Book Description
In Learning Web Design, author Jennifer Niederst shares the knowledge she's gained from years of web design experience, both as a designer and a teacher. This book starts from the beginning-- defining the Internet, the Web, browsers, and URLs -- so you don't need to have any previous knowledge about how the Web works. After reading this book, you'll have a solid foundation in HTML, graphics, and design principles that you can immediately put to use in creating effective web pages.
In the second edition, Jennifer has updated the book to cover style sheets and reflect current web standards. She has also added exercises that help you to learn various techniques and short quizzes that make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. The companion CD-ROM contains material for all the exercises in the book, as well as trial versions of Fireworks® MX, and HomeSite⢠5; Adobe ® Photoshop® 7, ImageReady® 7, and BBEdit 7.*
Learning Web Design, 2nd Edition:
- Covers the nuts and bolts of basic HTML and style sheets, with detailed examples of formatting text, adding graphic elements, making links, creating tables and frames, and using color on the Web.
- Explains whether to use GIFs or JPEGs for different types of images, and includes important tips on optimizing graphics for web delivery.
- Provides dozens of web design do and don'ts, to help you make good web design decisions and avoid common beginner traps.
- Contains hands-on exercises throughout the book that allow you to try out new techniques along the way.
Unlike other beginner books, Learning Web Design leaves no holes in your education. It gives you everything you need to create basic web sites and will prepare you for more advanced web work. If you are interested in web design, this book is the place to start. After finishing it, you'll be ready for the author's bestselling companion reference, Web Design in a Nutshell.
* Fireworks and HomeSite are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Adobe, ImageReady, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Customer Reviews:
Be sure to get the 3rd Edition!.......2007-09-13
Hi. This is Jennifer Robbins, the author of Learning Web Design. If you are interested in this title, I highly recommend that you get the Third Edition which is now available. A LOT has changed in the way web sites are built since the second edition of the book was published, and I'd hate for anyone to be getting out-of-date information. Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics
Amazing!.......2007-03-15
For those looking to start web design this is the book to get. It says illustrated but it should say illustrations on every page. Very very illustrated. One of my favorite things about this book is after every chapter(when HTML is disscused)it provides an appendix showing you the html tags you just learned. Useful as a reference. This book does not leave you hanging. It teaches you every thing you need to create and understand basic websites. About half the book introduces you to html tags and the other portion is about web graphics. Jenn's style of writting is not boring but is often humerous and cozy. I have created 4 websites after reading this book. Buy this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent resource to get a website up and running.......2007-01-10
I needed to understand how domain names and webhosting worked, plus design, program, test, and implement a website quickly. This book was perfect -- extremely well-organized, with a good Table of Contents and index, excellent examples and helpful (but not overwhelming) reference tables. The book had sufficient detail that I could get graphics loaded and use some CSS to make my text look more professional. I launched a good-looking, no-frills site for a club without any fancy animation, and got it up and running in a less than a month of evenings and weekends. The demo software (BBEdit) was invaluable to getting me started. Good treatment as well of issues with .gif, .jpeg, and .png files, and I feel that I can still learn more from this text should I want to make the site more sophisticated. The discussion of tables was especially clear. I recommend this book for anyone, even if you've never designed your own site or written a lick of html. Those wanting to do online forms to allow users to submit data will need to learn Javascript.
Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML.......2006-11-10
This is this first "How To" book I ever read cover to cover. It works. It is well written, and breaks concepts down without making you feel like a "dummy". It's perfect for a novice like me.
So many things that were a mystery to me were explained. I now can do rollover buttons, animations, add music, etc. But most important is the Web design concepts this book drives home. It teaches how to make a balanced, well structured, and most importantly, user friendly web page. I highly recommend this book.
A good introduction.......2006-08-11
Although I have not plowed through this entire book yet, it is shaping up as one of the books I've been looking for to tie up all the different threads that now make up the task of creating a good website. I may never actually create my business website all on my own, but at least I will have familiarity with the various tools that are currently being used so I can intelligently discuss and understand what the professionals are recommending. One of the toughest parts of learning any new technology these days is the constant improvement and changes going on. It's impossible to guess what may become standard and what may be obsolete by the time I finish the book. Books like this at least give an average person like me a fighting chance to keep as current as possible without continuous formal education.
Book Description
"We need a solid book explaining and illustrating and letting teachers know about these powerful tools. This book meets the need in an awesome way!"
-Mike Muir, Director
Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning
"This author is a gem! It startles me to be 'pulled' so happily through a text about these new Web tools in the context of good literacy instruction."
-Gary Graves, Senior Research and Evaluation Advisor, Technology in Education
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Discover how to harness Web tools to motivate and update student reading, research, and communication!
This book brings teachers a bold vision and on-the-ground Monday morning practicality. It will move educators to think differently about technology’s potential for strengthening students' critical thinking, writing, reflection, and interactive learning. Will Richardson demystifies words like "blog," "wiki," and "aggregator" making classroom technology an easily accessible component of classroom research, writing, and learning.
This guide demonstrates how Web tools can generate exciting new learning formats, and explains how to apply these tools in the classroom to engage all students in a new world of synchronous information feeds and interactive learning. With detailed, simple explanations, definitions and how-tos, critical information on Internet safety, and helpful links, this exciting book opens an immense toolbox, with specific teaching applications for
- Web logs, the most widely adopted tool of the read/write Web
- Wikis, a collaborative Webspace for sharing published content
- Rich Site Summary (RSS), feeding specific content into the classroom
- Aggregators, collecting content generated via the RSS feed
- Social bookmarking, archiving specific Web addresses
- Online photo galleries
This book makes it possible for anyone, no matter how inexperienced, to harness this amazing technology for the classroom today!
