Software Books


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Software Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Software
Transactional COM+: Building Scalable Applications (DevelopMentor Series)
Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2001-03-16)
Author: Tim Ewald
List price: $39.95
New price: $13.36
Used price: $0.92

Average review score:

I was blind-folded...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-13
...with regards to COM+ before I read this book. A definite eye-opener! Very well written, explains in a concise manner both the big picture but most importantly IMHO the little details, those little holes that prevent you from fully understanding what is going on, what is happening, when, where and why.
I had considerable plain-vanilla-COM experience when I read it, but I believe it can be of immense help even to COM novices (I wish I had read that amazing explanation of COM apartments as a thread affinity issue a couple of years back).
This book is so good, I would gladly buy a second copy!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Tim!!!

The real deal
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2001-11-21
I'm a professional software engineer with twenty years experience, so I've read my share of computer books and dipped into hundreds more.

This is quite simply one of the best computer books I've ever encountered. A classic.

So many computer books are just rehashes of vendor documentation, vague or misleading or wrong in all the same places the vendor documentation is. This book is different. The author clearly has tested every assertion with his own "spelunking" code. He explores every nook and cranny of COM+, and every sentence is carefully considered, clearly stated, and as far as I can tell, absolutely accurate. There's no "hand-waving", no BS, it's just absolutely solid. Crystal clear, razor sharp.

It's a shame, really, that the title is "Transactional" COM+. I had the book for quite a while before I got around to reading it, because the title misled me into thinking that if I wasn't using transactions then it didn't apply to me. Wrong! This book covers COM+ generally, not just transactions, with particular emphasis on the elements of COM+ that are most likely to affect scalability of middle tier applications. Want to know what threading models to use in components called from ASPs? Want to really understand why? This is where to find out.

It's a serious work and really deserves to be studied with some care, but whatever effort you put into studying it will be amply rewarded.

If only all computer book authors were as smart, as conscientious, and as intellectually honest as Tim Ewald. Bravo!

After reading this book there's only one question left....
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-06
...What the hell is the IMarshal3 interface?

The previous reviewer seems to be disappointed that most of the book's sample code is written in C++. Alas, at this time (and until the moment, perhaps in the second release of .NET, when the COM+ component services are implemented in managed code) a significant part of the COM+ infrastructure is simply inaccesible from Visual Basic.

As the title and the preface state, the book's focus is on transactions in the COM+ environment of Windows 2000. Perhaps a list of "requirements", and don't take these too serious, will decrease the number of disappointed readers:

The reader should:

-know the basics of COM

-be comfortable reading C++ code (Although VB or JScript is used now and then)

-know, or read up on, the ATL util classes (CComPtr, CComBSTR)

-same thing for OLE DB (& the ATL consumer wrappers)

What the book does not cover (and again, this is stated in the preface):

-LCE (COM+ Events) and QC

-CRMs

-Security topics

The structure loosly resembles "Essential COM". (that's a compliment :-) )

In my opinion the book delivers on it's promises.

Great Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-11
One of the great book. Every COM+ developers should keep a copy

Serious and scientific
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-15
Clear, concise and honest this book is for the advanced programmer/architect. It shows all the inners of COM+ and everything is based on serious theoretical background that too many of the developers today are missing.
Excellent.

Software
VoiceXML: Professional Developer's Guide with CDROM
Published in Paperback by Wiley (2001-12-07)
Authors: Chetan Sharma and Jeff Kunins
List price: $49.99
Used price: $125.00

Average review score:

Great VoiceXML book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-05
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!

Excellent resource
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-03
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.

Good coverage, up-to-date, very userful
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-01
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.

Most complete, well rounded book to date
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-06
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.

Use this book only as a reference not to learn VoiceXML
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-26
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.

Software
Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance
Published in Paperback by friends of ED (2006-07-24)
Authors: Jim Thatcher, Andrew Kirkpatrick, Mark Urban, Bruce Lawson, Shawn Lawton Henry, Michael R. Burks, Cynthia Waddell, Christian Heilmann, Richard Rutter, Bob Regan, and Patrick H. Lauke
List price: $49.99
New price: $19.55
Used price: $19.55

Average review score:

Ultimate reference for ADA compliance
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-30
Excellent resource for ADA compliance. The requirements for ADA are so complicated that without a book like this it would be difficult if not impossible to understand what is compliant and what is not.

Awesome book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-24
This an awesome book. This book is the to have for all web developers.

Outstanding. Absolutely every web developer and website owner needs to own this.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-17
This text book is of very high quality and an engaging read. Apart from the expected target audience of web developers, I will suggest that website owners and non-developers should consider getting hold of this vital textbook.

