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 Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST .
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST .
Brilliant - a guide that's really useful, 09 Jan 2008
This little book helped me decide to make the switch from my current MP3 player and go for an iPod. It's so clearly written, so full of great advice and tips that it's been better than any user manual could possibly have been.
Written with the usual wit and flair one expects from Rough Guides, this is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of buying an iPod. For once - the blurb on the cover of a book is actually true. "You need this book". An excellent little guide indeed.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST .
Brilliant - a guide that's really useful, 09 Jan 2008
This little book helped me decide to make the switch from my current MP3 player and go for an iPod. It's so clearly written, so full of great advice and tips that it's been better than any user manual could possibly have been.
Written with the usual wit and flair one expects from Rough Guides, this is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of buying an iPod. For once - the blurb on the cover of a book is actually true. "You need this book". An excellent little guide indeed.
This book is a treasure map to the promised land of articulating design, 13 Nov 2007
This book was recommended by a collegue who performs most of our site IA. The book made working together in the short term so much easier! Specifically it gave me some confidence with Site Maps and Content Inventory which helped me communicate much more effectively as a project manager!
In the long term the book has helped me create effective and durable Personas, which also are helping us design much ore quickly and target and prioritise our site changes.
Good ideas, poor structure, 05 Nov 2007
This is a great book for dipping into (Brown cites numerous practical examples and techniques), but a heavy going read if you like doing things cover-to-cover.
The text books I like tend to have a very clear structure intended to make learning easy, but the mass of detail and alternative ways of doing things that Brown includes makes spotting and digesting the key points hard work.
If I could I'd give the content 4 or 5 stars, and its structure a lowly 3.
Still glad I bought it though.
Real world application of user-interface documentation, 21 Mar 2007
Dan's book is of profound relevance to anyone involved in producing web design documentation. During his day-long tutorial workshop at User Experience 2006 in London Dan taught me more about producing effective and compelling user-experience documentation than anything I'd learned at any time since 2001 and it's all in this book. His is the most comprehensive guide to allowing our work to inform and shape the creation of ground-breaking information architecture and yet it has been written in an accessible, friendly and authoritative manner. This book and Dan's regular contributions to Boxes and Arrows and the IA institute are essential reading for aspiring and practising user-experience professionals.
A must read for anyone involved in producing website documentation, 19 Nov 2006
If you work in web product design or development, you will be well aware of the challenges of creating and communicating web design documentation. Dan Brown, a respected information architect, has put together a really useful book, covering the most crucial documentation that every effective web project will require. As an aspiring Information Architect I found the sections on design documentation including site maps, flow charts and wireframes really useful. Brown utilises a layered approach to producing documentation, which starts with the most important elements and then builds additional detail in subsequent layers. Whatever your level of experience, this book brings real clarity to producing the documentation that can make or break a web project.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST .
Brilliant - a guide that's really useful, 09 Jan 2008
This little book helped me decide to make the switch from my current MP3 player and go for an iPod. It's so clearly written, so full of great advice and tips that it's been better than any user manual could possibly have been.
Written with the usual wit and flair one expects from Rough Guides, this is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of buying an iPod. For once - the blurb on the cover of a book is actually true. "You need this book". An excellent little guide indeed.
This book is a treasure map to the promised land of articulating design, 13 Nov 2007
This book was recommended by a collegue who performs most of our site IA. The book made working together in the short term so much easier! Specifically it gave me some confidence with Site Maps and Content Inventory which helped me communicate much more effectively as a project manager!
In the long term the book has helped me create effective and durable Personas, which also are helping us design much ore quickly and target and prioritise our site changes.
Good ideas, poor structure, 05 Nov 2007
This is a great book for dipping into (Brown cites numerous practical examples and techniques), but a heavy going read if you like doing things cover-to-cover.
The text books I like tend to have a very clear structure intended to make learning easy, but the mass of detail and alternative ways of doing things that Brown includes makes spotting and digesting the key points hard work.
If I could I'd give the content 4 or 5 stars, and its structure a lowly 3.
Still glad I bought it though.
Real world application of user-interface documentation, 21 Mar 2007
Dan's book is of profound relevance to anyone involved in producing web design documentation. During his day-long tutorial workshop at User Experience 2006 in London Dan taught me more about producing effective and compelling user-experience documentation than anything I'd learned at any time since 2001 and it's all in this book. His is the most comprehensive guide to allowing our work to inform and shape the creation of ground-breaking information architecture and yet it has been written in an accessible, friendly and authoritative manner. This book and Dan's regular contributions to Boxes and Arrows and the IA institute are essential reading for aspiring and practising user-experience professionals.
