Beyond the Desktop Metaphor: Designing Integrated Digital Work Environments Review

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(More customer reviews)After chancing to see the book at the FLOP (free library of Philadelphia) i checked it out to check it out. Basically, the authors are complaining that the metaphor of the desktop for our personal computing and organizing information is insufficient for the demands of life. Good point, but they don't argue persuasively that something is 'just around the corner' like many "tech-savvy" books always proclaim.
This work was meant to be a bit more academic and theoretical (did i spel that write?) in order to i guess present and stimulate deep thought about alternative metaphors for working with computers. I found the examples thoroughly explained and the book well written. But after about 3/4 of the book i got the point and didn't want to pore over the details of the rest of the book. i hope i didn't miss anything.


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The computer's metaphorical desktop, with its onscreen windows andhierarchy of folders, is the only digital work environment most users and designershave ever known. Yet empirical studies show that the traditional desktop design doesnot provide sufficient support for today's real-life tasks involving collaboration,multitasking, multiple roles, and diverse technologies. In Beyond the DesktopMetaphor, leading researchers and developers consider design approaches for apost-desktop future.The contributors analyze the limitations of the desktopenvironment--including the built-in conflict between access and display, thedifficulties in managing several tasks simultaneously, and the need to coordinatethe multiple technologies and information objects (laptops, PDAs, files, URLs,email) that most people use daily--and propose novel design solutions that worktoward a more integrated digital work environment. They describe systems thatfacilitate access to information, including Lifestreams, Haystack, Task Factory,GroupBar, and Scalable Fabric, and they argue that the organization of workenvironments should reflect the social context of work. They consider the notion ofactivity as a conceptual tool for designing integrated systems, and point to theKimura and Activity-Based Computing systems as examples.Beyond the Desktop Metaphoris the first systematic overview of state-of-the-art research on integrated digitalwork environments. It provides a glimpse of what the next generation of informationtechnologies for everyday use may look like--and it should inspire design solutionsfor users' real-world needs.

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Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step Library Makeover Review

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(More customer reviews)Now in an updated second edition featuring a companion website with supplemental materials and success stories of YA librarians across the globe, Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step Library Makeover is a straightforward guide to creating areas sure to appeal to teens in one's library. Black-and-white diagrams offer clear visual layouts and suggested designs; Teen Spaces walks one through designing and proposing a budget, working with architects and designers, visual merchandising ("the effort to make a library attractive and effective in its presentation of materials and services, as a means to increase use and circulation") and much more. Extended appendices, a list of resources, and a recommended vendor list round out this easy-to-use, no-nonsense guide highly recommended for YA librarians. "One important lesson that came out of this research is that, as librarians (and adults), we make the incorrect assumption that kids are web savvy and have the necessary skills to successfully use our websites. Many librarians teach information literacy - helping teens determine so-called bad information, while also assessing resources for high quality information. When working with teenagers in the virtual world, adults must continually focus on the assessment aspect of information literacy because it is consistently where teens fall short. This is especially true of Internet resources."


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Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design Review

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(More customer reviews)From 9 to 5 (well, a "little" after 5 most days), I am an Application Development Manager in my company. In my years doing this, I have read a lot of books on the topic of Web and User Experience Design. So far, only a handful stand out above "Designing the Obvious" by Robert Hoekman Jr. and even some of those, he takes his hat off to (such as the case of "Don't Make Me Think", for instance).
Hoekman proposes the "unthinkable" for those entrenched into rusty web design practices, but when you step back and reconsider the experiences you've had, his framework makes perfect sense. Here are a couple of thoughts he brings to the table, to give you an idea:
-Design an application that does one thing, and does it very well. For every additional feature, there is more to learn, more to tweak and configure, more to customize, more to read about in the help document, and more that can go wrong.
-People (users) don't always make the right choices. They make comfortable choices... they make choices they know how to make. To deal with this, he supports Goal-Directed (also called Activity-Centered) Design, as opposed to Human-Centered Design.
Web Design anathema? Violation of User Interface "basics"? Maybe it sounds so at first, but if you read through his arguments, you will find them very compelling and may end up (like myself) reconsidering some of your initial assumptions.
One of the reasons why his proposal resonated so much with me is because throughout the book, Hoekman introduces concepts that are not familiar in the Web space, borrowing them from long-established best practices in manufacturing (where I worked the first four years of my professional life), such as:
-Kaizen: improving things constantly, in little tiny ways that add up to gigantic results.
-Poka-Yoke: software "devices" meant to prevent user errors from occurring.
-Pareto (80/20 rule): Good, clean Web application design means that 80 percent of an application's usefulness comes from 20 percent of its features.
For longtime professionals and newcomers into the field of User Experience Design, Hoekman's book has turned into an absolute must read.

