Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Ok all I can say is wow. This man uses insults (accurately) to get the job done. I found myself wanting to redo things on my site and other sites I design just so he wouldn't find it and use it as a bad example. Good God. He is RIGHT ON on a lot of that stuff.

I disagreed him with him when it came to Flash. He thinks Flash is unnecessary, which it is in certain circumstances... but... he failed to mention adult sites which really use the art of visualization for the ultimate sale, which is what he discusses - that websites should be about bringing in money. Other than that and his not-so-secret hate for splash pages (although again, he failed to mention that some sites actually REQUIRE them by law)... I agreed with him on everything else in the book.

He gets into the Do's and Don'ts and really blasts the sites that use tacky animated Gifs on clashing backgrounds, unclean and unfocused sites, sites that don't use alt tags on images, and it really covers a whole lot of things that are just plain wrong. Way wrong.

He even got into a subject about never including text that says 'Click Here' and at first I scratched by head and thought - but why not?? And he showed some examples of it done right, and examples of how bad and tacky it can look when it is used wrong. I immediately got inspired and got rid of all of my 'Click here' text and sure enough, the results looked much more professional.

I have at least 20 high-maintenance business sites I constantly work on, and that being said - I am constantly feeling pretty positive about the work that I do. He doesn't care how good you think you are. He will be brutal. And it's about time someone steps forward to say it.
'A webmasters job is never complete' is an accurate statement.

He doesn't just give negative criticism... he offers good advice and solutions that are doable and just require effort and a sense of direction.

The bottom line: If you get aggravated with what he says, you can close the book and reopen it when you're ready for brutal honesty.

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Inspired by the award-winning Web site "Web Pages That Suck", this text takes a humorous approach to teaching Web design techniques by critiquing bad sites and then applying common sense and practical, hands-on guidance to create site make-overs. This updated second edition features design problems (misuse of Flash content) and old standbys (poor navigation). The CD contains a database of daily newspapers and other places for readers to promote their sites, plus "Software that Doesn't Suck" for Windows and Macintosh users - shareware, graphics programs, and other tools that have earned the author's seal of approval.

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Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Server Control and Component Development (Wrox Professional Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)Doctor Khosravi knows his stuff and he writes well. He also has a feel for the kind of questions his readers are going to ask first and answers them at the appropriate time. I was very pleased to see him explain how to implement a simple server control on page 16 because that's one of the first things I wanted to know after writing my first server control. It's quite possible his editor should get some credit here also.
He does an superb job of explaining why he's presenting information in the sequence he does. So often I struggle to understand why an author is showing me how to do something I consider trivial (like changing style attributes) before or even instead of something important (like interacting with other controls). I never had that problem with this book.
Server controls are a very complex and potentially confusing subject. The Wrox Profession ASP.NET 2.0 book does a very poor job of explaining them and dedicates far too little space to the subject which is why I bought this book. In comparison, Dr. Khosravi and his editor have done a very good job of organizing the subject. Even thought the resulting book is still a challenging read, I can grasp some concepts that other authors were unable to explain clearly. It may be that Dr. Khosravi had more space or that he was more skilled. I don't care - it worked.
If you are interested in developing custom server controls, which you should be, then this is the best resource you can have on your bookshelf. All ambitious ASP.NET developers should own this book.
Sometimes one very talented mind can acheive more than a host of merely smart ones. This is such a case. If you're ever in Southern California, Doctor, please let me buy you a beer. Cheers.