A must read for anyone involved in producing website documentation, 19 Nov 2006
If you work in web product design or development, you will be well aware of the challenges of creating and communicating web design documentation. Dan Brown, a respected information architect, has put together a really useful book, covering the most crucial documentation that every effective web project will require. As an aspiring Information Architect I found the sections on design documentation including site maps, flow charts and wireframes really useful. Brown utilises a layered approach to producing documentation, which starts with the most important elements and then builds additional detail in subsequent layers. Whatever your level of experience, this book brings real clarity to producing the documentation that can make or break a web project.
Good content but..., 13 Jan 2008
what about the white space?
The book has been written by an author that obviously knows his stuff and there's plenty in here that'll help anyone get started with using XHTML (or HTML for that matter), and in a way that'll ensure that content and presentation are well separated and that the best possible use is being made of CSS features. Even those who feel they've got a grip on the whole thing will find there's something here to make them think again about what they've been coding.
The writing style is chatty and for the most part it manages to seem like someone 'older and wiser' in the office offering help and advice from their vast experience. It's a book you can browse.
The main thing that's missing is information on dealing with the differences between browsers, and you'll probably need another book for that. The CSS Anthology is pretty good in this respect and would complement this book quite well.
So, what about the white space? I really thought I'd seen the last of books with acres of white space around the page and using widely spaced lines. But apparently not. In fact this is one of the worst offenders I've seen in quite a while. It's so bad I actually measured the pages and borders. A page is 170mm by 230mm and the text on it is 115mm by 147mm. That's close to a third of a page that's blank. In addition, there are appendices for CSS and HTML specifications that are equally generously proportioned. The book could have been small and light enough slip into a bag without noticing it if the space had been better used.
5 stars for content, 3 for that wasted paper
book + website= success, 28 Nov 2007
I have never written a review before, but know feel compelled to do so.If you are serious about wanting to learn html, don't buy any of the 24hr quick learn rubbish, buy this book and follow the tutorials on th HTML Dog website. True, this book is fairly advanced, but the website starts it's tutotials from beginner,and they are concise and more importantly, written in xhtml strict. Buy this book along with HTML Mastery and Beginning CSS and CSS Missing Manual and you won't need anything else to learn how to write perfect code.
Excellent Guide to XHTML and CSS - Clear, Concise and Comical, 01 Jun 2007
Patrick Griffiths - I salute you. I was in need of a guide to XHTML and CSS that would give me a good solid grounding on which to develop my new interest in web design. In the past, I had learnt from trial and error and various internet articles, but this book has changed the way I look at web design. Its chapters are very well laid out - they are clear, concise and instead of screeds of technical jargon, it is packed full of useful and interesting background information about web standards and straight-forward step-by-step instructions in plain English (with a few jokes along the way to hold your attention). Based on "web standards" and "best-practice" I know that the websites I will create with this book by my side will be of a high standard. This book has taken up residence next to my computer and I can see it staying there for a long time to come, as the appendixes are great references for each language.
HTML Dog - worth the biscuits, 14 Mar 2007
I ordered this book after reading the multitude of tutorials on Patrick Griffiths' website. I'm happy to say that it was a fantastic investment and has enabled me, in a simple, entertaining and easy way, to learn the intricacies of HTML and CSS.
Griffiths moves from detailed explanations of the difference between HTML and CSS, not only outlining examples, but also the practical reasons for using these web technologies together, then to more complex issues, such as layout. The book is full of web wizardry and expert tips all written in a casual and easy to read style.
I was so pleased with this book that I also bought the CSS Zen Garden book (also published by New Riders), which is another gem.
The Best Practice Guide is a worthy read for anybody wishing to learn standards based web development or simply wanting a decent reference. Highly recommended.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users. Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that! Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own. Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end. Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples. A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide. a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST . Brilliant - a guide that's really useful, 09 Jan 2008
This little book helped me decide to make the switch from my current MP3 player and go for an iPod. It's so clearly written, so full of great advice and tips that it's been better than any user manual could possibly have been.
Written with the usual wit and flair one expects from Rough Guides, this is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of buying an iPod. For once - the blurb on the cover of a book is actually true. "You need this book". An excellent little guide indeed. This book is a treasure map to the promised land of articulating design, 13 Nov 2007
This book was recommended by a collegue who performs most of our site IA. The book made working together in the short term so much easier! Specifically it gave me some confidence with Site Maps and Content Inventory which helped me communicate much more effectively as a project manager!
