Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide Review

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Styling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide ReviewUPDATE: I originally gave this book 3 stars, but I am downgrading my review to a luke warm 3 stars. The reason is that in Chapter 8, there are several errors and omissions that basically doesn't let the user actually create the page that is shown. For instance, they leave out an integral selector "navbar ul" from the book. Without it, the page navbar looks like it is broken. Going to the source files (see below) showed me what I was missing, but for all the people that aren't aware that the source files exist, they might be lost. It appears that the book wasn't carefully proof read prior to publication. Actually it doesn't appear that the authors didn't have someone go thru the book as if they were learning CSS for the first time. If they did, this would have stood out as something that needed some fixing.
Another nit pick, in the same chapter, the reader is presented with the "old CSS" #navbar, but it actually should have been #sidebar.
>>>>>>>>>>>
I share many of the same thoughts as the other reviewers. I found it very frustrating that the source wasn't included as a download. If you go to the Peach Pit site, you can download the images, but not source files, wtf?
So I wound up googling Alpaca Repo and there is actually a site devoted to the fictional site in the book. Delving deeper, I see that the site is registered to none other than Dori Smith, the author.
For all who buy the book, you can visit the site at [...]. Replace DOT with an actual "."
UPDATE : Looks like Amazon stripped the URL from my review. If you have the book, go to page 15 and the URL is found in the screenshot of the web browser.
You would think the authors and or the publisher would read these comments and give an update.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Carlos F.
Holly Springs, NCStyling Web Pages with CSS: Visual QuickProject Guide OverviewSometimes it's hard to get started with a new technology. That's where this book excels. It's not going to show Web designers everything there is to know about CSS but rather will provide a solid introduction from which to build their CSS knowledge. The beginning of the book starts with the basics -- rules, selectors, classes, IDs, the cascade, internal and external style sheets, Divs, boxes, floats, padding, margins -- everything is covered. Next comes styling elements, working with images, menus and navigation, and moving styles from internal to external style sheets. Rounding out this project-based guide is working with browsers, both old and new, and debugging CSS. Succinct and to the point, it's the perfect book for designers without a lot of time who need to understand and start using CSS.

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How to Design and Write Web Pages Today (Writing Today) Review

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How to Design and Write Web Pages Today (Writing Today) ReviewI consider myself a beginner and this book really helped me get me up and running on designing web sites. Each section is to the point and doesn't assume too much, which is perfect for me. The chapters about HTML and CSS were invaluable. It could have used a chapter on designing web graphics, so I just use GRSites for that which a lot a people seem to swear by. I found going thru the book for hours, and learning new things in an enjoyable and organized way, the author definitely writes well. Great stuff!How to Design and Write Web Pages Today (Writing Today) Overview
Writing and designing for the Web are essential to anyone looking to advance his or her personal, academic, or professional Internet presence. How to Design and Write Web Pages Today offers an approach for building sites that reach your intended audience, using methods that enable a site to be updated and improved over time.



An introduction to standards-based Web design, this book treats creating a website from the point of view of the writer, focusing on writing concerns and how they fit with the technological challenges of the Web. Readers will learn about the reasons for writing on the Web; the challenges of writing there; and the solid, but flexible construction of individual pages. The focus is on building websites that can grow, including sites built around the popular, open-source WordPress blogging system. Rich with examples, the book demonstrates that Web writing and design can be fast and fun-and accomplished without expensive software or sophisticated programming skills.


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Professional SharePoint 2010 Branding and User Interface Design (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) Review