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The ASP.NET 2.0 Framework introduced web developers to dozens of new server controls and components, and a greatly expanded and easier structure for writing their own server controls and components. Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Server Control and Component Development covers the breadth of server control functionality as well as the rest of the membership, role management, SchemaImporterExtension, and so on – the functionality referred to as components. Written for the experienced ASP.NET developer, Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Server Control and Component Development will show you how to write your first sever control or custom component.
The step-by-step coverage drills down to the details of the extensible part of the ASP.NET 2.0 Framework that you need to extend to write the specified type of custom control or component. Rather than present the extensible part as a black box, it presents a detailed step-by-step approach to implement functional replica of the extensible part, discusses the replica's code in detail, and provides an in-depth coverage of the techniques, tools, and technologies used in the code. From there you get a detailed practical recipe for developing the specified type of custom control or component and book then uses the recipe to implement one or more real-world custom controls or components of the specified type that you can use in your own Web applications.
Some of the many types of controls and components you'll learn to build are:
Ajax-enabled controls and components: four chapters on Ajax discuss and use Ajax patterns, ASP.NET 2.0 client callback mechanism, CSS, DOM, XML, and JavaScript to implement a number of Ajax-enabled controls and components.
Web Parts: four chapters on Web Parts in ASP.NET 2.0 develop a number of custom WebPart, EditorPart, CatalogPart, WebPartZone, WebPartChrome, WebPartVerb, WebPartManager, and data-bound WebPart controls.
5 chapters on ASP.NET 2.0 security, membership, and role management components
5 chapters on ASP.NET 2.0 tabular and hierarchical data source controls and custom Parameter components
4 chapters on ASP.NET 2.0 tabular data-bound controls and data control fields
Developing controls and components that can access any type of data store and automate all their data operations such as Delete, Update, Insert, and Sort.
XML Web service, WSDL, Google XML Web service API, SchemaImporterExtension, ISerializable, and CodeDom
XmlReader, XmlWriter, XPathNavigator, DOM, and XmlResolver
Provider-Based Services including how to implement a RSS service provider that can feed RSS from any type of data store such as SQL Server, file system, Web services, and so on
HTTP modules, HTTP handler factories, HTTP handlers, and control builders including developing an HTTP module and an HTTP handler factory that perform URL rewriting and an HTTP handler that generates RSS feeds
User controls and composite and templated custom controls
State management and custom type converters.
Events, IPostBackEventHandler, IPostBackDataHandler, and Page lifecycle

This book is also available as part of the 5-book ASP.NET 2.0 Wrox Box (ISBN: 0-470-11757-5). This 5-book set includes:
Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Special Edition (ISBN: 0-470-04178-1)
ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution (ISBN: 0764584642 )
Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Security, Membership, and Role Management (ISBN: 0764596985)
Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Server Control and Component Development (ISBN: 0471793507)
ASP.NET 2.0 MVP Hacks and Tips (ISBN: 0764597663)
CD-ROM with more than 1000 pages of bonus chapters from 15 other .NET 2.0 and SQL Server(TM) 2005 Wrox books
DVD with 180-day trial version of Microsoft(r) Visual Studio(r) 2005 Professional Edition

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Enterprise AJAX: Strategies for Building High Performance Web Applications Review

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(More customer reviews)College-level computer holdings strong on Ajax or web programming guides need ENTERPRISE AJAX: STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING HIGH PERFORMANCE WEB APPLICATIONS. It covers advanced Ajax topics, so it's not for the beginner - that will please any already versed in Ajax who want to skip the basics. From implementing Model-View-Controller in the browser to overcoming security risks and optimizing Ajax functions, this is the item of choice for any collection moving beyond introductory texts.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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"The core technologies of Ajax are quite straightforward; the hard part is applying them in the real world. Fortunately, the authors have been putting Ajax into practice since long before the term 'Ajax' was even coined. Enterprise AJAX offers excellent coverage of issues rarely explained to date, but frequently encountered by enterprise developers—including architecting of Ajax applications, and how to deal with such concerns as usability, security, and reliability."-DR. MICHAEL MAHEMOFF, PH.D. author of Ajax Design Patterns (AjaxPatterns.org)"Just when you thought you knew all you need to know about Ajax, Dave, Alexei, and Andre force open your cranium and unload a dumptruck full of Enterprise Ajax techniques, best practices, and hard-earned expert insight onto your brain. If you want to mix some serious Ajax into your serious business applications, the solid information and advice you get from this book will let you do so with confidence."-BRENT ASHLEY, Web Developer and Ajax Pioneer"I can't think of any better authors for a book on Enterprise AJAX. The book is sure to be a valuable reference for developers the world over working on the next generation of web applications."-MATT MCKENZIE, Software development manager, LiveCycle, Adobe Systems Inc."A great resource for writing quality, enterprise-level JavaScript."-CHRISTIAN VAN EEDEN, Senior Application Specialist, Schenker DB LogisticsBUILD RELIABLE, SCALABLE, ENTERPRISE-CLASS WEB APPLICATIONS WITH AJAXWriting for enterprise developers, architects, and user interface specialists, the authors explain why AJAX offers such great promise in large-scale development. Next, they systematically introduce today's key AJAX techniques and components.You'll walk through developing frameworks for building AJAX applications that combine data tables, Web forms, charts, search, and filtering: the very systems businesses depend on in CRM, ERP, BI, and beyond. Then, building on this strong foundation, the authors identify proven AJAX architectural patterns, and present case studies drawn from actual .NET and Java AJAX applications. Coverge includes
Using AJAX to implement Model-View-Controller (MVC) in the browser
Encapsulating user interface functionality to facilitate code reuse and reduce cross-browser development problems
Overcoming the unique security challenges associated with AJAX Web applications
Optimizing AJAX usability: the "back" button, caching, bookmarking, offline usage, and beyond
From security to scalability to project risk, this is the only book to cover all the issues facing AJAX developers in the enterprise. Whether you're migrating legacy HTML interfaces or building new applications from scratch, you'll find it absolutely indispensable.ABOUT THE WEBSITEwww.enterpriseajax.com contains code samples, case studies, tutorials, live demos, and other AJAX resources.ABOUT THE AUTHORSDavid Johnson has many years of experience with AJAX-related technologies. He is co-founder and CTO of Nitobi, producer of a component library designed to speed AJAX development. Johnson has written widely for print and online publications, including JavaWorld.com and XML.com. Alexei White is Product Manager at Nitobi. Andre Charland, co-founder, President, and CEO of Nitobi, is an experienced Internet software developer.