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Designing the Obvious belongs in thetoolbox of every person charged with the design and development ofWeb-based software, from the CEO to the programming team. Designing theObvious explores the character traits of great Web applications anduses them as guiding principles of application design so the end resultof every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty. Theseprinciples include building only whats necessary, getting users up tospeed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for theactivity. Designing the Obvious does not offer aone-size-fits-all development process--in fact, it lets you usewhatever process you like. Instead, it offers practical advice abouthow to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications andconsistently and successfully reproduce them.

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Real World Compositing with Adobe Photoshop CS4 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is really an instruction manual on how to sell a book with a misleading title and virtually no useful content for a hefty price. I kept waiting for the authors to quit wasting time and actually get to the "Industrial-strength Imaging Techniques" promised on the cover. It never happened. After 200 pages of filler, there are a few actual examples of compositing, but nothing you couldn't readily find online for free. A complete disappointment, especially considering it's published in association with Adobe Press. Some free advice for Adobe Press: before you put your name on it, try passing it by one of your editors, eh?


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In Real World Compositing with Adobe Photoshop CS4, Photoshop experts Scott Valentine and Dan Moughamian explain the key elements involved in planning and executing a composite imaging project. Readers will learn about the importance of the planning process, including tips on how to develop creative ideas and stay organized as their project evolves. In addition, they will pick up vital techniques for acquiring and perfecting source images in Photoshop CS4, before bringing them together as a seamless composite. The powerful new 3D features found in the Extended edition are also discussed as part of a 2D-3D workflow.Serious photographers and digital artists wishing to produce photo-realistic imagery or surrealistic artwork by blending—or compositing—multiple images and light sources can learn all they need to know right here. Building from the reader's existing skill set of Photoshop fundamentals, the authors provide detailed examples and explanations that cover the newest features in Photoshop CS4 and also utilize a variety of tools and software applications.More than just a Photoshop guide, this book takes a holistic approach, instructing readers on photographic planning and techniques, key design concepts, visual perception, and robust image editing techniques. This is an increasingly popular approach which requires the digital artist to become more involved in the presentation and concept of their images. Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 delivers the information readers need, to produce the best possible composite imagery.

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Mathematical Principles for Scientific Computing and Visualization Review

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(More customer reviews)Many areas of scientific research, from biology to psychology, involve gathering data and computing results. While this book could have been easily considered in our Science, Nature and Technology section, it's reviewed here for its excellent insights for computer collections strong in both science and computational skills. It's a non-traditional introduction to the math of scientific computation and comes packed with many examples to provide readers with the right tools for using the software packages behind the computations. College-level collections strong in software engineering, science, math or computers will find it an excellent technical pick.


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This non-traditional introduction to the mathematics of scientific computation describes the principles behind the major methods, from statistics, applied mathematics, scientific visualization, and elsewhere, in a way that is accessible to a large part of the scientific community. Introductory material includes computational basics, a review of coordinate systems, an introduction to facets (planes and triangle meshes) and an introduction to computer graphics. The scientific computing part of the book covers topics in numerical linear algebra (basics, solving linear system, eigen-problems, SVD, and PCA) and numerical calculus (basics, data fitting, dynamic processes, root finding, and multivariate functions). The visualization component of the book is separated into three parts: empirical data, scalar values over 2D data, and volumes.

