The Designer's Guide to VHDL (Systems on Silicon) Review

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The Designer's Guide to VHDL (Systems on Silicon) ReviewUntil Peter's next book comes out of course! I would give it 5 stars if I was just learning the VHDL language, but I'm actually trying to use VHDL for FPGA design and this book falls short in that regard.
This book is really good at explaining the 'mechanics' of VHDL programming. It is an out growth of Peter's "Intro to VHDL" paper that was published on the web and it sort of shows. I really like the depth that it goes into, I wish it had the standard libraries in the appendix. (it doesn't) However, until getting Ashendon's book, all other VHDL texts were pretty opaque.
The only thing this book does not have is a treatment of logic 'inference.' Since all VHDL compilers today "infer" (a fancy way of saying "guess") what logic would be able to implement a behavior, not understanding how those compilers guess makes it possible to write syntactically clean VHDL that doesn't synthesize any logic. To get a better handle on inference I'd recommend "HDL Chip Design" by Smith.The Designer's Guide to VHDL (Systems on Silicon) Overview

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The Columbia Guide to Online Style Review

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The Columbia Guide to Online Style ReviewCitation of materials from the (extremely) volatile web was a major problem. Creating a summary, and providing a hyperlink to the original content, proved a major issue since electronic content moves so frequently.. The Columbia Guide gives some assurance that proper citation can be given. Some of the citation style suggestions seem very redundant, and there is no clear table or quick summary to highlight the proper method for common usage. Still, as the first work of this type, it gives an excellent baseline for referencing, building, managing on-line content.The Columbia Guide to Online Style Overview

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iPhone User Interface Design Projects Review

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iPhone User Interface Design Projects ReviewLove it or loathe it, the iPhone and iPod touch have been a stunning success, largely due to the App Store -- over 100,000 apps at current count. It is, by all accounts, the largest gold rush to invade the application development scene since ... well, ever. Apps that pay attention to design and usability stand out from the rest of the detritus, and quickly become a success.
"iPhone User Interface Design Projects" devotes a single chapter to each of ten developers/designers who've stood out from the crowd. They talk us through their thought processes and workflows, their failures and ultimate successes. You can teach someone to write code, but can you teach something as subjective as interface design? Apple's "Human Interface Guidelines" document goes some way to achieving this goal, explaining what users expect from an iPhone app's interface, and how the various controls behave and interact. The HIG is an essential reference and fits the bill perfectly for most use cases, but doesn't offer insights into more creative interfaces. "iPhone User Interface Design Projects" augments the HIG by bringing the authors' experiences into the discussion. They explain what worked and what didn't - there's nothing like learning from other people's mistakes.
A common thread throughout the book is that design and usability is an iterative process - very rarely will your first design concept reach the App Store. Though the individual authors refer to it differently - wireframing, prototyping, mock-ups, etc. - you get a sense for the importance of knowing what the interface will look like and how it will behave before committing it to code. The book's technical reviewer, Joachim Bondo, contributes a chapter on the design of a prospective Google news reader. Refreshing in presentation, this isn't a post-development retrospective. As he explains in the chapter's introduction, he has a few ideas in his head, and he fleshes the designs out as your read along. You don't get to see the final interface, but that's not the point. What you do get is insight into his design decisions. Bret Victor presented the excellent "Prototyping iPhone User Interfaces" at WWDC '09, and Bondo's narrative is very similar in content.
Though I enjoyed (almost) all ten contributions, Chapter 7, for me, was the highlight of the book. Chris Parrish and Brad Ellis cover - in great detail - often overlooked concepts of user context and application flow, and the undeniable value of prototyping and specifications. Parrish and Ellis rightly won an Apple Design Award at WWDC '09 for "Postage", a visual and highly intuitive postcard creator, and they approach their chapter with similar attention to detail.
The odd-one-out is Ju'rgen Siebert's detailed discussion of typefaces, the implications of their usage on small-scale devices such as the iPhone, and a walkthrough of his "FontShuffle" app. As informative as the history and anatomy of typefaces was for me, I didn't see how it specifically related to the very restricted set of fonts on the iPhone. Siebert even goes so far as to mock up a Contacts screen with a font that isn't available on the device, suggesting that the screen's readability has improved as a result. I don't disagree; however, the iPhone's fonts are baked-in, and unless you want to implement a custom glyph rendering routine, it's a pointless argument on a closed device. This chapter represents a missed opportunity, in my opinion. I was initially looking forward to reading about the author's choice of available fonts under different scenarios, but was ultimately let down.
Where the book falls short is in its use of black and white screeenshots throughout. We're talking about the design of applications which are displayed on a full colour device. Colour clearly plays a very large part in the design of any user interface, so cheaping out with black and white screenshots was a mistake. What's even more unforgivable is that the downloadable eBook (which isn't free) doesn't have full colour plates! Come on, Apress! I think given the context of the book, we'd be prepared to pay a bit more for colour.
Who's this book for? Everyone who develops or designs for iPhone, novice to expert alike. Even if you've had success on the App Store, I guarantee there's something in here for you.iPhone User Interface Design Projects OverviewFollowing the best-selling Beginning iPhone Development, iPhone User Interface Design Projects is the first book dedicated to designing and implemented great user experiences on the iPhone. The iPhone has quickly become the coolest new platform for application development, and developers with all levels of experience and from all development environments are eager to learn how to do it. Not only is there money to be made for developers selling great-looking iPhone apps, but it's just a hell of a lot of fun for everyone involved