In the long term the book has helped me create effective and durable Personas, which also are helping us design much ore quickly and target and prioritise our site changes.
Good ideas, poor structure, 05 Nov 2007
This is a great book for dipping into (Brown cites numerous practical examples and techniques), but a heavy going read if you like doing things cover-to-cover.
The text books I like tend to have a very clear structure intended to make learning easy, but the mass of detail and alternative ways of doing things that Brown includes makes spotting and digesting the key points hard work.
If I could I'd give the content 4 or 5 stars, and its structure a lowly 3.
Still glad I bought it though. Real world application of user-interface documentation, 21 Mar 2007
Dan's book is of profound relevance to anyone involved in producing web design documentation. During his day-long tutorial workshop at User Experience 2006 in London Dan taught me more about producing effective and compelling user-experience documentation than anything I'd learned at any time since 2001 and it's all in this book. His is the most comprehensive guide to allowing our work to inform and shape the creation of ground-breaking information architecture and yet it has been written in an accessible, friendly and authoritative manner. This book and Dan's regular contributions to Boxes and Arrows and the IA institute are essential reading for aspiring and practising user-experience professionals. A must read for anyone involved in producing website documentation, 19 Nov 2006
If you work in web product design or development, you will be well aware of the challenges of creating and communicating web design documentation. Dan Brown, a respected information architect, has put together a really useful book, covering the most crucial documentation that every effective web project will require. As an aspiring Information Architect I found the sections on design documentation including site maps, flow charts and wireframes really useful. Brown utilises a layered approach to producing documentation, which starts with the most important elements and then builds additional detail in subsequent layers. Whatever your level of experience, this book brings real clarity to producing the documentation that can make or break a web project. Good content but..., 13 Jan 2008
what about the white space?
The book has been written by an author that obviously knows his stuff and there's plenty in here that'll help anyone get started with using XHTML (or HTML for that matter), and in a way that'll ensure that content and presentation are well separated and that the best possible use is being made of CSS features. Even those who feel they've got a grip on the whole thing will find there's something here to make them think again about what they've been coding.
The writing style is chatty and for the most part it manages to seem like someone 'older and wiser' in the office offering help and advice from their vast experience. It's a book you can browse.
The main thing that's missing is information on dealing with the differences between browsers, and you'll probably need another book for that. The CSS Anthology is pretty good in this respect and would complement this book quite well.
So, what about the white space? I really thought I'd seen the last of books with acres of white space around the page and using widely spaced lines. But apparently not. In fact this is one of the worst offenders I've seen in quite a while. It's so bad I actually measured the pages and borders. A page is 170mm by 230mm and the text on it is 115mm by 147mm. That's close to a third of a page that's blank. In addition, there are appendices for CSS and HTML specifications that are equally generously proportioned. The book could have been small and light enough slip into a bag without noticing it if the space had been better used.
5 stars for content, 3 for that wasted paper book + website= success, 28 Nov 2007
I have never written a review before, but know feel compelled to do so.If you are serious about wanting to learn html, don't buy any of the 24hr quick learn rubbish, buy this book and follow the tutorials on th HTML Dog website. True, this book is fairly advanced, but the website starts it's tutotials from beginner,and they are concise and more importantly, written in xhtml strict. Buy this book along with HTML Mastery and Beginning CSS and CSS Missing Manual and you won't need anything else to learn how to write perfect code. Excellent Guide to XHTML and CSS - Clear, Concise and Comical, 01 Jun 2007
Patrick Griffiths - I salute you. I was in need of a guide to XHTML and CSS that would give me a good solid grounding on which to develop my new interest in web design. In the past, I had learnt from trial and error and various internet articles, but this book has changed the way I look at web design. Its chapters are very well laid out - they are clear, concise and instead of screeds of technical jargon, it is packed full of useful and interesting background information about web standards and straight-forward step-by-step instructions in plain English (with a few jokes along the way to hold your attention). Based on "web standards" and "best-practice" I know that the websites I will create with this book by my side will be of a high standard. This book has taken up residence next to my computer and I can see it staying there for a long time to come, as the appendixes are great references for each language. HTML Dog - worth the biscuits, 14 Mar 2007
I ordered this book after reading the multitude of tutorials on Patrick Griffiths' website. I'm happy to say that it was a fantastic investment and has enabled me, in a simple, entertaining and easy way, to learn the intricacies of HTML and CSS.