The fact that it leaves you wanting more is a compliment to its quality. Even though it is bulky, I wished it had covered certain areas in more detail.

One small criticism relates to the javascript examples. The discussion of events refers to techniques that are questionable in terms of robustness and re-usability, issues that, to be fair, the author does point out. [Background; search for "addEvent considered harmful" in your favorite search engine.] Yet no definitive solution is given, and the reader is left hanging. More serious is the very poor quality javascript code sample given for the cssjs() utility function, which is poorly designed (needs to be repackaged, should be a class), is inefficient, and is fragile as it contains (at least) two immediately apparent critical bugs.

But such small gripes should on no account not put you off buying this text. The overall verdict, "Outstanding."

Anyway, the numerous authors are to be congratulated. Indeed, given the size of the field and the rapid pace of developments, a second "part II - advanced" volume would be a very good idea indeed.

A Strong Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-23
If you are serious about accessibility (and you should be), this book will not dissapoint. The authors know what they are talking about, and do a good job and presenting both the facts and their opinions in a clear relavent way.

The only reasons I do not give it 5 stars is many items within the book are redundant (I think due to the great number of authors (11!), and perhaps they wanted the book to serve as a reference also), and because the presentation is generally dry. Good information, but not coffee-table reading.

Still in all, as a web developer I would highly reccomend this book to any other developer weather you just want a little understanding of accessibility, or a big dose.

Web Accessibility - It's all in one place!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-22
Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance is the
perfect reference for any site development team. Everything you've
wanted to know about Accessibility and the Web is here in a single text.
Each member of the team will find necessary information and practical
solutions in one or more of the thorough discussions here. For the
designer/developer who works alone, Web Accessibility: Web Standards and
Regulatory Compliance is the all-in-one reference with the most
up-to-date information and techniques. Thanks to the clear organization,
two tables of contents, and index, all information is easy to find as
well.

For those of us who like background and theory, the book contains lively
discussions of accessibility standards, of the intent of the standards,
and suggestions for using the standards. For me, though, the heart of
the text is in the practical discussions and how-to guides in order to
improve accessibility of every common web technology -- from PDF to
Flash, from javascript to data forms. In addition, we finds clear
descriptions of the law and web accessibility. Importantly, these
discussions are international in scope.

The collective experience of the authors of this text is impressive.
These are the experts to whom we've turned to assist us with accessible
design and development for years. In this text, we have a collection of
the most knowledgeable voices on the subject of accessibility, who speak from a real-world
perspective. They share freely their best techniques, so that we can
create the "best possible experience for the greatest number of
visitors."

For me, Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regularory Compliance is a
must-have.

Software
Word 2000 MOUS Study Guide
Published in Paperback by Sybex Inc (1999-07)
Authors: Gini Courter, Annette Marquis, and Karla Browning
List price: $16.99
New price: $4.39
Used price: $1.97

Average review score:

Useful Guide
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-09
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.

Trainer / Owner
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-26
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.

Very good prep for exam
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-01
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.

The Only Tool Needed For Achieving Certification
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-04-22
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.

Passed Word Core and Expert Exams
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-22
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.

Software
Access 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)
Published in Paperback by Wrox (2007-05-14)
Authors: Teresa Hennig, Rob Cooper, Geoffrey L. Griffith, and Armen Stein
List price: $39.99
New price: $20.21
Used price: $20.48

Average review score:

This book Rocks!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-11
I have definitely come to respect the Wrox writers. Whenever I am in need of additional assistance, I look to these books first. The Access 2007 VBA Programmers Guide has everything I need in it and is written in an easy to follow manner. My skill level is just above beginner, but there are sections of the book for more advanced programming that I have not looked at. I highly recommend all books by Wrox (I have used their SharePoint books extensively).

Access 2007 VBA Concisely Explained
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-30
This book delivers exactly what it promises - namely, to provide the reader with the necessary tools to use VBA against the various Access 2007 object models to amplify the capabilities of a custom Access 2007 solution. You will be shown the differences between using the DAO and ADO data access technologies, as well as the costs and benefits of using the older mdb file types versus the new accdb and project-related adp file types. A cogent explanation of the additional security features embedded in Access 2007 is also nicely covered.

The authors present a broad coverage of the subject matter which is amplified by their substantial real world experience - a nice benefit considering the myriad of texts that simply offer a better organized rehash of the help files.

A final comment will address the number of helpful sidebars presented in the text dealing with such issues as: using the "SQL Server Profiler", how to programmatically add, delete, and modify registry entries to persist user related variables; and receiving insider's expert information on undocumented legacy functionality.