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Internet Research - Illustrated (Illustrated (Thompson Learning)) Review

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(More customer reviews)The book is very low on information.
If you've used a computer for at least 2 years this will teach you absolutely nothing.
$20 for a paperback book that is thinner than a quarter.
Bought this for a class,
Be better off mooching off someone else or maybe just winging to topic

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With both conceptual and step-by-step lessons, this book teaches learners the strategies and skills required to use the Internet as a valuable research tool. Updated for currency, this title includes information about search toolbars and the latest advances in intelligent search agents, as well as finding, evaluating, and citing online sources.

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PC Magazine Fighting Spyware, Viruses, and Malware Review

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(More customer reviews)Tittel can certainly unsettle the reader! He warns of the increasing encroachments against your computer. The biggest single danger is that this might be your home computer. Not a computer at your workplace, for which you might be able to ask a sysadmin for help.
So it's you and Tittel against the 3 menaces. Be aware that the terminology in the text and title may vary from what others use. Often, malware is taken to include viruses. I think he chose to break viruses out separately from malware so that the title would outreach to more people. Malware is still somewhat of a techie term, while spyware and viruses have broader recognition.
Naturally, since we're discussing personal computers, the text tends to focus on those running a Microsoft operating system. But in fact, much of his advice applies to Macs and linux/unix machines. Though users of the former 2 types might take heart in knowing that most viruses or worms won't go after their machines.
Tittel explains that increasingly, it's harder to draw clear lines between malware, spyware and adware. But he shows how to use existing anti-malware products that can scan for these and remove them. These products use combinations of signatures of known malware, and also search for "strange" activity that is typical of malware. However, since new variants of malware are continually being developed and found, you should always download the latest sets of signatures from your vendor, before running the tests.
Tittel also gives a succinct description of phishing. A particularly virulent type of malware that has increased enormously in the last 2 years. He suggests that you scrutinise the links and be very wary of any message that asks for personal information; either in a reply, or in a web page pointed to from that message. Unfortunately, the phishers continue to refine their tactics and many users simply aren't savvy enough to follow Tittel's suggestions. These users may be a minority, but there are enough of them to make this worthwhile for the phishers.

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Think there's no malicious software on your computer? PC Magazine thinks you should think again.Scans by ISPs have revealed as many as twenty-eight spyware programs running on the average home computer--like yours. That's a lot of people prying into what's on your PC, and a DSL or cable connection is a virtual welcome mat. But by following Ed Tittel's advice, you can learn how invasions occur, spot an infestation, repair damage that's already done, and slam the door on those who want to hijack your PC--along with your wallet.Here's how you can* Learn to recognize when a Trojan horse, a virus, adware, or spyware has invaded your PC* Get the tools that can cure an infection* Dig into the Windows Registry to remove the nastiest of bugs* Prevent a recurrence with personal firewalls and protective software* Deal with the onslaught of spam* Keep your defenses up-to-dateGive it the bootIf you believe you've caught something and you're willing to kiss everything goodbye that you've added to or changed ... since the last time you booted up your computer ... try this. While Windows is first booting up, hit the F8 key .... Choose the Last Known Good Configuration option, and Windows should boot running the version of the Registry that existed the last time your system booted--that is, before you got infected.-- From Chapter 4

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This Little Program Went to Market: Create, Deploy, Distribute, Market, and Sell Software and More on the Internet at Little or No Cost to You Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is an amazing resource for anyone interested in self-marketing products on the internet. Easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.