Customer Reviews:
OK for teachers, great for everyone else........2007-09-17
This book is excellent for anyone interested in the basics internet technology. It is pitched at teachers, but actually I felt that most of the recommended teaching practices were impractical. I used to teach at a laptop school, and I wouldn't be able to implement most of them there, let alone at a school with only a computer lap. However, teachers can use these techniques to stay up to date in their subject area and to learn about new teaching practices. That alone makes this book worthwhile.
An excellent primer for technology integration.......2007-08-10
I found this book to be extremely helpful in not only explaining the technical processes of using the Read/Write Web in the classroom but also discussing the pedagogical advantages for engaging with these new technologies. Richardson has done his homework. He uses evidence to support his advocation of technology integration to strengthen critical thinking in classrooms. Because his language is so easy to comprehend and because he wrote this book primarily as an educator (not an IT wiz), I highly recommend this book to any teacher wanting to begin using new web technologies but not knowing where to begin.
Good introduction to the subject, needs a better publisher.......2007-04-29
This book was published in 2006 by Corwin Press. To me a new publisher not very well known. I mostly read fiction or computer books. I am also a teacher in a large university hospital, at least to Dutch standards. Education is progressing and the use of the web with students becomes common sense. Besides Blackboard the use of wikis in educating medical students recently started in our curriculum. Since I am interested in computer, software and the web this urged me to look for books that are about web tools and integration of these techniques in education.
This book is a good starter. It has 9 chapters. The first chapter is about the web and how it is changing life. Skipped it, not much news here. The following 2 chapters are about blogs. Followed by chapters about wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, Flickr and podcasting and screencasting. The chapters become shorter in this order. Probably because the later chapters describe newer technologies with less educational experience. The chapters usually describe the tool and simple howto's for choosing and using the free variants of the software. I find the software described very usefull and up to date. The author Will Richardson is obviously a very experienced educator. His examples are very good. Example websites and blogs are presented in all chapters. The only problem is that these links are difficult to type in your browser and sometimes outdated.
Conclusion
A very good introductory book for integration of new web technology in education. The examples are illustrative allthough mainly for high school students. The main critique is the lay out of the book. Next edition I suggest a lay out comparable to O'Reilly's books. This editor obviously is more used to publishing IT books. Another suggestion would be an accompanying website for errata's, links, updated links, and new links.
Exactly what I was looking for!.......2007-04-27
Thank you to Will Richardson for providing us with a book that is filled with practical information on blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful tech tools. When I purchased my book, I found that I couldn't put it down. There were ideas that I could try immediately to helped me begin my journey of implementation. So many books only talk about theory, but this book gives you tips on what to do right now to get started on these topics. I found the book to be refreshing and exciting, and one that I reference often. Highly recommended.
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Tools for Classrooms.......2007-04-14
This book explains what blogs, wikis, and podcasts are as well as other new technology innovations. It also goes further to explain how these things can be used in the classroom. It references various websites that could be helpful to teachers.
Book Description
A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. This unique book gives you more than just a guide to the Moodle software; it uses Moodle as a route to better teaching, more motivated students, and more successful courses. Moodle E-Learning Course Development shows you how to use Moodle as a tool to enhance your teaching. It will help you analyse your students' requirements, and come to an understanding of what Moodle can do for them. After that you'll see how to use every feature of Moodle to meet your course goals. The social constructionist learning philosophy is at the heart of Moodle: we all "construct" knowledge through interation with one another and with learning materials in a social way. Moodle E-Learning Course Develelopment will show you how to add static learning material, interactive activities, and social features to your courses so that students reach their learning potential. Whether you want to support traditional class teaching or lecturing, or provide complete online and distance learning courses, this book will prove a powerful resource throughout your use of Moodle.
Customer Reviews:
Pretty good.......2007-10-19
I have to be fair and admit that I haven't read the whole book. I have skimmed it, and read some parts very carefully. It is a fairly good guide to this learning program, but it's a steep learning curve for a non 'techie.' I am a teacher who is looking to put coursework on line. A note in the beginning to start with chapter three would have been very helpful here. As it is, the book has convinced me that it would take me considerable time to use this program. I was hoping for short cuts, and instead, the book provided more details than I needed to know to just hoist my courses up on line. While I am not a techie, my son is a professional and teaches this stuff, and he says it not very transparent for him either. Obviously, my lack of technical computer knowledge is getting in the way of my understanding of this text, but the text certainly didn't make it easier. If anything the text was harder than 'click and see' with the real program.
All at one place at least.......2007-10-17
Just the fact that there is one place away from the online medium where one can access information on moodle is good enough to give this book kudos - to be able to read it when not in front of the computer. On first glance through (and in that, this may not be termed a review), the books seems quite expansive. Complimented by the online documentation, the prospect of working on moodle looks exciting - now there are two sources against just one online documentation source.
As mentioned, this is just a first impression. Hope to add more to this as I get deeper into the book.