Griffiths moves from detailed explanations of the difference between HTML and CSS, not only outlining examples, but also the practical reasons for using these web technologies together, then to more complex issues, such as layout. The book is full of web wizardry and expert tips all written in a casual and easy to read style.
I was so pleased with this book that I also bought the CSS Zen Garden book (also published by New Riders), which is another gem.
The Best Practice Guide is a worthy read for anybody wishing to learn standards based web development or simply wanting a decent reference. Highly recommended. Good ... but..., 25 Sep 2007
Firstly I am a big fan of Head First books. Head First Design Patterns was a revelation to me.
I have Head First EJB & impressed with that. I am a SCJP so no stranger to Java.
But...
Head First Servlets & JSP I have found hard going. At times I have found it absolutely mind numbing. Yes, it may give you a basic intro. to the concepts, but then you are quickly immersed in chapter after chapter of configuration details in the deployment descriptor and the vagaries of EL versus JSTL. On and on it goes. Yes you need to know this stuff but what it really lacks me for is small, full, working *real world* examples for each point you are covering, that you can see in your browser. But of course that would make the book twice as big, so editorial contraints had to apply. Check out Head First Java if you want to see what I mean. There are some really cool complete examples across a wide range of areas.
So yes it covers a lot of ground, will prepare you for the exam, but look to buy another book to give you the means to glue all the theory together. There is the real world lurking beyond the exam and for me this book is too theoretical. There are some great gags in it though, had me laughing out loud at times.
So in conclusion its a very good book overall, but not the right one for me. I learn by doing and applying, and there isn't enough of that for me. I had to wait wade through 10 chapters of theory before the gold dust in the last few pattern oriented ones - thats fine if you're only interested in the exam but I'm not. I want to get my sleeves rolled up & hands dirty...
3.5 stars. best book for anyone new to JSP, 17 Aug 2007
This is by far the best book on Servlets and JSPs for anyone new to them. This is not a reference book for seasoned veteran of J2EE, nor is it too good if you don't have any background in JAVA, (you don't have to be advanced, but should definitely have some experience... why not look at head first's book on Java or Sam's teach yourself Java in 21 days).
I would however highly recommend this book to anyone with some java experience who wants to learn and understand Servlets and JSPs.
This book combines informal language, humour and images to great effect to retain the things you read and keeps your attention. I don't believe I'm alone when I say most text books are interesting, but incredibly boring and not really accessible.
Head First's methodology is based on the latest research in cognitive science, neurobiology, and educational psychology, then know learning requires more than just text on a page, for example, their is up to an 89% improvement in recall and transfer studies when graphics are used with words and students perform 40% better on post-learning tests if the language is informal. These may be just statistics I've read from the book, but it made me learn these technologies in less than a month and I was able to produce a professional and secure E-democracy solution for my dissertation.
I can't praise this book enough, I tried to learn Servlets and JSPs from two other books produced by programmer to programmer before I bought this book and got nowhere. If you need to learn Servlets and JSPs buy this book. Comprehensively covers all the basics, 18 Jul 2007
Very good book if you are new to the world of JSPs and servlets. Use of diagrams makes it a lot more fun to read than some other dry books on the subject. Highly recommended! Where is the 4.5 star option?, 26 Apr 2006
Headfirst books are like marmite - people either love it or hate it. I have met people who say the Headfirst books are the best they have seen on the planet and THE way to prepare for java certification. And then there are others who say they are crap because they waste too much space and time with stupid jokes. I have done both programmer and developer certification but so far I have stayed away from Headfirst. Nothing personal. They just didn't seem right for me. And I started preparing for the Web component exam with Marty Hall's book. (An excellent book indeed!) But Although Marty's book is great (And in some ways better than this one) He is focused on giving a very practical guide to the world of servlets and JSPs. But the authors of this one really want to help you get through the exam. So if you are after the exam this one is indeed the better book. I started reading this one after finishing a little more than half of Marty's book and now I wish I had started with this instead. (By the way I did buy the Manning (Hanumant Deshmukh) book before this one while I was holidaying in India but after coming back I read all those angry reviews for the second edition and not to touch it!)
