant messenger, the web browser, StarWriter (word processing), and StarCalc (spreadsheet). They even go over various options for running Windows programs in JDS Linux including some options that often run Windows programs faster than Windows!

The book comes with a Live CD, which is a version of JDS Linux Desktop that runs from the CD. Simply put it into your CD-Rom drive and boot your computer and you are running Linux with a graphical interface. I tried it on a couple of computers on which I had trouble getting a much more popular version of Linux to recognize the on-board video interface but JDS Linux Desktop got it right the first time and worked as expected without any special manual configuration. While many of the items covered in the book are not on the CD, enough of them are there to give the user a good feel for how the operating system works. The book warns that the Live CD allows you to create documents but you cannot save them. However, that is not entirely true. If you are knowledgeable in Linux it is simple enough to open a terminal and mount the hard drive - including a Windows formatted drive and save any files there.

Although I have done a lot with the Linux operating system this is the first time I have used the Sun Java Desktop System (JDS). The interface is very professional and definitely on par with Windows. Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop is a highly recommended read for anyone who wants to learn the basics of navigating and using this system.

I often find myself digging through the pages of technical books, prior to purchasing them, just to be sure they are readable. Most technical books assume a certain level of expertise, and as a result, become overly technical and hard to read. "Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop" is an excellent book that from the very first page, is well written and an easy read. If this is your first experience with Linux or your 10th, this is the book for you! Complete with screen shots, and a live CD of JDS, you will soon be on your way to enjoying the JDS experience. You will learn many aspects of the operating system including, Networking, office productivity, and system management.

Hats off to the authors for writing this fabulous book which has found a permanent place in my collection.

With background as a Unix user and system administrator in a small business, I have been looking more on Linux the latest year, and especial on using the JDS Linux. Though Sun's JDS user documentation has been available online on the web, a text book is something more. Therefore I was anxious when I started reading Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop by Tom Adelstein and Sam Hiser.

The book is excellent clear and direct written with the user in focus. Thanks to the authors insight and experience, even usual more difficult subjects like Internet and network setup are presented to the user with simplicity. But the user also learns to do real work in the Linux environment, as there are relative extensive introductions to the central Internet and office applications.

Also support staffs and Unix or Linux system administrators will derive advantage from learning the JDS GUI ways whenever possible. If I should suggest an extra wish for a second issue (knowing it was out of scope this time), it would therefore be to complete a chapter or two on local networking with typical client-server configurations. In small office and workgroups, one of the users often has to manage also the necessary system administration, and not unusual in a mixed Linux/Unix/Windows environment.

I was also impressed by the the JDS demo on the companion CD, how well it booted and started up with hardware autodetection. The only thing I had to change manually afterwards in the Yast2 configuration tool, was setting my keyboard to Norwegian layout. By help of this demo CD, which implements a nice variant of the JDS theme, it is really possible to explore JDS Linux live, even without installing the system on the disk. That is trying before buying.

My conclusion is therefore safe: Exploring JDS Linux Desktop is recommended for all with interest to learn and use the nice JDS, working environment and applications in a quick and easy way.

This book attracted me as I'm a current JDS user, and I was completely taken by suprise by the actual depth of the book. Most technical books that one buys goes way beyond the scope of the average home user. Adelstein and Hiser use your basic building block approach to using JDS and a newcomer interested in linux can follow it right along with the enclosed bootable cd without the danger of making a mistake and wiping out the settings on one's computer. For the experienced user, such as myself, or someone wanting to learn, the chapter dealing with StarOffice will be something that will be referred to for years to come. This book is a "must have" for your linux library.

Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop is the first Linux book I have read that speaks to the user rather than the technical audience. It's the kind of book that the entire community has needed but no one has ever written before. This is the book you give your fifth grader, grandmother or employee.

It is also unusual because you don't need to buy the software to learn JDS. It comes with a completely live version of Linux that runs from a one's CD Rom drive. It doesn't disturb the existing software on your hard drive. That's important to me because I am able to try everything out without having to make a commitment to changing my system.

I thought the authors did an usually good job of writing to the non-technical audience. They explained what they needed to and allowed the reader to get right into working with the system. It also allowed me to see the similarity between Linux and Windows. I think it proves than someone can go from from Windows to Linux without much pain.

Overall, the book is a good read, interesting and unusually high quality consider it's on a technical subject. I recommend it to anyone curious about Linux or who has purchased Linux and wants to get better at using it. Also, I think it's reasonably priced.