So far, not so good........2007-10-01
My first complaint is that the author abandoned their demo site only a year after publication, so you won't be able to refer to many of the examples in the book. Second complaint, the installation instructions aren't clear or helpful, except for the suggestion to refer to the moodle.org web site instructions. Maybe if I ever get moodle running, the rest of the book will be useful.
A valuable resource for all Moodle users.......2006-11-02
As a long-time Moodle user and trainer, I read Moodle E-Learning Course Development with a critical eye. I work with many Moodle users who are looking for manuals or printed resources and it is important to me that the options I offer are well-written and accurate. On a personal level, I also wondered if, as an experienced Moodler, the book could hold my interest.
Overall, I found that William Rice's Moodle book is a good addition to my collection of Moodle resources. The book held my attention and I found myself highlighting various passages as I picked up new ideas and information. Since reading the book, I have started offering it as a potential resource to my training participants.
Moodle E-Learning Course Development has a number of strengths that make it a worthwhile investment. It is generally easy to read and follow. Most of its sections had information and screenshots that allowed the reader to follow along, step-by-step. While there are some sections dedicated to the more technical aspects of Moodle, they are not overwhelming, rather their inclusion simply makes this book a more well-rounded resource for Moodle users.
The sections on the Lesson module and the Workshop module, two of the most complex Moodle modules are especially well-written. Each setting in these two modules is described in detail. Furthermore, the screenshots throughout the text to accompany instructions are an important component of any well-written technical resource.
The final positive I will highlight is that the examples used throughout the book are applicable to a wide range of Moodle implementations; K-12 schools, businesses, universities, and individuals will all find the examples are general enough to apply to their own situations. I especially liked some of the suggestions geared toward developing your site to promote and drive business; such as in those situations when a person is using Moodle to offer classes for a fee to the Internet community.
While the book has many strengths, there are several weaknesses as well. The first is one that challenges all print materials, especially in regard to technology, and that is the book is slightly out-of-date. Fortunately, many of the components of the book will still hold true despite the version changes. The second weakness is that the screenshots, while useful, lacked any graphics (arrows, etc.) to help the reader identify the parts of the screen being referenced. I also thought that a few of the transitions in the book were difficult to follow; I found myself wondering where the author was headed. Finally, there are a few places in the book where I disagreed with the author about the function of a particular setting or feature. Some of these disagreements may be the result of differences in the version of Moodle, but there are one or two places where the author didn't quite seem to completely grasp the feature being described.
User documentation is a generally acknowledged trouble spot for many open source projects like Moodle and William Rice has made a valuable contribution to the Moodle community. New and experienced Moodlers alike will benefit from William's efforts.
A Complete Introduction on Using and Managing Moodle........2006-10-14
A Complete Introduction on Using and Managing Moodle.
Moodle: E-Learning Course Development is a complete guide to using and managing Moodle. It introduces all aspects of Moodle from technical issues on how to install, backup, restore, where to edit PHP codes, to pedagogic issues on how to put in contents - resources and activities. Each chapter is independent for your reference, but is also developed from simple to advanced control of Moodle system. The book is well-organized with no difficult technical terms or complicated explanation for any teacher who want to use Moodle.
Although some teachers are afraid of the technical issues, such as MySQL database, installation, backup/restore, it is worthwhile to have the necessary technical ideas that will help you to design and manage your course. The book offers the minimal knowledge of server, Php, database for teachers to understand the Moodle system, and then to know how and when to use different tools provided by Moodle.
The book also gives its readers detailed instruction of how to create and mange a course. While there are many options in the Moodle system, the book tell you when and how to use different options. The book categorizes course materials into 3 categories: Static Course Material (text pages, web pages, links to web, file directories, label), Interactive Course Material (assignment, choice, journal, lesson, quiz, SCORM, survey), and Social Course Material (chat, forum, glossary, wiki, workshop). All these are tools to add Resource and Activity in Moodle system. Besides explaining how to add these materials, the book tells you in what occasion to apply the material. For some complicated materials, such as Lesson, Workshop and Wiki, the author gives a very good instruction on how to set up and when to use them. A fly in the ointment is without demonstrative examples. Thus, the readers should not just read, but have to experiment each adding tools by themselves.
The last three chapters are useful for teachers to manage a more inviting course in Moodle including 1) changing or editing theme, logo, header and footer; 2) analyzing students' logs and grades; 3) installing other modules and different ways of backuping Moodle system. These are powerful tools and safety of a Moodle system that teachers should know if they want to have complete control of Moodle.
Moodle is a free course management system which is especially good at social interaction. This system is even better than the commercial WebCT and Blackboard. Teachers should not wait for their institute to install a course management system for them, but begin to follow the instruction of this book to persuade your institute to set up a Moodle or even install a Moodle by yourself. It is a time of open source. Join open source club, and open your mind.
Average customer rating:
- Great resource
- Happy to meet the challenge...