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Envisioning Information Review

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Envisioning Information ReviewTo me, this is Tufte's best book, although they are all really good. Although its visually gorgeous, its not a coffee table book to just flip through. You have to be willing to spend time with it, and if you do the rewards are tremendous.
Tufte presents a collection of some the best examples of information design ever invented, and some of the worst examples. And then he goes into the underlying principles that make the great ones sing out.
This book will be really helpful to any web page designer, UI designers, statisticians, cartographers, scientists, or anyone concerned with presenting dense information in a clear way.
There is a chapter on presenting multiple dimensional data on a flat, 2D paper that all by itself is worth the price of the book. Then there's the chapter on "Small Multiples" which presents wonderful examples of how to show patterns and changes. But then there's the chapter on layering of information, so the key pieces of data appear first, and the less relevant ones reveal themselves later. And on and on and on. Its just a great book.
To add to it, Tufte is obsessed with quality like nobody else I can think of in the book business. Its printed on 100% rag paper using real lead type because he thinks that all other methods are inferior. Which means the book is costly to make, but its of heirloom quality.Envisioning Information Overview

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Real Time Systems and Programming Languages: Ada 95, Real-Time Java and Real-Time C/POSIX (3rd Edition) Review

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Real Time Systems and Programming Languages: Ada 95, Real-Time Java and Real-Time C/POSIX (3rd Edition) ReviewThere are a number of excellent books on the topic of real-time systems. Few, if any, address the breadth of topics covered by this book, much less to the depth and quality exhibited here. Read as many of the others as you can, but if you must purchase only one book on real-time systems, this is the one to have. Indeed, I have each of the three previous editions of this book and this latest is, once again, worth every penny.
One of the reasons I hold such a high opinion of the book is that it is written by people who not only know what they are talking about, but can do so with clarity and precision. As leading contributors to scheduling theory and the real-time programming facilities of both Ada and Java, the authors are internationally recognized experts on real-time systems and programming languages. The text's depth reflects that fact, but it is also clear, concise, and a pleasure to read.
Another reason I recommend the book is that it has a good balance between theory and practice. Make no mistake, the necessary theory is covered extensively, but it is then illustrated with concrete examples using programming languages that are in wide-spread use today: Ada, C, and Java. As neither C nor Java were explicitly designed for concurrent real-time systems, the text includes the necessary extensions. For C, the POSIX real-time profile is used. For Java, the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) is used. When necessary, examples are provided in other languages as well.
In fact these three programming languages form the underlying context for much of the book. They are not themselves the subjects of the book, however, and those readers seeking an introduction to these languages should look elsewhere. Instead, the programming languages are used to explore the distinct nature of real-time systems and the requirements for developing applications in that domain. The code examples thus provide a means of illustrating the topic at hand, but also provide a means for comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the real-time facilities of the languages. The authors are leading contributors to the Ada 2005 Real-Time Systems Annex and the RTSJ for Java, a fact reflected in the detailed critical analysis provided.
I felt happy to purchase yet another edition of the book because of all the above, but also because of the additions (and removals) present in this edition. New material includes additional schedulability analysis theory and material on multi-processor and multi-core architectures. With respect to programming languages, the new material includes extensive coverage of the real-time systems programming additions to Ada 2005, the latest version of the RTSJ, and the new real-time POSIX profile enhancements for C. As for removals, the introductory material on the programming languages is no longer present. This change was a necessity for the sake of brevity, but the result is a better overall focus. Also removed is the chapter on distributed systems. I was sorry to see that go, but the primary points have been moved to other chapters. Discussion of other programming languages, such as occam2, are also removed for the sake of brevity but is available on the book's web site.
I should point out that this is not just a "timing" book. For example, real-time systems typically have reliability requirements as well as timeliness requirements. Reliability is thus covered extensively, as are a number of other topics that might not be immediately suggested by the title.
In summary, I am a real-time systems engineer with over 30 years of professional development, industry lecturing, and occasional university lecturing experience. Based on that combination, I give this book my highest recommendation to both professionals and students alike. The field of real-time systems is not for beginners, but developers (and managers) as well as more advanced university students will definitely benefit. Both will find a text they can use to learn the latest in the field.
PS: Note that, at the time of this writing, Amazon is for some reason showing some reviews for earlier editions of the book, not this latest (fourth) edition.
Real Time Systems and Programming Languages: Ada 95, Real-Time Java and Real-Time C/POSIX (3rd Edition) OverviewB> This book provides an in-depth analysis of the requirements for designing and implementing real-time embedded systems, and discusses how these requirements are met by current languages and operating systems.The comparative advantages of Ada 95, Real-Time Java, and Real-Time C/POSIX are discussed in full.The emergence of Java as a real-time language through the Real-Time Java extensions has resulted in the treatment of Java as one of the core languages covered in the book.The additional real-time facilities in POSIX are also explored, as well as the proposed extensions to CORBA to address real-time issues.More material on schedulability analysis is also included. No other book on real-time programming languages (or concurrent programming languages) covers this range of topics.This book is designed for programmers and engineers looking for an introduction and/or reference that discusses current real-time programming languages and how they are suited to designing and implementing real-time embedded systems.