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Interested in selling your own products on the Internet? This book may be just what you need. Do you have a computer program that others might want to buy? This book explains how you can transform your personal program into a market-ready software package. Have you ever dreamed of owning a Web site, complete with a shopping cart and a safe method of receiving payments? This book can help you set those up for yourself. The freeware and open source tools and services demonstrated in this book make it easy for one person to handle the entire creation-to-sales process in a professional manner: * create a Web site that meets XHTML and CSS compliance standards * optimize your Web site for search engines and control their access * create download links, buy now buttons, and a shopping cart * accept credit card payments through PayPal * monitor visitor activity * increase downloads and sales per visitor using various marketing strategies. To make a computer program market-ready: * define an easily repeatable, one-step build process with automatic backup * provide integrated, searchable help documentation * draw your own icons or create them from a photo * create a trial version of your program and market it as shareware * learn strategies to help protect your program from piracy * create an install wizard that requires acceptance of your license agreement, creates file associations, avoids Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 access control errors, and verifies minimum system requirements. Step-by-step instructions are provided for each of these activities and many more. Detailed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript listings are provided to help you with the Web page programming.

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Don't Spend a Dime: The Path to Low-Cost Computing Review

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(More customer reviews)Don't Spend a Dime is the book I have been looking for... for a lot of us, software and updates can be a little expensive and the free stuff... well, should I trust it? How does it work? How does it compare with the leading "for sale" software? Where can I find it?
James Floyd Kelly gave answers to all those questions and more in my major areas of computer use: Office Software, email, graphics, photo editing, malware protection, and backup. He also covers quite a few more areas that I don't really use like gaming and social networking.
It is written in very readable "non-geek" language that most can understand. I recommend it to all who think "there is something wrong with free".
And, BTW, I am in no way affiliated with the author or publisher. I just happened to run across it when searching for every day low cost computer solutions. And I am glad I did.
I am a very conservative reviewer... it would have to do my laundry and self-install to get 5 stars.

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Don't Spend A Dime is responsive to, and well-suited for the domestic economic situation. The book's value proposition is devastatingly simple: For $25, you can save hundreds of dollars in software costs by learning to take advantage of zero-cost software that is freely available on the Internet. The book and its message appeal powerfully to the first-time computer buyer who may have just spent his or her budget on hardware only to find out that hardware alone is not enough.From senior citizens to students, from corporate drones to small business-people, readers of all types can benefit from the research that author James Kelly has put in to choosing the solutions described in this book. James has done the research and presents best-of-breed solutions in every common software category, from digital photo management to word processing, from blogging to social networking. Don't Spend A Dime doesn't confuse readers with choices. Instead, the book presents a clear and simple menu of software solutions that will get the job done. All the author's choices are reasonable, and readers can feel secure in following the author's straightforward and well-defended advice.Written in the comfortable, knowledgeable tone that make James Kelly's Lego NXT books the best in their category, Don't Spend A Dime is the book that will open the average person's eyes to the joys of zero-cost computing. James Kelly takes the PC and turns it from a bottomless, money-pit into a center of creativity. Don't Spend A Dime gives the power and promise of technology back to those who can least afford it, but who perhaps most need it.

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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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How to Break Web Software: Functional and Security Testing of Web Applications and Web Services. Book & CD Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently finished reading How to Break Web Software: Functional and Security Testing of Web Applications and Web Services by Mike Andrews and James A. Whittaker. I, like many of you, develop web software for a living. I've always taken security seriously and occasionally sneered when I ran across examples of common mistakes. Having said that, this book was an eye opener for me.
The book covers common exploits such as bypassing input validation, SQL injection, and denial of service. There were also several types of attacks I hadn't really considered before. I won't list them here because someone would undoubtedly say, "I can't believe he didn't know about that one!" The authors cover 24 different types of attacks in all. The book also includes coverage of web privacy issues and security related to web services.
Finally, as icing on the cake, a CD is included that contains many tools that will find permanent spots in your arsenal. There are tools to do things like scan web servers for common exploits, mirror sites for local analysis, and check SSL cipher strengths. My favorites are the local proxies that will allow you to view and modify posts as they travel from the client and the server. I always knew I could do this, but didn't know how easy it is. The CD also contains the source code of an example site that includes many flaws for you to practice.
This book is written for software professionals to help them put the hackers out of business. So, it necessarily includes hacker techniques. If you develop or test web software, you should read this book before the hackers do. :-)

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Since its early days as an information exchange tool limited to academe, researchers, and the military, the web has grown into a commerce engine that is now omnipresent in all facets of our lifes. More websites are created daily and more applications are developed to allow users to learn, research, and purchase online. As a result, web development is often rushed, which increases the risk of attacks from hackers. Furthermore, the need for secure applications has to be balanced with the need for usability, performance, and reliability. In this book, Whittaker and Andrews demonstrate how rigorous web testing can help prevent and prepare for such attacks. They point out that methodical testing must include identifying threats and attack vectors to establish and then implement the appropriate testing techniques, manual or automated.