- A note for Perl jocks
- some good tricks
- Buggy Examples
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Learning PHP 5
David Sklar
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Programming PHP
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MySQL Cookbook
ASIN: 0596005601 |
Book Description
PHP has gained a following among non-technical web designers who need to add interactive aspects to their sites. Offering a gentle learning curve, PHP is an accessible yet powerful language for creating dynamic web pages. As its popularity has grown, PHP's basic feature set has become increasingly more sophisticated. Now PHP 5 boasts advanced features--such as new object-oriented capabilities and support for XML and Web Services--that will please even the most experienced web professionals while still remaining user-friendly enough for those with a lower tolerance for technical jargon. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. If you've wanted to try your hand at PHP but haven't known where to start, then Learning PHP 5 is the book you need. With attention to both PHP 4 and the new PHP version 5, it provides everything from a explanation of how PHP works with your web server and web browser to the ins and outs of working with databases and HTML forms. Written by the co-author of the popular PHP Cookbook, this book is for intelligent (but not necessarily highly-technical) readers. Learning PHP 5 guides you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master for professional web programming results. This book provides a hands-on learning experience complete with exercises to make sure the lessons stick. Learning PHP 5 covers the following topics, and more:
- How PHP works with your web browser and web server
- PHP language basics, including data, variables, logic and looping
- Working with arrays and functions
- Making web forms
- Working with databases like MySQL
- Remembering users with sessions
- Parsing and generating XML
- Debugging
Written by David Sklar, coauthor of the PHP Cookbook and an instructor in PHP, this book offers the ideal classroom learning experience whether you're in a classroom or on your own. From learning how to install PHP to designing database-backed web applications, Learning PHP 5 will guide you through every aspect of the language you'll need to master to achieve professional web programming results.
Customer Reviews:
Great resource.......2007-05-10
Easy read. There are also so many examples, that I just want to test each one out. I highly recommend for anyone who doesn't know anything about PHP.
Happy to meet the challenge..........2007-03-24
I cheated. I looked in the back of the book for the answers so I could understand the programmer's mind behind the solution. I'm getting so much out of this book! Now, I'll think of a problem I need to solve, and because I took the time to learn some fundementals, I can piece together solutions in my head, which test positive when coded and loaded. A very satisfying experience all around. Reverse engineer is the way to learn!
May the parse be with you!
A note for Perl jocks.......2007-02-04
If you can't install all the Perl modules you want (say on a $12.99/month commercial host), give PHP a try. It has weaknesses and strengths vis-à-vis Perl, but you can use both! They work well together, and with XHTML, CSS, and MySQL. Who says you have to choose one over the other?
After scouring the web for tutorials and sample code, I think this book is the quickest way to get up to speed. It is concise with excellent code samples, warnings of pitfalls, and techniques for thwarting adversaries (hackers). It is straightforward without annoying cuteness or humor.
PHP code lives entirely within a web page. Some advantages:
1. You don't have to make print statements for all the HTML on the page; the PHP code can be inserts in the HTML.
2. Flow control. A page can include its own associated programming logic for easier maintenance and an uncluttered webroot directory. A form page can recursively call itself, instead of a separate script, for processing, and can call other pages.
3. It's embarrassingly *EASY* to learn with this book!
Some instructions just changed names (split is "explode," next is "continue") but other instructions are new and super-handy for the web! Sessions and cookie-handling are built in to the language (chapter 8). Scope rules and data structures are different; you can't shift, pop, or test for undef, but you get two-dimensional arrays.
If you go this route I guarantee you will have read this entire book, plus some of the online PHP manual, by the time your site is done. This book is not comprehensive but selects an excellent breadth of features.
One typo is unforgivable, and for that I unapologetically deduct a star: the very first database example in Chapter 1 shows $db->numrows() without the parentheses, which does not work. I spent two days trying to figure out what was wrong. Very confusing since the old way of doing it (before PHP's PEAR extensions) was mysql_num_rows
<--without parentheses.
TIP: Do NOT assume that your host is on PHP 5! Though mine advertises 5, they put you on 4 unless you ask for 5. This one-line program will tell you which version you're on:
TIP #2: Blank web page got you down? You can see the syntax error by running it from a command line, like this: php5 mypage.php
some good tricks.......2006-12-06
If you're in a Windows shop, save yourself a lot of pain: download EasyPHP (mentioned on p. 261). Then substitute a version 5.2 php for C:\EasyPHP\php (which is version 4.3) . HINT: EasyPHP uses the php.ini in the conf-files dir, not the one in the php.
Buggy Examples.......2006-11-30
Why do I have to give this even 1 star? The early examples in the book didn't work, so I put it down and never went back to it.
Book Description
Curriculum Webs helps educators, curriculum developers, and teachers build and use the World Wide Web as a central resource to facilitate learning. A curriculum web is a Web page or web site designed to support a unit of curriculum. This text describes the process of building curriculum webs from the early planning stages through design of the Web pages, using the finished product in classrooms, reflecting on the results, and revising for further use. Readers will see how successful Web-based curricula can be developed based on the stages of curriculum development and the needs of learners.
Customer Reviews:
Curriculum Webs is Great!.......2005-08-07
This is a wonderful book for anyone looking to integrate web technology into their classrooms. It is well-written and clear.
Book Description
Macromedia Flash is fast becoming the Web's most widely used platform for creating rich media with animation and motion graphics, but mastering Flash isn't easy. Most entry-level books teach through simple examples that concentrate on either animation or scripting, but rarely both together. To get the most from Flash 8, you not only need to be proficient in programming/interface design, you need the creativity for story telling and the artistic insights to design fluid animation.
Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity teaches Flash design rather than simply Flash itself. With a standalone series of walkthroughs and tutorials for Flash beginners coming from a graphics field, this book teaches Flash in the context of real-world projects. Rather than learn a Flash tool for the sake of it, you learn which areas of Flash are important, and which are less used, simply by seeing how typical content is actually created. And rather than a text-heavy approach, this graphically rich book leads you through hands-on examples by illustration.