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Professional SharePoint 2010 Branding and User Interface Design (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) ReviewIt is easy to leave reviews, or even read books, but writing books is a whole another deal.
Writing good books is not easy. It is very difficult to present cohesive and accurate thoughts that are the work of many minds over many months over hundreds of meticulously carved pages.
In reading this book, I was happy to see that no stone was left unturned when talking specifically about SharePoint 2010 branding - no this is not a IT pro book, this is not a developer's book.
There cannot be a single book that covers EVERYTHING about SP2010. But when it comes to branding, this book is top notch.
I was especially pleased to see attention to detail such as not ignoring core CSS principles, HTML standards, browser sense, trends etc.. Branding SharePoint is not exactly the same your typical ASP.NET or PHP site. Branding SharePoint 2010 is it's own unique skill that requires significant SharePoint knowledge. It isn't just CSS and HTML and JavaScript, it is also navigation, security, master pages, standard CSS specific to SharePoint, SharePoint and ASPNET controls applicable to SharePoint, the theming engine, etc. etc. etc.
I was hoping that this book didn't sacrifice the classic branding knowledge, which is pure CSS,HTML and Javascript, in favor of being a pure one sided SharePoint book. And I am happy to see that this is a book well grounded in the current technology set, SharePoint or otherwise.
Finally, I like the author's writing style (disclaimer, I'm around page #200 right now). I hate to read books that have the personality of a whitepaper. This book is very conversational and fun to read.
Good work!Professional SharePoint 2010 Branding and User Interface Design (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) OverviewA must have guide for creating engaging and usable SharePoint 2010 branding
With SharePoint 2010, Microsoft has provided a more robust environment for creating collaboration and content management sites that rival any of the popular websites on the internet. Creating a branded SharePoint site involves understanding both traditional web design techniques as well as topics that are typically reserved for developers. This book bridges that gap by not only providing expert guidance for creating beautiful public facing and internal intranet sites but it also addresses the needs of those readers that only want to understand the basics enough to apply some style to their sites.
Things like creative design, the experience visitors have navigating your user interface, ease of use?these are all important branding considerations and not always intuitive. This unique book from a team of SharePoint branding experts lays it all out. The book is divided into four sections:
Introduction to SharePoint Branding: In this part you will learn about what SharePoint branding is and how the topic has changed since SharePoint 2007.
Branding Basics: This section is geared towards both getting started as well as being a guide for people that don?t want to dive super deep into the advanced topics of SharePoint branding. You will learn about how to plan for branding projects, including creating wireframes and creative mockups as well as gathering requirements and estimation. You will learn how to work with SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint 2010 themes, and SharePoint navigation as well as gain an understanding of the low and medium effort approaches to branding can be used to make SharePoint look more like your own visual style.
Advanced Branding: This is where you will learn about the more intricate techniques for making large changes to the SharePoint UI, such as cascading style sheets (CSS), master pages, page layouts, web parts and XSLT. You will also get an introduction to deploying SharePoint branding to production servers using solution packages (WSP).
Other Topics: Everything else that is related to SharePoint branding is discussed here, including working with the SharePoint 2010 ribbon and client side technologies such as the client object model, jQuery, and Silverlight.

Whether you want to make SharePoint look completely different or just make minor design changes, this expert guide will provide tips, techniques, and insights to get the job done.

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Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition Review