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Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly)) Review

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(More customer reviews)The idea of this book is that thirty software developers and/or researchers (respectable ones, no doubt there), had to find the most beautiful piece of code and present its study. Each of them then writes a chapter and there you have it - a volume of "beautiful code" ! Simple as that.
If there was somebody to fully support the idea of such book, it would be me - I believe that the software industry already spent too much time and effort neglecting the art-and-craft in programming, pretending that it all can be reduced to hard math. Didn't work so far, did it ? Then I very welcome books like this one. But not exactly the one.
Let me put it this way - I couldn't say anything good about this book except that I adore the concept and found may be ten of thirty three chapters interesting (not necessarily beautiful). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say, but this lame excuse is the last good thing I could say for this book.
It was supposed to be pedagogical. Did not happen. Rather than making it timeless reference for the readers, the book made a tribune for the authors to talk about, uhm, just about anything. We know how programmers love to talk about what they do, and it's ok. But we also know that they often mumble instead of talking and it's very difficult for us to understand one another, no matter friendly or hostile. This is not to mention that there are no commonality in topics or style or language (programming or English) or anything. The editor had simply glued it together.
Not so bad you say, a good assortment is fine you say ? Let me tell you more, and it's all downhill.
It's as though you expected an album of paintings but instead got a book of random excerpts from chemical specifications for producing paints.
Exemplary conventional antimicrobial, antimildew, or antialgae agent includes 3-iodo-2-propynyl butylcarbamate, diiodomethyl-p-tolylsulfone, 1,2-benzoisothiazolin-3-one, 2-methylthio-4-tert-butylamino-6-cyclopropylamino-s-triazine, 2-(4-thiocyanomethylthio) benzothiazole and the mixtures thereof.
See how beautiful it is that can be painted with that ?
If you ask me, a book like this ought to have structure. Remember the classic one by Gamma et al - they also presented abstract things from different areas or levels, but they kept the information stylistically uniform and structured against a clear taxonomy. Not the case here.
Each chapter is about different matter, presented in a different way. One author presents a performance hack in which he compiles code on the fly. The chapter will then contain several pages of dynamic assembly. The other will show an interesting approach to syntax parsing. This one will have 50 short snippets of something JavaScript-like. Yet another will tell you how to automate debugging by automatically mutating the application. This one won't have code at all. Yet another will show a slick algorithm for counting bits in a word. This one will have a lot of bitwise arithmetic.
And I just loved the one that has NASA in it's title. There - "A Highly Reliable Enterprise System For NASA's Mars Rover Mission". Wow ! How promising ! Want to know what it says ? It says - "In NASA they love their software reliable, even a web-based file server, and so we present you a web-based file server built with JavaBeans in three-tier architecture". Ahem, Mars Rover anyone ?
Don't get me wrong, some of the chapters are reasonably interesting. Interesting ! Not beautiful !
With a little exception, the authors don't even mention the word "beautiful" in their texts. They allure with "There, we have this system, it works like this..." . What exactly the author finds beatiful about it and why - remains secret.
The most impressive standout was the chapter written by Yukihiro Matsumoto, the creator of Ruby. Three pages in which he simply speaks about what he believes a beautiful code is. He explains to you his understanding of a beautiful code. This is what the book is all about !
Instead, many chapters just demonstrate a few pages (!) of code and conclude - it is beautiful, see !
Many times I wasn't unable to grasp the problem - what was it that required that so called beauty to emerge ? I couldn't see the whole picture, but the authors sort of presume I do and so my possible appreciation of beauty requires deep understanding. What if I show you a magnified fragment of Mona Lisa's background, some 3x3 blackish pixels ? No doubt, Leonardo had to paint them too. But what was that beauty again ?
Only a few authors were wise enough to use a pseudocode. Something that anyone can read, no matter from which camp. Otherwise it's just weird when the authors present their beatiful code in Ruby or Perl or LISP. Look, I didn't touch Ruby yet, I hate Perl and I can't imagine using LISP in practice. Nevertheless the authors repeatedly say something like "It's easy, I'll show you, this bracket does this and that character does something else. Now you see how beautiful it is ?". They literally show you a piece of poetry in foreign language and ask you to appreciate it.
A classical example of awful poetry in Russian is (transliterated)
Ya poet, zovus' Neznajka,
ot menya vam balalajka.
Can you tell whether it's good or bad and why ? What if I told you it's beatiful ? Would you believe ? Does it appeal to your sense of beauty ? Same thing about this entire book.
Awful implementation of an idea that I fully adore. In fact, implementations like this undermine the idea, that's why I rate this book so low and put it away with disgust.