Each project in the book starts with goals and broad sketches before moving to design and scripting. This helps you understand design intent-the why of the process-rather than just learning the interfaces and the how of it all. Along the way, you'll create Flash content that includes traditional animation techniques (as seen in full-length animated features), and ActionScript-based interactive animation, such as custom web site interface designs. You also learn how to combine both traditional animation techniques and ActionScript to create feature-rich Flash assets from the ground up.
Co-authored by educational developers with years of experience creating compelling content, interfaces, and applications, Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity offers a content-driven approach that is also inspiration-driven. You learn because you're accomplishing something tangible, not because you think you need to know how a tool works.
If you want to understand how various features of Flash come together to create a final end design, this book provides you with both the insight and the know-how.
Customer Reviews:
Look Ma! I can Animate! And Interact!.......2007-04-19
I like this book. It's easy. It's clear. It reminds me of the wise words: "Keep it Simple Stupid!"
I used this book to teach a class of teenagers about Flash and it was great. I gave it to a marketing guy who professed an interest in making some stuff in Flash and it was great. And I've used it myself. Again, great. The authors have filled the book with practical mini-projects that explain various concepts in Flash.
This is a book about the basics for beginners. It covers the basics of a whole range of methods and techniques. And it touches upon more advanced concepts briefly and helpfully. All the way from the drawing tools in Flash to using some action script and bit map effects. It has a very clear explanation of what a conditional statement is, for example. And also exaplins variables and scope succintly and accurately. It also tells you how to make a roll-over button in Flash. Awesome! (Hey... remember the first one you made? I still get excited about swapping images on the fly with code, so I can dig it.)
If you know somebody who has NO CLUE - and I include myself in that category at times, obviously - how to: center something on the stage (Align), undo to ten steps ago (History), make a photo move around (Importing, Tweening), have a cartoon character walk believably (Walk Cycles), display only part of a photo (Masking), make a volume knob for your own web radio station (Sound Control), let people email them from their Flash website (Form Data)... Well, then! This is the book for them.
This is great for the beginner.......2007-04-18
Flash 8 Projects for learning Animation and Interactivity
By Rich Shupe & Robert Hoekman, Jr.
Publisher: O'Reilly
Copyright 2006
IBSN: 0-596-10223-2
Review by: Linda Weller
The books learning style is organic. They pair topics with goals. You learn by doing. Shortcuts are highlighted. Self teaching is encouraged by allowing you to expand on the projects using what you have learned. Sample files are available online or on the CD Rom.
They try to spoon feed you a little ActionScript in the sidebars of the book. Then you get to the chapter on creating a form and wow your using somewhat complex ActionScript and a PHP form. I hope you have a server installed that allows PHP for this one.
This book is filled with lots of special little tips. For example they tell you the difference between object level undo's and document level undo's. I bet you thought it was just ctrl +z.
Some of the Flash 8 features that are covered are Object drawing and Merge draw and when to you each one, metadata fields to make your Flash files search engine friendly, copy to grid assistant and, the distributed duplicate assistant.
Productivity tips are covered using the align panel, timeline effect assistants and the history panel. Have you ever needed to change a symbol's registration point after it is made? Go to the Info window.
Usability is covered. The author's show you how to add an active content bar to your menu buttons so the user knows where they are in the menu. Also, using the anchor from the label type drop down menu which is like an HTML anchor enables the back and forward buttons to work when navigating browsers.
There is information on all the basics: making an invisible button, tweening, shape tweening and, masks. How to work with assets is discussed. They show why we use PNG format in Flash with a rather graphic example. You can access round trip editing with a program of your choice.
Chapter 7 is loaded with lots of animation techniques such as using shape tweening to have a house draw itself, gradient masks, enabling bitmap caching with ActionScript on the mask and masked movie clips. There is a whole exercise to help you learn to decide when you would use scripted and when you would use timeline animation.
The chapter on sound give you some great tips on trimming unused portions of your sound and using short loops to optimize your files. They even tell you of a free sound editor. You create an MP3 player and a video player with ActionScript as well as creating players using the components.
All the new Bitmap caching and filter effects are discussed. You make bevel filters using ActionScript 2.0 classes.
They close off the last chapter with lots of web resources and tips. For example for file optimization purposes you can go to "file--save-- compact new" this totally removes deleted files from the system and reduces file size.
VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!.......2006-10-10
Are you a beginning Flash user who wants to bring their project ideas to life? If you are, then this book is for you. Authors Richard Shupe and Robert Hoekman, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that includes everything you need to get started in Flash.
Shupe and Robert Hoekman, begin by showing you how to use Flash's vector drawing tools. Then, the authors describe how you can set up your work environment the way you feel most comfortable. The authors then show you how to use a few essential techniques to create your first animated Flash movie. Next, they show you how to give your audience some control through the use of buttons and ActionScript. The authors also show you how Flash can work with other applications to help you meet your project needs. They continue by showing you how movie clips allow you to create animations that play independently of one another. Then, the authors show you how to create an animated advertisement for the sale of a home; as well as, other experience with some of these techniques. Next, they show you how to work with sound. They continue by showing you how to add video to your projects, with and without Action Script. Then, the authors describe how you can composite bitmap and vector assets on the fly and learn how to inject a heightened sense of expression into your files with real-time filter effects. The authors then show you how to use text. Next, they focus on solving one problem: Keeping initial download times to a minimum without compromising too much quality or creativity. The authors also show you how to use a template and components to construct a three-question quiz about what you've learned so far. They continue by exploring two slightly less conventional distribution methods for Flash content. Finally, they show you a few projects that demonstrate some of Flash's less common uses.