GWT in practice covers the Google Web Toolkit at a level few books on this subject matter go into. The book is well written and also approachable for someone who is new to GWT. I particularly found useful the chapter on deployment which also covers deployment using Maven with the GWT-Maven plug-in, and the chapter on CI which covered Hudson. IMHO it is worth buying the book for these chapters alone as this information is hard to find anywhere else.

As a beginner to GWT, I was interested in a book that provided examples and also explained components. This books does exactly both. The examples vary from very simple to complex. They really made it easy for me to understand how to actually us this in practice, no pun intended. I definitely agree with other reviewers that a background in Java will definitely be necessary to easily follow. Overall, this is one of the better technology books I have read.

For starters: I am one of the pilot developers in my company (a large Fortune 100 Financial Institution) doing GWT development. We are about to release our first product to the business. So I've spent the last 18 months or so learning and beating my way through GWT. In the process, I've bought all the GWT books that are out there. Straight to the point: this is the best one out there. Period. Cooper & Collins have produced an excellent book on User Interface development for the next generation....and you get an outstanding understanding of basic and advanced principles in GWT. Plenty of good stuff for the beginner as well as someone who claims to be fairly advanced. GWT in Action by Rob Hanson used to be my favorite...it still has a soft spot for being the first real GWT book, and a great reference book. Collins & Cooper have managed have the same energy that David Geary has in GWT Solutions (which is lofty praise if you've ever seen David speak about GWT!). I really like Dewsbury's GWT Applications, but GWT in Practice is actually better. There are 3 other GWT books (can't remember their names because they're at home), the 2 black and yellow ones and the flower book...I really like GWT in Action better. I've used gwittir, which is a binding framework from Cooper & Collins, so when I saw that they had written a book, I was psyched. In this day and age when book sales gotta be tough because of all the info on the internet, I was glad to see a book that I didn't think was just a rehashing of what's out there online. Good stuff guys...crank out a new version when GWT 1.5 is fully baked and I'll buy it!

I have only read the first two chapters of this book thus far (I will update this review when I have finished the book), but based upon what I have read this is an excellent book. I have been playing with GWT for a couple of weeks and, as another reviewer has stated, I wish that I had read this book earlier. I have one other GWT book that I purchased on Amazon, and it was very disappointing.

The authors of GWT In Practice are clearly seasoned Java programmers, and even in the second chapter they have introduced patterns that are appropriate for GWT solutions. They explain how GWT meshes with the MVC pattern, as well as other relevant patterns. Also, even in the first example, they introduce user-defined classes that extend widgets ... a very promising example of their direction through the rest of the book.

One caveat: I am not certain that this book would be easy to comprehend for someone who is a beginner. But I think this is generally true for GWT itself, and that anyone who wants to use GWT should have some training in Java.

One gripe: This is an unfair gripe, because there is no way that the authors could have achieved what I would have liked to see, specifically, a book based upon the 1.5 version of GWT (the book is based upon the 1.4 version). I haven't used GWT 1.4, but I get the impression that there are enough changes in 1.5 to make the information significant. But I'll get over it, if the book is as good as the first two chapters promise!

I don't often say this as fervently, but here's my recommendation: buy this book if you are learning GWT (and probably even if you already know GWT)! :)

My first thought upon reading the first few chapeters of this book was "Where was this thing when I started to use GWT a few months ago?" The authors have done an excellent job really showing how to use the Google Web Toolkit. My eternal fear when I read these books is that there won't be any content outside of what the product already ships with. Not so in this case at all.

The authors cover the GWT basics, to be sure, but more importantly, they demonstrate a way to really use GWT. They hit upon one of my thoughts when first trying to get my head around GWT: GWT is not a framework; it is a platform at best. They recognize this and help you work with the power and around the limitations of GWT.
The authors demonstrate common patterns and practices in the "language" of GWT. It was extremely satisfying to finally, with the help of this book, be able to articulate and execute all the patterns that I've been using in other systems, (e.g. MVC, PropertyListeners, etc.)

The authors also demonstrate how to use GWT in a variety of environments and build system. These concepts were useful, but I found myself skimming over pages at a time to get back to the "good stuff." (This was my primary knock in not giving it five stars.)

All in all, I highly recommend and I'll be ensuring that my team each learn the concepts presented.