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How do the experts solve difficult problems in software development? In this unique and insightful book, leading computer scientists offer case studies that reveal how they found unusual, carefully designed solutions to high-profile projects. You will be able to look over the shoulder of major coding and design experts to see problems through their eyes. This is not simply another design patterns book, or another software engineering treatise on the right and wrong way to do things. The authors think aloud as they work through their project's architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and when it was important to break rules. Beautiful Code is an opportunity for master coders to tell their story. All author royalties will be donated to Amnesty International. tion.

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High Performance Web Sites: Essential Knowledge for Front-End Engineers Review

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(More customer reviews)§
_High Performance Web Sites_ is one of those books that will get read by more people than buy it because it is both a fast read and organized into clearly differentiated subjects. This makes it easy to pick up for a moment or pass along to team members with different specialties.
Each of these "14 Steps to Faster-Loading Web Sites" (listed in the editorial review above) is itself divided into related tips with practical pointers. The fact that the book is full of these pointers is not the only value I extracted. We also get something a bit more subtle. The fact that the author is a performance expert at one of the mega-companies that define the Web for most of us lends authority to the book. It is easy to have confidence that his practical experience will have immediate lessons for teams with the same problems, if on a smaller scale.
Steve Souders provides a special addition to his tips: his example pages offer direct comparisons and means to make our own tests. This is something rarely encountered in such books. The book ends with a 30-page chapter where he deconstructs 10 of the top Web sites in the U.S. using the rules and tools described in the book.
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Want your web site to display more quickly? This book presents 14 specific rules that will cut 25% to 50% off response time when users request a page. Author Steve Souders, in his job as Chief Performance Yahoo!, collected these best practices while optimizing some of the most-visited pages on the Web. Even sites that had already been highly optimized, such as Yahoo! Search and the Yahoo! Front Page, were able to benefit from these surprisingly simple performance guidelines.

The rules in High Performance Web Sites explain how you can optimize the performance of the Ajax, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, and images that you've already built into your site -- adjustments that are critical for any rich web application. Other sources of information pay a lot of attention to tuning web servers, databases, and hardware, but the bulk of display time is taken up on the browser side and by the communication between server and browser. High Performance Web Sites covers every aspect of that process.

Each performance rule is supported by specific examples, and code snippets are available on the book's companion web site. The rules include how to:

Make Fewer HTTP Requests
Use a Content Delivery Network
Add an Expires Header
Gzip Components
Put Stylesheets at the Top
Put Scripts at the Bottom
Avoid CSS Expressions
Make JavaScript and CSS External
Reduce DNS Lookups
Minify JavaScript
Avoid Redirects
Remove Duplicates Scripts
Configure ETags
Make Ajax Cacheable

If you're building pages for high traffic destinations and want to optimize the experience of users visiting your site, this book is indispensable.

"If everyone would implement just 20% of Steve's guidelines, the Web would be a dramatically better place. Between this book and Steve's YSlow extension, there's really no excuse for having a sluggish web site anymore."

-Joe Hewitt, Developer of Firebug debugger and Mozilla's DOM Inspector

"Steve Souders has done a fantastic job of distilling a massive, semi-arcane art down to a set of concise, actionable, pragmatic engineering steps that will change the world of web performance."

-Eric Lawrence, Developer of the Fiddler Web Debugger, Microsoft Corporation

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Google Web Toolkit GWT Java AJAX Programming: A step-by-step to Google Web Toolkit for creating Ajax applications fast Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A practicum is a course designed to give students practice in a previously studied field, and that's what this book is: if you are a developer who understands Java and at least something about web development, this practical guide will immediately get you up to speed on working, practical uses of GWT. This is not about the internals of GWT, but about how to use it, and, if you haven't heard, Google Web Toolkit lets Java developers create Ajaxified web applications without becoming Javascript experts. One of the nicest things about this book is that the clear and logical explanations are accompanied by runnable examples that actually compile and work as is! Amazing! This may not be your last book on Ajax and GWT, but it probably should be your first since it puts you immediately on your feet with a clear, firm grasp both of what this new technology is all about as well as how to use it today.