Several techniques are used in this most excellent book to help you better understand and retain the information you are given. More importantly, the preceding approach is what makes this book more effective learning tool than other books on the shelf.
Learning Flash animation for beginner.......2006-08-13
The Flash 8 projects for learning Animation and Interactivity book is a good resource for beginner to learn animation. It takes you step by step using practice examples to teach you basic animation techniques. The title of the book show two issues the first one is learning animation and I think the writer covered this part very well for beginners. The second issue is Learning Interactivity, which is covered along with the animation. The chapter that causes confusion for me is the 13th chapter. As it talks about e-learning in Flash, which is a very big issue that can not covered in one chapter, even for beginners. I think this part needs another book to cover deeply and give the beginner a strong beginning step in the field of e-learning.
Regardless the 13th chapter I see the book focused well and this helps the beginners to grasp the idea of the animation in Flash.
A Good Channel through which to learn Flash interface and action script.......2006-05-17
As the title states, this project-based approach to learning Flash 8 covers everything from becoming familiar with the interface to using both vector graphics versus pixilated images to the power of writing action script.
For the beginning Flash 8 user, this book starts from scratch on how to draw objects. It begins by having the reader draw a simple box; by then end of the third chapter, what started as one object has become a movie, complete with alpha effects, motion effects, and even a first stab at action script. The remainder of the book builds off these core aspects of Flash. As a beginner, the book made it easy to follow through the step-by-step processes required to make Flash 8 work as desired.
Not only does the book walk Flash users through the step-by-step processes, it also includes very useful sidebar notes and separate comment boxes (not to mention the wide sidebar space that just happen to be perfect for note-taking). These features are helpful in understanding how Flash `thinks' about the commands given in the projects. Also, the side notes will oftentimes refer the reader to the chapter in which a process is discussed in more detail to aid those more experienced users who have skipped around rather than reading the book cover-to-cover. Another handy feature of Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity is the appendix titled "Tips and Resources," which lists some optional websites to extend Flash 8s possibilities; there is also a list of sites to practice with more tutorials.
One potential downside of working through these projects comes with any book that uses the project-based approach: time. It takes time to work through the examples, even the ones that start out with some of the background work already done for you. However, this approach also gives a more thorough understanding of Flash 8 and should be beneficial to anyone who prefers a hands-on approach to learning the software. As such, it may be best suited for beginning users, but definitely has some information throughout that all semi-experienced Flash users should know.
Average customer rating:
- Learning PHP and MySQL
- should not have bought the book
- Good intro into using PHP and MySQL
- Great condition as promised
- Wrong book for me, right book for some
|
Learning PHP and MySQL (Learning)
Michele E. Davis , and
Jon A. Phillips
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
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ASIN: 0596101104 |
Book Description
The PHP scripting language and MySQL open source database are quite effective independently, but together they make a simply unbeatable team. When working hand-in-hand, they serve as the standard for the rapid development of dynamic, database-driven websites. This combination is so popular, in fact, that it's attracting many programming newbies who come from a web or graphic design background and whose first language is HTML. If you fall into this ever-expanding category, then this book is for you.
Learning PHP and MySQL starts with the very basics of the PHP language, including strings and arrays, pattern matching and a detailed discussion of the variances in different PHP versions. Next, it explains how to work with MySQL, covering information on SQL data access for language and data fundamentals like tables and statements. Finally, after it's sure that you've mastered these separate concepts, the book shows you how to put them together to generate dynamic content. In the process, you'll also learn about error handling, security, HTTP authentication, and more.
If you're a hobbyist who is intimidated by thick, complex computer books, then this guide definitely belongs on your shelf. Learning PHP and MySQL explains everything--from basic concepts to the nuts and bolts of performing specific tasks--in plain English.
Part of O'Reilly's bestselling "Learning" series, the book is an easy-to-use resource designed specifically for newcomers. It's also a launching pad for future learning, providing you with a solid foundation for more advanced development.
Customer Reviews:
Learning PHP and MySQL.......2007-07-18
PHP and MySQL are highly adaptive programs that can be used to create a variety of dynamic website potentials. Although fairly simple to use once you understand the basics, the learning curve on these programs is a little high at first. In order to use the capabilities, the user has to not only understand what the programs do and how they work together. However, probably the hardest part of the process is learning all the vocabulary associated with these systems.
Learning PHP & MySQL is a very good reference, especially for this latter challenge. The guide not only defines and explains each of the different concepts but gives examples that better illustrate these aspects while giving the user a glimpse into how they could use them for their own purposes. Especially for the more difficult sections, I really liked that I could replicate the code on my computer and see the results for myself. This aspect gave me a far better idea of how I could use these programs in conjunction to create the effects I want.
should not have bought the book.......2007-07-14
The php part is ok. The mysql, cookie, security chapters are junk. I guess
even the writer does not know what he is talking about. I do not know where
he pulled those chapters from. As a consequence, I had to go to mysql online
tutorial to learn mysql.
My background is computer science so I donot think other readers can understand what the author is talking about.