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WordPress 2.7 Complete Review

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(More customer reviews)This book helped me figure out how to convert an existing site to a WordPress theme, an especially challenging project since my existing html page design didn't have any clear header, middle, footer arrangement. I was able to figure out where I wanted to take things with my own theme development mostly from reading Chapter 6. (Getting under the engine with the WP template tags is far more empowering than following a tutorial that has you start out by fiddling around with an image in Photoshop.) Well written, too.

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Written in a clear, easy-to-read style, the book takes you through the essential tasks required to create a feature-rich blog as quickly as possible. From initial setup to customizing modules, each task is explained in a clear, practical way using an example blog developed through the book. This book is a guide to WordPress for both beginners and those who are slightly more advanced. It's for people who are new to blogging and want to create their own blogs in a simple and straightforward manner, and it's also for people who want to learn how to customize and expand the capabilities of a WordPress web site. It does not require any detailed knowledge of programming or web development, and any IT-confident user will be able to use the book to produce an impressive blog.

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An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation Review

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(More customer reviews)The first chapters of the book provide an extensive introduction to search engines and navigation. No formal prerequisites are required; any Web enthusiast will enjoy reading the book. These chapters comprise of background and history of the Web, navigation and searching, search engine architecture and different types of search engines. In addition to the basics, additional topics covered are navigation (aka surfing), the interplay between search and navigation, Web data mining, personalization, the mobile web, social networks, collaborative filtering and Weblogs (aka Blogs).
The book goes far beyond simple searching and navigation; it provides a comprehensive overview of the current research fronts in areas related to Web search engines and navigation.
The text is highly readable with a large number of illustrations and examples. It can serve as an excellent textbook both for an introductory and a more advanced course of Web search and navigation. Each chapter starts with a listing of objectives and ends with a set of exercises relevant to the topics covered in the chapter. Students will especially benefit from the non-technical descriptions and clear explanations of the concepts.
The book is also a great reference source for researchers and IT professionals: it includes 410 references to articles, and 202 references to Web pages and resources. I highly recommend the book.


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This book is a second edition, updated and expanded toexplain the technologies that help us find information on the web. Search engines and web navigation tools have become ubiquitous in our day to day use of the web as an information source, a tool for commercial transactions and a social computing tool. Moreover, through the mobile web we have access to the web's services when we are on the move. This book demystifies the tools that we use when interacting with the web, and gives the reader a detailed overview of where we are and where we are going in terms of search engine and web navigation technologies.

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WordPress 3 Ultimate Security Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using WordPress since version 2.5 and when I first heard about this book, I was wondering how the author could fill 240+ pages on securing WordPress.
As many veteran WordPress users know, Automattic, the company that oversees the development of the open source blogging platform, does an excellent job keeping it secure, with regular updates. The problem here is many users think that Automattic does everything to keep WordPress sites secure. Do not fall into this trap. Users have to take responsibility too.

So it came as no surprise that the first four chapters are spent explaining how the bad guys work and how to protect your computer and network. The author covers a broad range of topics from how to secure Windows, Mac, and Linux workstations. He gives advice on where to obtain, install and configure personal firewalls and anti-virus software. He suggests ways to avoid spam and make your web browser safe for browsing.
The chapters on WordPress security are just as informative. He explains how to back up your WordPress site (which you are probably already doing. Right?) How to set up file and user permissions. He explains which WordPress files and features should be disabled or removed to avoid hackers and why you should use SSL, SFTP and hardened shell accounts to access your site.

If your site does get hacked, there is a disaster recovery section that explains how to get your site back online and make sure it doesn't get hacked again.

I am an IT consultant and have worked with PCs in some form since 1982 and built my first website in 1995. I thought I knew a lot about security, but this book taught me many new ways to secure websites and computers. It was a quick read and brought me up to date on the fast changing world of Internet security.
This book can help all users, from WordPress beginners to IT professionals. I recommend reading it to keep both your website and PC/Mac/Linux computer safe.