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Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied Review

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Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied ReviewRead this book and you may feel you've fallen down the hole into some sort of C++ Alice-in-Wonderland:
"Isn't it nifty just how much you can do with functions... that not only don't do anything but don't even really exist at all?" p.36
The title is a bit presumptuous; a more accurate title would be "Template Metaprogramming Stunts", since this book is primarily about tricks you can play with C++'s template mechanism.
The author does also make a go at proposing a new concept of "policy-based class design" -- by which he means using templates intead of multiple inheritance to create combinatorial mixtures of behavior. This is interesting, but seems hard to apply beyond the cliches he considers (ex: smart pointers), so his argument reads like a well-intended but parochial graduate thesis, with dutiful gestures of respect to his mentors (ex: Scot Myers) and limited range of real-world application.
The real meat of the book is his template techniques, which are ingenious -- if perverse, when seen from the standpoint of someone else trying to read and extend your code, or diagnose its arcane compiler errors. If you've ever had to work with other people on software, you may find his glib view of compiler errors disappointing. In many cases he relies on compiler errors to signal something more complex and semantic than the mere error would suggest. (If you're programmed much C++ you've surely experienced 10-line long STL template errors with a very simple underlying cause that is hard to discern from the error message. Learning to suss out what these mean is much of the sweat-work of learning C++.) I think this is simply that he's coming from the perspective that the interworkings of the language and the compiler are fascinating, and worth being a primary focus of study. But from the perspective of someone just tried to get your work done in the problem domain at hand, you may resent this attitude.
This book is best approached if you think C++ is really neat. Wheter you love C++ for its roccoco intricacy, or just see it as an evolutionary leaf node language full of botched misfeatures, you will find much here to confirm your opinion. I don't mean to belittle this book. There is real insight here: the idea of computing on types instead of values (to store the results of template-based computations) is a nifty idea. But it's worth keeping an eye on what problems you are really trying to solve, and which ones you may be creating.
Some telling quotes:
"Unfortunately, type_info's useful capabilities are packaged in a way that makes them unnecessarily hard to exploit." p.38
"For a variety of reasons, C++ is a language that leads its users sometimes to say, 'These are the smartest five lines of code I ever wrote.' Maybe it is its semantic richness or the ever-exciting (and surprising?) way its features interact." p.51Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied OverviewIn Modern C++ Design, Andrei Alexandrescu opens new vistas for C++ programmers. Displaying extraordinary creativity and virtuosity, Alexandrescu offers a cutting-edge approach to software design that unites design patterns, generic programming, and C++, enabling programmers to achieve expressive, flexible, and highly reusable code. The book introduces the concept of generic components, reusable design templates that enable an easier and more seamless transition from design to application code, generate code that better expresses the original design intention, and support the reuse of design structures with minimal recoding. The author then shows how to apply this approach to recurring, real-world issues that C++ programmers face in their day-to-day activity. All code is available on the Web, along with Alexandrescu's downloadable Loki C++ library, which provides powerful out-of-the-box functionality for virtually any C++ project. For experienced C++ programmers who have at least some familiarity with the Standard Template Library (STL).