Good intro into using PHP and MySQL.......2007-05-30
I am a long time programmer (15 years) and wanted to start a new project based on PHP scripts and a MySQL database. This book was quite helpfull in getting me started. It wasn't necessary to read the entire book. I read those sections that were signifigant to what I needed. My background is very heavy on Enterprise products like SAS, Oracle, and DB2. The project I was working on didn't require such huge resources so I picked up this book and setup a linux box with a LAMP configuration to get started.
The book is a good starting point. Paticularly important is the interaction between HTML and MySQL in PHP. You can get a lot of information on just PHP from the PHP documenation. The best value I got out of the book was learning about the interaction between PHP and MySQL.
Great condition as promised.......2007-05-17
Book was received in a timely manor and condition as promised.
Wrong book for me, right book for some.......2007-04-26
I knew I had picked up the wrong book when, in the first or second chapter, the authors said that variable types didn't matter and that they wouldn't bother covering them until late in the book. Admittedly, I can see their point, but the way the statement was written made it apparent that they were aiming this at HTML authors and other people with little to no real programming experience. If you want to pick up the PHP language and already have experience with a real programming language or two, you'd be better off picking up something else. If not, this book actually would be a good way to get started.
Update: Now that I've chewed through a little more of the book, I would no longer recommend this book to even a beginner. Uncommented, and hard to read examples that make poor use of whitespace dominate later chapters. The examples aren't the 3-4 page long beasts you find in some C or Java books, but nonetheless, this book does not demonstrate good coding practices, and should not be used by a new programmer to pick up the ropes.
Book Description
Get on the fast track to creating your own Web site
Want to create a compelling Web site for a home business, family, or fun? Whether you're a student, aspiring designer, or entrepreneur, you can -- with Dreamweaver(r) and this easy-to-follow guide. Gain solid skills as you go from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials that cover site planning, registering a domain, formatting, and more. The last stop? Put your new site online and go live! Start your journey today on The L Line.
* Define your goals and create a site plan
* Learn the best ways to combine HTML and Cascading Style Sheets
* Use layers, create forms, and make the site interactive
* Master Web standards and the latest search engine optimization techniques
All aboard for valuable online extras
Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:
* Test bank with challenging review questions
* PowerPoint slides with chapter outlines
* Images and Web page files from the book
* Practice exam answers
* A CSS reference guide
Along The L Line
* Complete tutorial coverage with step-by-step instruction
* Ample illustrations and examples
* Real-world case studies, applications, and hints for avoiding pitfalls
* Practice exams that let you evaluate your progress
Customer Reviews:
designing an entire website.......2007-04-17
Jenkins' book is part of what appears to be a new series from Wiley, with the theme of the L line express. This book offers a quick boot up into making your own website. The examples focus on a small commercial website. Well, at least initially, it's going to be a small website.
There is a balanced discussion between the design of a single web page and the overall layout of the entire website. For the former, graphics plays a big part, as you might expect. Two important packages, Illustrator and Photoshop, are considered, in which you can make the graphics. Both have more than adequate capabilities to do so. The text also teaches the basics about the different, common graphics formats - gif, jpeg and png. It suggests that you experiment with viewing the same underlying image, rendered in those formats and viewed in different browsers. These days, there should only be minor nuances. But if you are selling products where an accurate rendition matters, then it's a good step, to choose the best format.
Then the book also goes into how best to design the whole website. Vital to avoid confusing the visitor. The skills here are different from the visual layout aspects of single pages. If your background is in visual design, this part of the book can be especially useful. It teaches different and complementary skills that you should master.
Great Instructional Book for those new to web design.......2007-03-21
I teach "Internet Marketing" at New York University. I always recommend that anyone active or interested in e-commerce should at least learn the ins and outs of web design. Even if you don't want to be a web designer, you should at least have a basic understanding of how websites are built. This book serves two great purposes:
1. If you want to actively pursue web design, this book will serve as a great reference and introduction.
2. If you just need to understand how websites are built, this book will serve as a great way to introduce you to web design so you can talk intelligently about HTML and web design.
A good solid book on web design...........2007-03-20
This is a very good and well organized book on end-to-end web development. Although it is 500 pages, you can use it as a reference and skip around as well.
One of the major strengths as another reviewer points out is the presentation of the design phase i.e. who is the audience and how to appeal to them. This material is often lacking from other books.
While you may need other books to supplement this reference with respect to advanced coding, this will be all most people will need. Sue Jenkins is also the author of The Dreamweaver All-in-One Reference for Dummies, which is also an excellent, thorough presentation of what you need to know in plain and easy to understand language.
A great book that takes you from start to finish in web design.......2007-03-03
I have more books than I need on Dreamweaver, CSS, PHP, and web design. And very few have been read thoroughly. But I intend to study this book from cover to cover. Here is what I like about this book:
1. The first couple chapters have helped me figure out what to put on the web site. It accomplishes this with a systematic approach that stresses what the visitor wants to see. (This is the kind of information I was searching for because I am weak in this area.)
2. The remaining chapters cover material with which I have experience, which makes it easy to absorb. But I can compare my previous understanding and decide if I need adjust my thinking. You don't need to spend much time with this book before gaining a deep respect for this author's practical knowledge and common sense approach.
3. I like her enumerated steps throughout her book. It's not wishy-washy. I thinks this comes from teaching the subject to classes.
4. I like the abundant number of references to useful web sites. Even though the book is about 500 pages, it cannot go deeply into every topic, but the author points you in right direction with references and advice.