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This is a comprehensive essential guide to WordPress security written in a light style, which converts learning a really serious topic to an enjoyable read. It is packed with copy-paste solutions to security to suit all levels of security know-how. Just as WordPress is used by a broad spectrum of website owners, with varying degrees of security know-how, so WordPress 3 Ultimate Security is written to be understood by security novices and web professionals alike. From site and server owners and administrators to members of their contributing team, this essential A to Z reference takes a complex and, let's face it, frankly dull subject and makes it accessible, encouraging, and sometimes even fun. Even if you are a total newbie to security, you can transform an insecure site into an iron-clad fortress, safeguarding your site users, your content and, sooner or later, your stress level.

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Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability Review

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(More customer reviews)This book lays a good foundation for web design by emphasizing planning, meeting clients' goals, and understanding the target audience. Wroblewski emphasizes usability when describing the core of the site- structure, navigation, content- and how it will affect the experience of the audience. He uses numerous examples to illustrate layout, visual heirarchy, color schemes, and how they work together (or don't!) to communicate quickly and effectively to the site visitor.
I got frustrated about the amount of fluff surrounding actual information. He makes plenty of good points and then buries them beneath a barrage of condescending, long-winded metaphors, like the way we can read a map and know that blue represents water. The analogy itself could be helpful, but three paragraphs to explain the analogy is just distracting.
I'm glad I read it... it opened my eyes to many challenges that web designers face, and inspired me to infuse life and personality into my own site. I'm also glad I highlighted the meaningful parts so I (or friends who borrow it) can skip past the fluff in the future.

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Although Web usability has received lots of hype, especially during the dot-com meltdown, the focus has been mostly on technical issues. Usability experts stress the pitfalls of frames and too many images on Web pages. They recommend editing out unnecessary words and writing in a non-linear style-all valuable advice, of course. But less frequently do they highlight the importance of the visual presentation of Web pages.The Web is a communication medium that does most of its talking visually. What you see on a Web page tells you what you might find within the site, how to get there, and why it might interest you-not to mention the instinctive emotional response that shapes your Web experience. As a result, Web usability issues are communication issues. Easy-to-use sites are those that communicate quickly and effectively.Site-Seeing takes a fresh approach to Web usability by applying visual communication principles and decision-making to Web design. Specifically, readers will learn the key concepts behind visual organization, look and feel, technical considerations, and clear planning that stem from audience awareness. Through numerous, full-color examples author Luke Wroblewski deconstructs "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of Web design.The visual presentation of a site does more than merely making it pretty. It organizes information according to function. It creates distinct and appropriate personalities. It provides emotional impact and attachment. In short, it engages the audience-and keeps them coming back.

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WordPress 2.8 Theme Design Review