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Each chapter covers a series of practical tasks, showing how to achieve a particular useful result â€' and then learn how it works so that you can apply your knowledge to your own unique situation. Readers will need experience writing non-trivial applications using Java. Experience with developing web interfaces is useful, but knowledge of JavaScript and DHTML is not required… GWT takes care of that!--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)This is Lisa Sabin-Wilson's 3rd Edition of her bedrock "WordPress For Dummies". I own all three editions and each is thicker and filled with more knowledge than the prior edition. If anyone asks me how to learn, manage and use WordPress, this is what I recommend.
It is truly A through Z coverage. Sabin-Wilson is, in my opinion, one of the best technical writers around. Her language is clear, uncluttered and free of artifice.
Logically enough, she begins at the very beginning explaining what WordPress can do for you. To her credit, she doesn't hold it out as a panacea for all that ails you. She doesn't promise you that you'll earn millions or will win public office. Sabin-Wilson simply tells you how to set up your blog and then moves progressively into the minutiae of creating and managing a WordPress blog. (And yes, operating a blog is like most other things in the world - a series of small details that you must repeatedly (i.e., daily or thereabouts) attend to. In fact, one of the chapters is appropriately entitled "Establishing Your Blog Routine".
"Wordpress For Dummies" is thorough. The WordPress Dashboard is explained as is the use and, perhaps more importantly, the customization of themes. (With WordPress, your blog or website can look however you like it, but getting it right is not necessarily simple.)
Another important Sabin-Wilson covers in some detail is using WordPress as a Content Management System. Although she treats it in some detail, I personally wish that she would write a book on this subject alone.
In all, none of the other WordPress books I've read - and there are quite a few of them - measure up to the standard that Linda Sabin-Wilson has set in all three editions of "WordPress For Dummies". Each edition has been extensively revised to stay as current as possible with WordPress releases.
A total delight to read and use, it is, in my opinion, the gold standard for learning, managing and using WordPress.
Jerry

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The bestselling guide to WordPress, fully updated for newest version of WordPress

WordPress, the popular, free blogging platform, has been updated with new features and improvements. Bloggers who are new to WordPress will learn to take full advantage of its flexibility and usability with the advice in this friendly guide.
Previous editions have sold nearly 50,000 copies, and interest in blogging continues to explode.
WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog platform that emphasizes aesthetics, Web standards, and usability
WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition covers both the free-hosted WordPress.com version and WordPress.org, which requires users to purchase Web hosting services
Written by an expert who works directly with the developers and cofounder of WordPress
Shows readers how to set up and maintain a blog with WordPress and how to use all the new features

Like its earlier editions, WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition helps bloggers quickly and easily take advantage of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.

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Windows Vista Tips and Tricks in Easy Steps Review

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(More customer reviews)Got a new laptop/tablet device the other day and I needed to know how configure and find things in the Vista OS. This book is perfect. No supertech stuff, no beginners filler, yet I think it covers just about everything. Exactly what I needed.

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Windows Vista can be extremely frustrating at times. Often, it will simply refuse to do simple tasks, or do things that it wasn't asked to do. Windows Vista Tips and Tricks in Easy Steps takes all the most common problems that users experience and addresses them in one easy-to-understand reference source. Want to get rid of those irritating Balloon Tips? Go back to 640 x 480 resolution, even though Microsoft officially eliminated that option? Speed up the Start menu? Shut down in one click instead of several? It's all here, as well as how to hide web-browsing tracks, turn off that cool AutoComplete feature (that remembers credit card numbers and will spit them out to whoever requests them), and keep passwords safe. The book also shows how to optimize the performance of a PC.

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Using iPhoto '11 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book offers "Show Me" videos however I am not able to access the videos and find this book to be less useful than if all the information was in printed form as a book should be.
After writing to Que Publishing, I received a detailed email explaining how to gain access to the videos. I have a Mac so I needed to be in Safari as opposed to my other browser and follow directions given in the email. I am a 79 year old lady who is not savvy with all that I need to know to easily maneuver around the Internet. I am grateful for the personal support I received from Que and happy with the book now that I can use the videos.
If you can read the "Comment" of my review it will assist with getting access to the videos.