This is book packed with a lot of good information and advice without getting into too much detail. I have plenty of other books that get into the nitty gritty.
Average customer rating:
- Still using this book in 2003!
- Great bridge to VBScript for ASP
- Great for "intermediates"
- Overall a good tutorial on VBScript, even tho' it's outdated
- The best vbscript book for begginers!
|
Learning VBScript
Paul Lomax
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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Microsoft VBScript Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ASIN: 1565922476 |
Book Description
With the advent of client-side scripting, it is possible to create programs that run on a user's browser in response to particular user actions, like passing the mouse over a hyperlink or clicking a standard HTML command button. By taking advantage of client-side scripts, web pages can be made more interactive, and programs that ran as (usually CGI) applications on the server before client-side scripting can now execute on the browser, in the process improving the performance of a web site's web pages. In Learning VBScript, Paul Lomax shows how to take full advantage of client-side scripting using Microsoft's own scripting language, Visual Basic Scripting Edition, or VBScript. Learning VBScript consists of three distinct sections that quickly teach the reader how take advantage of client-side scripting to enhance a web site's pages:
- A fast-paced introduction to VBScript that covers the basic features of the language and their syntax. Although these tutorial chapters are written primarily for web content providers, they also explore the difference between VBScript and Visual Basic for Applications, the programming language used both in Visual Basic and in the individual components of Microsoft Office, making them of interest to the millions of VBA programmers who are fairly new to the Web and to developing web pages.
- An introduction to the Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) object model. By accessing the events, properties, and methods exposed by the browser's object model, VBScript is transformed from a fairly powerless programming language into a powerful development tool that can be used to control the browser, allowing the creation of complex interactive web pages.
- A series of chapters, each of which examines a set of techniques that use client-side scripting to enhance the interactivity and attractiveness of a web site.
In focusing on techniques for creating professional, scripted web pages, Learning VBScript includes chapters on the following:
Creating documents "on the fly" from a script running on the browser
Fully describing hyperlinks when the user's mouse passes over them
Performing validation on data entered by the user before it is submitted to the server
Incorporating ActiveX controls in a web page
>Using VBScript's error handling feature to anticipate and handle user errors
Handling different browsers, particularly MSIE, Netscape Navigator, and the older browsers that don't support scripting The CD-ROM accompanying Learning VBScript includes over 170 code samples, and allows you to retrieve examples by category; you can, for instance, retrieve hyperlinks to all the web pages that include ActiveX controls. In addition, the CD-ROM includes a complete shopping cart application that can be easily customized for your own needs. Whether you're a content provider who wants to add client-side scripts to web pages or a Visual Basic programmer who wants to begin creating web applications, Learning VBScript is the definitive guide that takes you through the rudiments of the language and covers the techniques needed to develop professional web pages.
Customer Reviews:
Still using this book in 2003!.......2003-09-10
This is the best VBScript book and I've never felt the need to get another one. It's accessible to a novice (which I was when I first bought it) but has enough depth and richness of information to still be used as a reference guide now that I have over 5 years of experience. I can look up all the functions in it quickly (easy to forget syntax when you're programming in VBScript and client-side JavaScript at the same time), since I've marked the pages with post-it tabs, and it's well organized so that I can find things quickly even if I haven't marked them. Sure, it doesn't describe some of the newer language features that came out after it was published, but still it will work 95% of the time. I notice the same author worked on the O'Reilly VBScript in a Nutshell book, so I might check that out, but generally I don't like the Nutshell books as much because they don't have code samples.
Great bridge to VBScript for ASP.......2000-08-04
I had been developing strictly with perl for Unix, when I needed to do some work on an NT platform I ordered this book. I used it coupled with O'Reilly's ASP in a nutshell and finished the job quickly. It is a great reference for migrating from other scripting languages.
Great for "intermediates".......2000-01-25
This book is NOT for complete novices like me! Terms like "OCX", "32-bit", and "server-side includes" are used but not explained at all. With some help from other books, some of the material made sense. That said, there is a lot of good content in this book. I'd recommend a more introductory book (is there one?) for true rookies.
Overall a good tutorial on VBScript, even tho' it's outdated.......2000-01-25
Don't buy this book in the yera 2000... buy VBScript Programmer's Reference instead, by Wrox Press. It covers the latest and greatest, VBScript 5.0, instead of Lomax's rinky-dink 1.0 and a bit of 2.0 coverage. I gave this book 3 stars, though, because the quality of Lomax's "lessons" and explanations are great if you are new to VB or a scripting language. Indeed, Lomax demonstrates how VBScript is much easier to learn than JavaScript.
Overall, it is better to buy a book that is more updated. This is a dinosaur in today's lightning-speed techno market, and it needs to be put in the museum (c'mon, 1997? )
The best vbscript book for begginers!.......1999-10-08
I won't be long and all i will say is that I knew almost nothing about vbscript before I read this book and by the time I finished it I had enough knowledge and tools to program rather complicated codes! The only bad point is that the book is quite old and covers only versions 1.0 and 2.0 and requires some updating from the msn web site. But in the end of the day Paul Lomax is realy amazing and the book is really really good.
Book Description
The rationale for this textbook is to introduce educators and e-learning designers to pedagogical models that provide the framework for effective content organization for curriculum as well as visual design principles that support development of interactive learning environments. The book reveals the application of pedagogical models to the design of e-learning environments by discussing theories and showing actual applications that have been developed for the Web.
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