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(More customer reviews)I seem to be reading quite a few WordPress books of late, and there are certainly a few to choose from. Packt Publishing's WordPress 2.8 Theme Design's tagline is 'Create flexible, powerful, and professional themes for your WordPress blogs and websites'.
WordPress themes are of interest to me since they fuse a visual aspect with PHP code, and there's no doubt that they appeal to many other people too.
Chapter Overview
1. Getting Started as a WordPress Theme Designer
2. Theme Design and Approach
3. Coding it Up
4. Debugging and Validation
5. Putting Your Theme into Action
6. WordPress Template Tag, Function, and CSS Reference
7. AJAX/Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
8. Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
9. Design Tips for Working with WordPress
The book's author Tessa Blakely Silver starts very gently with an introduction to WordPress themes and why downloading a theme that's already been coded and designed may not always be the best solution. Subsequently, the book develops a theme from scratch and examines core technologies such as WordPress, CSS, XHTML and PHP.
The second chapter starts with a discussion of theme design in general, followed by the beginnings of the theme that's developed throughout the book. There are further discussions on semantic markup, typography, fonts and layout.
The following chapter focuses on the code aspect of theme design, and suggests a workflow strategy as well as template tags, hooks, and the WordPress loop. Comments are then discussed in some detail, the topic including pagination and threaded comments.
Chapter four examines the process of debugging and validating. A thorough chapter includes references to the W3C validation services, Firefox's JavaScript/Error console, Firebug and some of the issues that the budding theme developer will face when dealing with IE6.
Chapter five looks at the style.css file, which provides descriptive information about a theme, together with packaging the theme into a ZIP for distribution and running test installations of the theme package.
Chapter six adopts a more reference based approach, with an in depth examination of WordPress template tags, the WordPress template hierarchy, the loop and shortcodes.
The following chapter looks at AJAX and JavaScript, as well as preparing your theme for plugins and widgets.
Chapter eight builds on Chapter 7's JavaScript discussion by developing a drop-down menu for the theme. There is also a discussion of Flash and how that can be used with WordPress themes.
Chapter nine rounds off the book with a number of design tips that apply not just to WordPress theme design, but web design in general.
The book's about 250 pages in length, and is generally well written. I did, however, notice a few errors in code samples (mostly misplaced quotes), and a couple of examples in the prose itself. Another minor niggle was that the author talks about semantic markup, and then introduces 'sidebarLT' (sidebar left) and 'sidebarRT' (sidebar right) IDs into the markup.
The back of the book states: This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions. But familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.
It seems as through Packt have tried to convince the potential reader that this is the book for them, regardless of whether they're fairly inexperienced in some areas, or a a highly skilled developer. I'd say that the book covers a lot of ground, and that it does so at a pace that would be suitable for an inexperienced developer. Much of the content, however, would already be familiar to a skilled web developer, and so I feel that they'd think that the really useful content is a little thinly spread.
Overall, it's encouraging to see more books about WordPress; although the internet is a fantastic resource, books still have a very important role in my opinion. The content of this one is great for beginner-medium level web developers, but more experienced readers will be left wanting more.


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Theme design can be approached from two angles. The first is simplicity; sometimes it suits the client and/or the site to go as bare-bones as possible. In that case, it's quick and easy to take a very basic, pre-made theme and modify it. The second is "Unique and Beautiful". Occasionally, the site's theme needs to be created from scratch so that everything displayed caters to the specific kind of content the site offers. This book is going to take you through the Unique and Beautiful route with the idea that once you know how to create a theme from scratch, you'll be more apt at understanding what to look for in other WordPress themes. This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill-set or level, you'll find clear, step-by-step instructions, but familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.

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The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever Review

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(More customer reviews)Effective public speaking is a challenge for many executives. They must prepare interesting content, overcome stage fright and deliver a speech that will hold the audience's attention. As if that wasn't difficult enough, they are increasingly likely to find themselves looking out at a sea of faces illuminated by the glow of laptops and PDAs. Social media is invading the auditorium, and rather than tuning out while a speech is delivered, people are turning on laptops and cell phones to send out text messages, broadcasting to the world their opinions of a presentation.
In his new book Cliff Atkinson explains how these new forms of online communication are shifting the rules of engagement between audiences and presenters. Instead of sitting politely until it's time for Q & A, people are going online during the address to swap comments and opinions via an electronic backchannel.
At the very least, Atkinson claims, speakers and their communications support staff need to be aware that there is likely to be a backchannel in the room and learn how to monitor it or be left out of the conversation. Beyond this basic awareness, he encourages communicators to take the initiative and employ social media as an integral part of any executive's presentation.
Practical advice
Atkinson's book covers a lot of ground, from how to open a Twitter account to advice on expanding the conversation with the audience. He details how social media can transform a presentation from a one-off information dump into a longer-term relationship--one that starts before you step onto the podium. His advice includes:
* Breaking a speech into "Twitter-sized chunks" to make it easier for people to post 140-character sound bites. One measure of success then becomes how many of these summary statements are posted and reposted online.
* Using Twitter as a vehicle to extend your ideas to people outside the room, giving them a "virtual stage pass" to the event.
* Creating instant polls using tools, such as Twtpoll and Poll Everywhere, to involve the audience.
* Publishing a Presentation Home Page using wiki software. For example, I was inspired by Atkinson's book to create [...]/ listing my past and future talks. A Presentation Home Page is a convenient archive for reference material; blog postings; a Twitter feed; bio and contact information and more. This shifts the burden from overly busy PowerPoint slides as the sole way to communicate information. Also, by implementing a page like this prior to an event you initiate a backchannel that involves the audience, letting you gather comments and suggestions before you deliver the talk. After the event, the page becomes a repository for evaluation responses, blog postings, reference material and a transcript.
Atkinson acknowledges there are both risks and rewards involved in the backchannel. It enables people to connect online and become part of a shared community, but at the risk of leaving out those who are unaware of what is happening. It gives the speaker a way to reach a wider audience, but at the risk of distracting the smooth delivery of material. It provides an archive for comments and opinions, but a series of 140-character notes can lack context. And there's the very real risk that the comments people make on Twitter might lack civility and shock presenters with their sometimes brutal honesty.
Though this approach is not for everyone, Atkinson describes a potent way in which social media allows a (frightening?) new level of transparency that speakers can use to transform a one-way stream of communication into a dialogue with the audience--before, during and after the speech.
The Backchannel might not bring welcome news to presenters who are wedded to the old school ways of controlling audience response and involvement, but is clearly shows how you can magnify the impact of a speech using social media.