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Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition ReviewWhen we design Web sites, we often overlook the simplest things because we're too wrapped up in the design. After working on Web sites for a while, some of us have slowly moved away from what we know is usable to adding or removing elements that may enhance the `look' - and also break a site's usability.
Steer back on track with the new edition of Krug's highly referenced book. Novice, intermediate, expert. No matter where you are on the scale, the book provides value to everyone - even managers, testers and project managers. Management likes to get their hands a little dirty when it comes to Web design projects and sharing this book may make the team's life easier.
Anyone involved with Web design or usability will recognize most, if not all, of the concepts covered in the book. What makes Don't Make Me Think usable is that it's a great checklist to ensure you've covered all the basics.
Krug provides many before and after examples to show how a few changes can enhance a Web site's usability. The illustrations reinforce the concepts covered as well as how visitors use and read a Web site.
As for the differences between the first and second editions, the second addition has three new chapters while usability testing shrinks from two chapters to one and with good reason.
The testing chapter breaks down the testing process into digestible steps; complete with a script between the tester (user) and the person watching the tester. Too often, we've seen testing get mangled or ignored. With this chapter, teams might find themselves empowered and eager to do testing.
The chapter on "Usability as common courtesy" explores how a site can make or break the "reservoir of goodwill" as Krug puts it. We arrive at a Web site with some goodwill and depending on how well the site meets or misses our needs; the goodwill level goes up or down. It may only take one mistake to propel visitors to flee.
Another new and short chapter is "Accessibility, Cascading Style Sheets and you." Krug captures what developers and designers hear when it comes to accessibility and addresses what they fear. He lists five things designers and developers can do make a site accessible without a lot of effort.
Finally, the book closes with "Help! My boss wants me to..." Krug has received plenty emails and questions on the topic to identify two questions that repeatedly come up. He provides email examples for free re-use, so no one has to explain it to the boss.
It only takes about two hours or a plane trip to read. The writing is conversational, clear and packs a punch with a dash of humor thrown in. Reading the book is not much different than reading fiction because it flows well and the information sinks in without much effort.
If you get this book and have the 1st edition, I recommend keeping both. You might find helpful stuff in the original material not found in the new edition.Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition OverviewFive years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published,it's hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn't read SteveKrug's "instant classic" on Web usability, but people are stilldiscovering it every day. In this second edition, Steve addsthree new chapters in the same style as the original: wry andentertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for noviceand veteran alike. Don't be surprised if it completely changesthe way you think about Web design. With these three new chapters:
Usability as common courtesy -- Why people really leave Web sites
Web Accessibility, CSS, and you -- Making sites usable and accessible
Help! My boss wants me to ______. -- Surviving executive design whims
"I thought usability was the enemy of design until I read the first edition of this book. Don't Make Me Think! showedme how to put myself in the position of the person who uses mysite. After reading it over a couple of hours and putting itsideas to work for the past five years, I can say it has done more toimprove my abilities as a Web designer than any other book. Inthis second edition, Steve Krug adds essential ammunition for thosewhose bosses, clients, stakeholders, and marketing managers insist ondoing the wrong thing. If you design, write, program, own, ormanage Web sites, you must read this book." -- Jeffrey Zeldman,author of Designing with Web Standards

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jQuery: Novice to Ninja Review

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jQuery: Novice to Ninja ReviewI have to agree with other reviews, this is an excellent book to start learning jQuery. Not that there aren't other excellent jQuery books, but the best ones out there are getting a little dated. If you are just starting, not only is this book easy to read and understand, with lots of great examples, but it's also up to date with jQuery version 1.4.
They start with an already functional html site, and then add jQuery to it to spice it up. For all new web developers out there, this is the way to do it! JavaScript/jQuery should be put in last only after you have a functional site, for those people without JavaScript support (especially screen readers for the blind). This book follows best-practices and I commend them for it. It's the book I wish I had when I first tried to learn jQuery. Get it. You won't be disappointed.
It's so easy to 'write' (i.e. copy/paste) bad JavaScript, as the web has been plagued with for so many years. But, as frameworks like jQuery start to gain tremendous popularity, that trend is changing. There really is no sense in 'reinventing the wheel'. Use jQuery, or another framework. What I like about jQuery is that it makes so many things easy, and leverages CSS syntax so you have less to learn.
It seems that this book is selling fast, as of this writing it says 1 to 4 months shipping time! Also, I'm not sure why Sitepoint books tend to have such a small discount on Amazon. Sitepoint likes to get people to buy books direct from them. Not sure why. It seems to be available faster on their web site. I have an eBook version. As of this writing, they are running a 5-for-1 eBook promotion on the Sitepoint web site. But, I got mine through my subscription to Safari Books Online, which I highly recommend.
If you are just starting, or even just want a reference for the jQuery basics, this book is the one to have.jQuery: Novice to Ninja Overview
jQuery: Novice to Ninja is a compilation of best-practice jQuery solutions to meet the most challenging JavaScript problems. In this question-and-answer book on jQuery, you'll find a cookbook of ready-to-go solutions to help breathe life into your web page. Topics covered include: - Scrolling, Resizing and Animating Webpage elements - Backgrounds, Slideshows, and Crossfaders - Menus, Tabs, and Panels - Buttons, Fields, and Controls - Lists, Trees, and Tables - Frames, Windows, and Dialogs - Adding interactivity with Ajax - Using the jQuery User Interface Themeroller - Writing your own jQuery plug-ins All code used to create each solution is available for download and guaranteed to be simple, efficient and cross-browser compatible.


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