An excellent text for what it sets out to accomplish.

Excellent!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-25
This books was a TREMENDOUS help in writing a Human Resources application for my company. I'm no programmer--but this book helped me a great deal with some of the VB that was needed for the database. I did also rely on the internet a lot but this was a handy tool that covered a majority of the basics--the internet was for more advanced scripting. I highly recommend the book for those who work with Access often...and even for those who want to take advantage of the cool things code will enable you to do.

Great Resource for ANYONE working with Access
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-18
Access 2007 VBA is a great book for experienced and novice programmers alike. It is thoroughly detailed and yet covers the VBA basics at the beginning. What I like about this book is that it covers details that other books seem to always miss. This would include Microsoft Office integration. Or, in other words, the code that lets you work with other Office applications like manipulating Excel from Access or Word from Access. It also goes into working with Outlook and even SharePoint, which are two of the hardest to find information on when working with Access VBA. I am finding this book to be a great addition to my library and I believe you will too.


Bob Larson
Access World Forums Super Moderator
Utter Access VIP

Extremely Good Text
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-04
I've been using Access off and on since Windows 95 and Access 2. This is absolutely one of the best texts on VBA I have read. Examples are clear, and appropriate; and explainations are complete without being longer than the need to be. The coverage of Access 2007's new features appears to be right on the money.

Software
Adobe GoLive CS Tips and Tricks
Published in Paperback by Adobe Press (2004-07-16)
Authors: Adam Pratt and Lynn Grillo
List price: $14.99
New price: $6.77
Used price: $2.13

Average review score:

A Must Read for All GoLive Users
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-08
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.

GoLive CS Tips & Tricks
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-10-25
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.

good companion to a standard GoLive text
Helpful Votes: 16 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-24
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.

Finally, A GoLive Book that Shines!
Helpful Votes: 31 out of 31 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-11
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.

Now i want all my books to be like this
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-08
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.

Software
Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design
Published in Spiral-bound by Frederick L Chipkin (2007-05-01)
Author: Frederick L Chipkin
List price:
New price: $120.00
Used price: $99.95

Average review score:

great support!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-24
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!

It is very complete
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-16
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.

step by step textile rendering instruction
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-14
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.

Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design by Frederick L Chipkin
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-31
This is an excellent book for textile designers. Easy to follow and Frederick has been a pleasure to work with. Thanks again!

This book is an invaluable help
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-08
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.

Software
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Workflow Bible
Published in Paperback by Wiley (2008-09-09)
Author: Mark Fitzgerald
List price: $44.99
New price: $23.50
Used price: $29.18

Average review score:

This book is great!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-18
I have been using Lightroom since it first came out. I've used it effectively but always knew there was more I could get out of the software. This book just brought it to life! I'm a professional photographer and I love taking pictures, not reading text books; so I've always left it up to my wife to read them and then explain to me how to do what I need done. This book, however, is easy to find subjects of interest, and then follow the clearly written instructions. I found the book's design of using Notes, Tips and Cross References particularly helpful. It's the only Photoshop/Lightroom book I use.

It is all about the Workflow
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-17
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom & Photoshop Workflow Bible by Mark Fitzgerald is an indispensable text for today's digital photographer. I have been working with Photoshop for over a decade and Lightroom for the past 2 years. As I have transitioned between film and digital photography, going all digital 3 years ago, my post production needs have changed dramatically. The right software added to knowledge of workflow management coupled with post production skill is key to success. Lightroom is an incredible program that has allowed me to fully leverage the power of digital photography while Photoshop remains the premier program for serious digital image post production.

I have found Lightroom to be essential for managing workflow and Mark's book essential for understanding Lightroom. With the complexity that comes with modern software, an instructor like Mark is a rare find. I find his teaching style intuitive and his technical explanations digestible, being distilled down to the important necessities. There are some places where I would like to find more information (like addressing the limitations of watermarking and slideshow output in LR), but usually I find I am looking for features that are not yet fully fleshes out in Lightroom. LR 2.0 is a major improvement on the first version of Lightroom and I look forward to future upgrades of this relatively new software.

Photoshop is a beast. What can be done with Photoshop is nothing less than incredible. I have been self taught on Photoshop through the years and subsequently missed learning many of its key elements. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom & Photoshop Workflow Bible by Mark Fitzgerald has gratefully filled in many of the holes in my knowledge that are essential to harnessing the power of Photoshop. Here, Mark's style was indispensable as he took me through the steps that are most important to me as a Professional Photographer.