The plus points are
The explanations are very clear and very logical
100% focused on the exam
Quite a lot of questions and answers
Easy to read
The only negative point is you waste a lot of time because of all the funny 'head first' stuff. I agree it is a matter of taste. I was a fan of the 'C for dummies' once upon a time. But now reading a techie book is not my idea of fun (unless it is written by Dan Gookin maybe). So I am not so amused when they give advice about Herbal Decaff tea and stuff. Some of their jokes make me laugh but I feel I could finish this book a lot quicker if they take away all this stuff. They could have added more review questions instead of those I think.
But over all this is the best I could find for the exam. Head First: Servlets and JSP, 18 Feb 2006
An excellent book that has a very good introduction to java web development, I was converting from .NET and the nicest feature of this is it's heavy integration with Tomcat. It demonstrates thoroughly how to set up a tomcat web application and details configuration procedures. Good ocverage of JSTL and Struts - but also a healthy coverage of best practices for developing servlets. I recommend to anyone starting out with Servlets - a good introduction.
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Customer Reviews
Colour me unimpressed!, 10 Nov 2008
I've learned a large number of languages, toolkits and SDKs over the years and been part of the review process of a fairly well known book as well, so believe me when I say this is not a great quality book!
If you read the back cover and even the prerequisites, you might think this book is for you. The prerequisites page only mentions the following with regards to knowledge required: "Familiarity with Objective-C". No mention is made of familiarity with writing software for OS X, but by page 23 we're seeing statements like "These essential frameworks enable you to build your iPhone applications using the same fundamental classes and calls you are familiar with from the Macintosh". This is followed on 24 by a comment about Info.plist - "It works the same way Info.plist files work on the Mac." Even as early as page 7 we're seeing things like "As with the Macintosh..." This book does not stand well on its own and that will make it less accessible to some people.
Then we get to the missing stuff - in the very first project, we're instructed to "Drag the three image files from the Chapter One Project folder provided with this book..." Provided where? There's no CD in the back, and I've not found anything in Chapter 1 so far that tells me where this resource is supposed to be included.
The first code listing spans almost two full pages as a single block of text. While the code is commented, there is no in-line breakdown of what each section is and you'll find yourself flipping back to previous pages to tie what you read there back to the code being displayed. Once this two page block of code is over, you don't see it again during this chapter - there is no further discussion of the code so you have to take it on faith for now and learn about it later. That's fine for a 10 line "hello world" app, but not really acceptable for an introduction to a language / framework like Cocoa.
All in all, first impressions are not good. This is not a book to rival the kind of book we've become used to with the Aaron Hillegass definitive reference for starting OS X programming. It will serve more experienced Apple developers well, but will be frustrating for new users.
Good book, but lacking in places, 10 Nov 2008
I found this book useful, but it definitely lacks in places. I am using it as a resource for finding out little tricks or tips on how another programmer lays out their work. It's a useful resource, however it won't teach you the SDK from a beginner to an expert - grab Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X for that!
Useful samples, not for beginners however, 05 Nov 2008
I thought this book was well written but be aware it does throw you into the deep end pretty much immediately. I would recommend this book mainly to developers who are already familiar with the basics of building iPhone applications as there really isn't much of a beginners introduction here.
The book we've all been waiting for!, 29 Oct 2008
This is a brilliant book, and contains a whole host of fantastic examples that shed a lot of like on developing using the iPhone SDK. Clearly written, great examples, and covering all topics needed to create a great application. This book will take some beating.
Of course, there is much more possible with the SDK than is covered in the book but this book will give you all the knowledge you need to push forward on your own.
Didn't hold interest, 25 Oct 2008
This book put me off Joolma! Reading up to 3/4 of the book I get the impression that North finds Joolma hard to work himself through his negative comments by way of knocking the Joomla GUI - e.g. this would have been better there, and that should have been called... and so on, ugh; so why bother? It's gathering dust. I created my own bespoke CMS in the end.
Beware very very small print!!, 20 Sep 2008
I am sure this is an excellent book however virtually every page is underpinned by screen shots of the application and they are FAR TOO SMALL TO READ AND IN A FAINT BLACK TEXT - the font size is less than 6pix!!. I hope the publishers take note and re-issues this book with a larger font for what I am sure are excellent examples.
A book that once may have been good, 08 Jul 2008
Being new to Joomla this book offers some useful information, but since it was written Joomla seems to have undergone remarkable changes. These changes could of course not be included in the book but updates to the book that reflects the changes in Joomla could have been placed on the author's website.
But seemingly the author is doing something else than giving an at least reasonable service to the customers who bought his book.