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Armed with laptops and smartphones, audiences today are no longer sitting quietly taking notes during live presentations. Instead, they're carving out a new space in the room called the backchannel, where people are online searching for resources, checking your facts, and connecting with others inside the room and out.When audiences are happy, the backchannel vastly extends the reach of ideas and creates a new sense of community and connectedness. But when they are unhappy, the intersection of frustrated audiences with unaware presenters can often create dramatic and public breakdowns of communication—and even mob mentality.In this book, communications consultant Cliff Atkinson shows that if these new kinds of audience participation are embraced and the conversations properly handled, the outcome can be a new, more effective form of communicating. Whether you're a host, presenter, or an audience member, Cliff will help you understand how this convergence of social forces is upending the presentation norm and how you can effectively manage the change.

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Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (2nd Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are just coming over the the standards-compliant light, this book is the best for showing real, working techniques. Great examples that work. A cookbook. Cederholm won my heart and my mind with "Web Standards Solutions" and this book builds on that theme. The man is a good writer, easy to understand, and he makes compelling and lucid points.
Cederholm's presentation is great: he states a problem or goal, then examines several different ways of solving it. The examinations are just a paragraph or two long -- short and to the point. He points out the strengths and weaknesses of the various solutions, then concludes with a "best practices" solution. Finally, he builds on and refines the best practices solution to deliver a finished piece. When there is no clear-cut best way, he lays the cards on the table and let's you decide what is best for your specific application. He talks about the compromises between pixel-perfect layouts and fluid layouts and how each effects design and useability issues.
It is not stand-alone because a good reference is still useful to have by your side.

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No matter how visually appealing or content-packed a Web site may be, if it's not adaptable to a variety of situations and reaching the widest possible audience, it isn't really succeeding. In Bulletproof Web Desing, author and Web designer extraordinaire, Dan Cederholm outlines standards-based strategies for building designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control--key components of every sucessful site. Each chapter starts out with an example of an unbulletproof site one that employs a traditional HTML-based approach which Dan then deconstructs, pointing out its limitations. He then gives the site a make-over using XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), so you can see how to replace bloated code with lean markup and CSS for fast-loading sites that are accessible to all users. Finally, he covers several popular fluid and elastic-width layout techniques and pieces together all of the page components discussed in prior chapters into a single-page template.

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Effective UI: The Art of Building Great User Experience in Software Review

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(More customer reviews)This invaluable review of the Processes & Business Benefits of User Interface/User Experience Design, provides so much unique and hard won insight into the process of developing superior user interfaces, the goals of users and the business, and in quantifying the benefits of UX design that I can only award it an outstanding Five Star review. One observation, that full engagement with the true goals of users is the end purpose of UI Design, is in itself worth the cost of this excellent book. But in spite of my viewing this book as revolutionary and offering outstanding and unique insights into what User Experience is, how to achieve it and what its benefits are, I do have one major criticism of this otherwise excellent book, its narrative approach and careful explication of its arguments on what the team at "Effective UI" lead to step by step discovery of these insights; there doesn't appear to be a top-down structure allowing for easy browsing of the book; it must be studied at length. Also, an experienced student of Interaction Design and User Experience cannot easily find what the new insights of this book are at a single glance, or find its prescription for a particular step of the design process.
This is an excellent and insightful book on UI Design and User Experience based on the consulting experience of a leading firm in this industry. But the book narrating their experience must be studied, it is difficult to browse.
--Ira Laefsky
MSE, MBA IT & HCI Researcher