With the power and flexibility of both of these programs can come confusion at times. There are different ways to accomplish the same result so which way is best? A streamlined workflow is essential to being successful with your digital photography. The real value of Mark's book for me comes from increased productivity and more joy in the process. Having settings and preferences customized, presets and metadata at my fingertips, knowledge of the process and best practices in my workflow has allowed my photography to reach new heights. I have always enjoyed the process but the software can be frustrating at times. Mark has erased any frustration from my process and for that I am grateful.

I can not recommend this book enough. The volume of images with digital photography can be crushing for both amateur and professional photographers. Being able to quickly manage your images and then knowing how to retrieve the ones you want is essential. Mark will get you to the point where shooting is fun again, your images look fantastic, and the workflow is second hand nature, freeing you up to concentrate on those aspects that bring you the most joy.

Speed, quality, profit
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-12
I have been a commercial advertising photographer for thirty-five years. I started shooting digital in 1995. One of the things I learned early on is that if you don't have your digital asset management under control you can lose your shirt on the back end. In this book, author Mark Fitzgerald lays out a comprehensive road map using the powerful combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to manage my images. Quality and speed (in that order) are the two primary goals when it comes to processing my images. Mark has shown me how to use these two powerful tools to add a creative touch of custom processing to my files quickly and with the knowledge that I am archiving them in a reasonable way. This has become my workflow bible and its home is right next to my computer where I refer to it often.

It's an easy to read guide that goes over everything!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-30
I agree with all the previous reviews... this book is great!

Mark Fitzgerald covers everything! He literally goes over every aspect of the workflow from start to finish (Lightroom to Photoshop). In addition, he adds "tips and notes" throughout to highlight key points. I feel like Mark gives us all the tools in an easy to find/ learn/ chronological Bible.

I want to keep my response simple and concise, like Mark keeps his books.

Also, I highly recommend Mark's other book... Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching.

Beginner or Pro
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-17
I am a professional photographer that has used Photoshop from the beginning and Lightroom from the first Beta version, and I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of my workflow. I picked up Mark Fitzgerald book and started working through the chapters. Mark has a wonderful way of teaching and I was able to streamline the work that I was doing and learn new techniques that made keeping track of my images so much easier. This book is a must for anyone, beginner or pro, that wants to work smart.

Software
Adobe Premiere Pro 2 Hands-On Training
Published in Paperback by Peachpit Press (2006-04-30)
Author: Jeff Schell
List price: $49.99
New price: $29.64
Used price: $26.94

Average review score:

Very good tutorial book, not your typical long winded guide.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-11
I was looking to get a quick run on how Adobe Premiere Pro 2 works as I was familiar with other video packages. Not only was this manual easy to use in showing how to utilize many of the features of Adobe Premiere but it gave you ideas on how to set your workspace to maximize your editing efficiency.
I found I was able to skip to some chapters I wanted to learn more about first and ignore others that had characteristics similar to other programs I had used.

This is a good start to using the powerful features of this program. Now all I need is another book to help with the advanced image and sound editing for those videos that look grainy or have sound drops.

Learn to earn.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-07
Got the program? Need help to use it? This is probably the best reference. I rated it 4 stars because not all of the material is in the lesson. You will have to copy resource material to your computer.

Easy to learn stuff.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-01
Anyone would easily think that Adobe premiere pro would be such a hard thing to learn how to do. Thanks to Jeff Schell, that problem is over. With easy excercises, this book is the essential tool to help you understand how to use the problem much better. It teaches you the basic tools, guides, and shortcuts that can help you create your own masterpiece (whatever that may be). The book also includes the disc that helps you step by step to create a simple video. I highly recommend this book for those who definitly want to learn Premiere Pro. It's Good Stuff

Outstanding
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-19
A book that I can read and understand without breaking into a sweat.
It solved one of my big problems inside five minutes.
You will not regret buying this book.

Love it!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10
I would rate myself at the intermediate level when it comes to editing. I was fairly new to Premiere Pro 2 (was using 6.5 before) when I purchased the book. There were some things I knew already that the book described but I didn't know a lot of the shortcuts. It also taught me a great deal about using all of the Audio features, so that was a huge bonus for me. All in all, I thought the book was great. It was easy to work through and follow. It also allows you to skip around throughout chapters easily.

Software
The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool
Published in Paperback by Peachpit Press (2001-09-08)
Author: Janet Ashford
List price: $34.99
New price: $16.99
Used price: $1.88

Average review score:

An Inspiring Book
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-02
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!

The Book I Wanted to Write
Helpful Votes: 16 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-04
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.

Restoring modesty to the artist's tool enriches everyone
Helpful Votes: 30 out of 31 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-24
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.

starting point for computer crafts
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-29
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.

Good resource if you are computer literate
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-22
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.


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