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Get comfortable with viewing, editing, enhancing, printing, sharing, and creating photo projects using your digital photos and the popular iPhoto '11 software on your Mac. Don't just read about it: see it and hear it with step-by-step video tutorials and valuable audio sidebars delivered through the Free Web Edition that comes with every USING book. For the price of the book, you get online access anywhere with a web connection–no books to carry, content updated as iPhoto '11 changes, and the benefit of video and audio learning. Way more than just a book, this is all the help you'll ever need…where you want, when you want!learn fast, learn easy, using web, video, and audioShow Me video walks through tasks you've just got to see–including bonus advanced techniquesTell Me More audio delivers practical insights straight from the experts

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PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid Review

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(More customer reviews)This really is a terrific book if you're at all interested in learning how to secure information. It's very well-written in a clear, *concise* manner.
Two great introductory chapters lay out the fundamentals of cryptography and OpenPGP in plain English. There's nice coverage on terminology, the differences between OpenPGP/PGP/GPG, and the basics of using them.
The first chapter has also got a terrific chart laying out specific actions for things you want to do with your messages, like "I want to send a message that only my intended recipient can read" which is answered by "Encrypt the message with the recipient's public key." Much of the rest of the book follows this same clear vein as the author moves through the details of implementing PGP/GPG.
The book is full of small tidbits of very useful information, such as considerations for selecting expiration periods for your keys, or how to decide on what levels of trust to give family and friends, or even how to increase your paranoia by worrying about whether or not a hardware keystroke probe is monitoring your passphrase as you enter it.
The sections covering implementation of GPG are particularly well done. GPG isn't the easiest thing to work with, but Lucas does a great job of pointing out potential pitfalls and working readers past the rough spots.
A terrific work that lays out lots of good information in a small, well-written package.

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OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard in the world. It is based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) as originally developed by Phil Zimmermann. The OpenPGP protocol defines standard formats for encrypted messages, signatures, and certificates for exchanging public keys.

PGP & GPG is an easy-to read, informal tutorial for implementing electronic privacy on the cheap using the standard tools of the email privacy field - commercial PGP and non-commercial GnuPG (GPG). The book shows how to integrate these OpenPGP implementations into the most common email clients and how to use PGP and GPG in daily email correspondence to both send and receive encrypted email.

The PGP & GPG book is written for the moderately skilled computer user who is unfamiliar with public key cryptography but who is nevertheless interested in guarding their email privacy. Lucas's trademark informal and relaxed tone makes public key cryptography as simple and clear as possible, so that any reasonably savvy computer user can understand it.

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Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition: Covering 8.04 and 8.10 (4th Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The book contains lots of misinformation and long outdated notions, and approaches things in a way that doesn't make sense either for Ubuntu novices or those experienced with Linux.
E.g. on pages 30 and 31 it indicates that Ubuntu 8.04 doesn't enable Universe and Multiverse by default, which has not been true for a while.
E.g. In its introduction to Python on page 561 it says "Although PHP is fundamentally similar to Java and Perl, Python is closer to C and Modula-3, and so might look unfamiliar at first." Java and PHP are light-years apart, and saying Python is closer to C is bizarre.
The section on backups recommends tape drives for many classes of user - a slow, expensive and long outdated technology.
It wastes people's time talking about telnet.
Most everywhere I look, there is misinformation. I'm going to stop looking now.
I won this book in a raffle, and plan to recycle it rather than confusing someone else by giving it away.
There are much better Ubuntu books out there by folks that actually work on the distribution, like the "Official Ubuntu Book" (3rd Edition) by Benjamin Mako Hill, Corey Burger, Jonathan Jesse, and Jono Bacon.

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Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition presents comprehensive coverage of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Windows users, Mac users, and Linux enthusiasts have been increasingly turning to Ubuntu for a user-friendly, easy-to-use Linux distribution.
This book provides detailed information on installing, using, and administering Ubuntu. You will learn how to set up a workstation or a server, and you will find complete details on Ubuntu's easy-to-use desktop and productivity software.Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition includes a range of coverage: From the software you need in your everyday work, such as the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, to how to configure your Linux desktop to run smoothly using multiple printers, shell scripts, and more. For the hardcore Linux enthusiast, there is complete coverage of the X Window system, Linux programming, web server administration, and network administration.
Includes a DVD with a full Ubuntu Linux distribution, plus a free upgrade to Ubuntu Linux 8.10 once it is released

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