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People expect effortless, engaging interaction with desktop and web applications, but producing software that generates enjoyable user experiences is much harder than many companies anticipate. With Effective UI, you'll learn proven user-experience strategies that will satisfy your clients and customers, drive business value, and increase brand strength.

This book shows you how to capture the collaborative and cooperative spirit among designers, engineers, and management required for building engaging software. You'll also learn valuable methods for maintaining focus throughout the process -- whether you're a product manager who needs a clear roadmap, a developer or designer looking for guidance and advocacy, or a businessperson who wants to understand and manage user-experience software initiatives.

Learn how to build software that will:

Generate engaging and interactive experiences between consumers and businesses, or between businesspeople and their information systems
Account for how people work with, think about, and consume information
Establish a richer means of collaboration and communication
Reduce frustration by streamlining complex tasks and creating processes that are more intuitive
Distinguish products, services, and brands to create a competitive advantage
Create scalable systems that adapt to changing user needs and behaviors

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Web Design with HTML and CSS Digital Classroom, (Book and Video Training) Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought this book was really good except for one thing, I noticed multiple mistakes typing mistakes that really effect the outcomes of the tutorials. I have some knowledge about html and css, which is the only reason I was able to understand some of the reasons why the tutorials were not working. It's as if someone didn't even go through the tutorials to make sure they were correct before it was published. Other than that this book is very informational.

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"An invaluable full-color training package for Web design
Web design consists of using multiple software tools and codes-such as Dreamweaver, Flash, Silverlight, Illustrator, Photoshop, HTML, and CSS, among others-to craft a unique, robust, and interactive websites. This book teaches you how to effectively use all the major tools involved in web design to create a site that is both attractive and functional.
You'll go beyond the basics to learn best practices of good web design so you can go from the drawing board to a successful site.
Combining full-color, step-by-step instructions with lesson files and video training from web experts is like having your own personal instructor guiding you through each lesson-but you work at your own pace!
Discusses properties of good web design and best practices for building a site that is both attractive and functional

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Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web Review

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(More customer reviews)Having had my own website for a few years I am always looking for ways to improve it by making it more user friendly and beautiful to visit at the same time. I was hoping to gain some insight into "distinctive design" by reading this book. Unfortunately, I did not find anything useful for my needs.
Much of the book read as a textbook based on theory, rather than application. After reading the table of contents I couldn't wait to read each chapter...expecting to read the book and come away with all sorts of practical ways to improve my site. Instead I found that most theories discussed were common sense, or not explored to the depth I would have liked. I also found that the examples and even the graphics contained within the book were rudimentary.
I would only recommend this book for someone who is starting to design websites and has more technical experience rather than design experience. This will not teach you how to create good design, just what is considered to be good design in theory.
Distinctive Design was not at all what I was expecting and frankly I came away with absolutely nothing that I felt would improve my own site. It may be great for a classroom discussion, but not for real world application in my opinion.


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Learn to produce a web site that stands out from the crowd
One of the web designer's greatest challenges is to create a site distinctive enough to get noticed among the millions of sites already on the web. This book examines the bond between code, content and visuals to guide you through the factors that increase your design's visibility, usability and beauty. Using this practical advice, even web designers who lack strong artistic skills can develop super sites that strengthen the message and stand out from the crowd.
Most books focus primarily on graphic design principles; this one shows you how to maximize and prioritize every design decision to help your site achieve its primary purpose: showcasing your content and services
Explores the bond between code, content and visuals to guide you through the factors that increase your design's visibility, usability and beauty
Enables even artistically challenged web designers to create elegant, functional layouts that attract visitors and are user-friendly

Every web designer can benefit from this practical advice on creating an informative, attractive, easy-to-use site that gets noticed.