Have just worked my way through the chapter on templates where only example one looks somewhat like the example in the book and where the remaining examples are no more than useless. Thinking that I must have made some mistakes, I downloaded and installed the author's example templates just to see that they were as helpless as my own.
I can not recommend this book to anyone and I suggest the publishers to remove it from their publications.
Stig Benning
System Developer
Utter waste of time and money - Keep away, 11 Jun 2008
This book is an utter waste of time and money. The book is written in a very tedious manner. Joomla has been released in its 1.53 version, and many things the author presents in the book does not tally with the situation today. No effort is done to give updated information on the website, either. The least a beginner should be worried about learning is whether what he/she is learning is relevant or correct. You can waste hours trying to find out.
The forum which the product description /synopsis refers to as an active forum, is just almost dead. There is no updates of the new releases of Joomla on the book's website, which could be expected when they market the book as having its own website and forum. The author keeps making sad excuses, in the forum, but this book is outdated. If he was serious about really teaching, he would have posted guidelines where things differ.
I can't understand why anybody would write a book on Joomla at the state when this book was written, because the developments go fast and there is no way a book can give that type of information.
The whole book is in black and white - and this is supposed to be a book which is partly about designing? The least the author could have done was to have the diagrams in color.
The book seems to be put together in an enormous hurry. If you want to learn Joomla in a painless way - use joomla.org and the internet. What ever you do, don't buy this book.
A good book, abandoned - but not for long!, 24 May 2008
What a pity - this is an excellent first book on Joomla 1.5 - probably the best but now it has been relegated to nothing by a course in frustration. The book [not unreasonably] is based on Joomla 1.5. Since then Joomla progressed through 1.5.1, 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 [at the time of writing]. Sadly 1.5.2 was quite a big update and changed many Joomla admin menus etc. making the book quite out of step to a current downloaded copy of Joomla.
But here comes the tragedy. The once active forum has virtually fallen into disuse - checkout the posting frequency and dates. The author seems to have fled from cyperspace and his recent responses are notable by their absence. A suggestion that it would be useful to find a source of Joomla 1.5.0 installation has gone unheeded for a week and even a request to the author to know if in fact it is that version that was originally used.
I think we all appreciate it can take at least six months to get into print. Meanwhile a rugged growing youngster like Joomla will have a degree of metamorphosis but not to have recourse to forum support is a distinct disadvantage. The book merits five stars - if the Joomla version it was based on was available. Whilst it isn't one wonders if one should buy it at all. Only you, dear reader, can decide. If you do, get a few Sherlock Holmes primers in the same order is my tip.
Update: 31/05/2008 - after a short[ish] delay of a week, the forum finally got a lead from the author on where to get a copy of the 1.5.0 [book] version of Joomla. This makes all the difference - thank you. However, the author then appears to use registrations on the forum to promote other books and services by email. Is this SPAM or just agressive marketing? You decide.
a DEDICATED COMPUTER SHOPPER , 02 Nov 2008
tHIS IS THE THIRD BOOK I HAVE BOUGHT BY PATRICIA DAVIDSON AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL SHE CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO GO SHOPPING TO HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND HAVING TO RETURN IT BECAUSE IT WAS NO GOOD .SHE HAS TURNED SHOPPING INTO A JOY AT LAST .
Brilliant - a guide that's really useful, 09 Jan 2008
This little book helped me decide to make the switch from my current MP3 player and go for an iPod. It's so clearly written, so full of great advice and tips that it's been better than any user manual could possibly have been.
Written with the usual wit and flair one expects from Rough Guides, this is an absolute must for anyone who is thinking of buying an iPod. For once - the blurb on the cover of a book is actually true. "You need this book". An excellent little guide indeed.
This book is a treasure map to the promised land of articulating design, 13 Nov 2007
This book was recommended by a collegue who performs most of our site IA. The book made working together in the short term so much easier! Specifically it gave me some confidence with Site Maps and Content Inventory which helped me communicate much more effectively as a project manager!
In the long term the book has helped me create effective and durable Personas, which also are helping us design much ore quickly and target and prioritise our site changes.
Good ideas, poor structure, 05 Nov 2007
This is a great book for dipping into (Brown cites numerous practical examples and techniques), but a heavy going read if you like doing things cover-to-cover.
The text books I like tend to have a very clear structure intended to make learning easy, but the mass of detail and alternative ways of doing things that Brown includes makes spotting and digesting the key points hard work.
If I could I'd give the content 4 or 5 stars, and its structure a lowly 3.
Still glad I bought it though.
Real world application of user- | | |