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Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Presents a good introduction to embedded system programming; no complaints there. However, their choice of development kit is poor. The Arcom (now EuroTech) kit is $600, rather than the $300 stated in the book. And it took almost 3 weeks for them to respond to a quote request. Fortunately, there are kits available from other vendors (BiPom, Olimex, etc.) which can be substituted for less than $300. However, the impracticality of using the Arcom kit robs the book of its purpose of being a hands-on, guided tutorial.

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If you have programming experience and a familiarity with C--the dominant language in embedded systems--Programming Embedded Systems, Second Edition is exactly what you need to get started with embedded software. This software is ubiquitous, hidden away inside our watches, DVD players, mobile phones, anti-lock brakes, and even a few toasters. The military uses embedded software to guide missiles, detect enemy aircraft, and pilot UAVs. Communication satellites, deep-space probes, and many medical instruments would have been nearly impossible to create without embedded software.

The first edition of Programming Embedded Systems taught the subject to tens of thousands of people around the world and is now considered the bible of embedded programming. This second edition has been updated to cover all the latest hardware designs and development methodologies.

The techniques and code examples presented here are directly applicable to real-world embedded software projects of all sorts. Examples use the free GNU software programming tools, the eCos and Linux operating systems, and a low-cost hardware platform specially developed for this book. If you obtain these tools along with Programming Embedded Systems, Second Edition, you'll have a full environment for exploring embedded systems in depth. But even if you work with different hardware and software, the principles covered in this book apply.

Whether you are new to embedded systems or have done embedded work before, you'll benefit from the topics in this book, which include:

How building and loading programs differ from desktop or server computers
Basic debugging techniques--a critical skill when working with minimally endowed embedded systems
Handling different types of memory
Interrupts, and the monitoring and control of on-chip and external peripherals
Determining whether you have real-time requirements, and whether your operating system and application can meet those requirements
Task synchronization with real-time operating systems and embedded Linux
Optimizing embedded software for size, speed, and power consumption
Working examples for eCos and embedded Linux

So whether you're writing your first embedded program, designing the latest generation of hand-held whatchamacalits, or managing the people who do, this book is for you. Programming Embedded Systems will help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to achieve proficiency with embedded software.

Praise for the first edition:
"This lively and readable book is the perfect introduction for those venturing into embedded systems software development for the first time. It provides in one place all the important topics necessary to orient programmers to the embedded development process. --Lindsey Vereen, Editor-in-Chief, Embedded Systems Programming

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BIG BIM little bim - Second Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Can't say what I expected when I bought this book. It's all over the map and I'm expecting PBS to pick this guy up as an architectural self-help guru.
I have never seen so many numbers thrown around as the "4Site" system that is best used with the 80/20 principle that then moves on to the Power of Sixteen Concept that can then be better handled with the 400% Rule (page 136). I am seriously paraphrasing here, but it can be daunting trying to keep with the threads.
Having cleared my system of that I will say that there are a number of things that can be taken away from this book (failing fast is my favorite). It is on the extreme end of the "architecture-is-a-business" end of things, but as is so often pointed out in this book, it is what is so often left out of an architects' equation. And an omission that, if not tended to, will push architects further to the fringe of the construction industry.
Mr. Jernigan, I have no doubt, knows what he is talking about--it's just such a difficult read.

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Finith Jernigan has rewritten his award-winning book to include the big changes happening every day in the world of BIG BIM. The second edition of "BIG BIM little bim" has expanded coverage of the practical applications of BIM for the entire construction industry. The phenomenon of the worldwide BIMStorm is highlighted in this new edition. The book gives user-friendly approaches that architects, engineers, owners, builders, facility managers, educators and students can understand and apply today. Internationally recognized as a leader in BIM, Jernigan shows how to leverage resources, compete in a worldwide market, and become more efficient and productive in the planning, design, construction and operation of facilities.

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