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Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) Review

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Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) ReviewFor any open source programming tool, there are always those who are quick to point out that free online documentation is of excellent quality and that a commercially published book adds questionable value. Indeed, the open process by which open source tools are made, which reveals the why's & wherefore's of the internal workings to anyone who looks, leads directly to the production of excellent online documentation; this is one of the great strengths of open source software. But everyone's needs are different. A college student or free software volunteer often has looser deadlines, less budget, and a more perfectionist attitude than, for example, a non-expert programmer, working in industry, trying to expeditiously solve a specific problem. A book of this genre is intended mainly for the latter audience, whereas the former may be disappointed at spending $50 when a web browser could have done the job. Cash-strapped college students, I know your pain; I used to be one. This book is not a particularly cost-effective study aid. If you live and breathe GUI progamming and can type out GTK2 and wxwidget classes by heart, then this book is probably a waste of time for you.
Having said that, I review this book with a view toward its value to its intended audience: Does buying this book and using it get the job done $50 cheaper, including the value of your own professional time, compared to the best available alternative? My experience is yes.
I am an electrical engineer, but not a programming expert. I have, at various times in my career, flipped bits in assembly language, suffered the rigors of Fortran, and slapped together contraptions in Matlab, VEE, Labview, etc. I have also had the misfortune of programming production test automation in Visual Basic, because that is what commercial instruments natively support. It is the shortcomings of VB that bring me to PyQT. I need to write test code that is portable, maintainable, and reliable. To give just one example, I don't want to fly across the Pacific Ocean to program workarounds for bugs in VB, because machines in the Chinese factory run Win98, and my development system in the US runs Win2k, and VB doesn't behave the same. But this is a book review, not a place to extol the virtues of PyQT nor criticize VB.
I have programmed in Python before, though for me Python has always been a language for one-off numerical or string processing tasks, where a spreadsheet is too limited and my bash script-fu is short of the task. I found the first three chapters on Python a helpful review, though it is not a complete instruction in Python. Compete beginners to Python will probably want to buy a separate book or work through the python.org tutorials. The author glosses over things that could trip up beginners; tellingly, he uses the term 'pythonic' without introduction. He is, however, careful to point out pitfalls that can waylay real-world production code, or would be of interest to experienced Perl/Ruby/VB programmers, like how Python handles the distinctions regarding {im}mutable types and {deep|shallow} copying.
I have never programmed QT before, and this book is indeed a complete introduction to QT. You don't need to know anything about QT nor how to program in C++ (QT's native language). Being able to read C++ syntax helps, though, because this book is not a QT reference, so you will probably have to look things up in the online QT references, which are written in C++.
It is something of a truism that the best way to learn a language is to read & understand someone else's well-written code, and then use that to write a program of your own. That is the approach used here, and the printed book format permits interleaving fragments of code with explanatory material in a way that doesn't work well on a computer screen. As such the text complements rather than duplicates the online documentation.
Regarding the book as a physical object, the quality is good but some extra features would have been nice. No CD is included, which I consider an oversight for a book at this price. Even the shortest examples lack source code listings, except as snippets woven into the text. You have to download the example code from a URL buried in the introduction, which is odd considering how important the example code is to this style of instruction. Occasional sidebar topics, icons, and cross-references help to organize the material, though not to the spoon-feeding level of "For {Dummies|Idiots}" books. The index is a bit above average for a book of this type, better than pure machine-generated grep output that sometimes passes for an index these days, but not as good as the best manual indices of decades past. The cover, binding, & paper stock are of decent quality. The book will stay open to just about any page when laid on a table, and the glue looks like it will, well probably, hold the sheaves in for many years. No color is used, nor edge printing to help find the chapters, which would have been helpful for a book this long.Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development) Overview
The Insider's Best-Practice Guide to Rapid PyQt 4 GUI Development
Whether you're building GUI prototypes or full-fledged cross-platform GUI applications with native look-and-feel, PyQt 4 is your fastest, easiest, most powerful solution. Qt expert Mark Summerfield has written the definitive best-practice guide to PyQt 4 development.

With Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt you'll learn how to build efficient GUI applications that run on all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and many versions of Unix, using the same source code for all of them. Summerfield systematically introduces every core GUI development technique: from dialogs and windows to data handling; from events to printing; and more. Through the book's realistic examples you'll discover a completely new PyQt 4-based programming approach, as well as coverage of many new topics, from PyQt 4's rich text engine to advanced model/view and graphics/view programming. Every key concept is illuminated with realistic, downloadable examples—all tested on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with Python 2.5, Qt 4.2, and PyQt 4.2, and on Windows and Linux with Qt 4.3 and PyQt 4.3.

Coverge includes

Python basics for every PyQt developer: data types, data structures, control structures, classes, modules, and more

Core PyQt GUI programming techniques: dialogs, main windows, and custom file formats

Using Qt Designer to design user interfaces, and to implement and test dialogs, events, the Clipboard, and drag-and-drop

Building custom widgets: Widget Style Sheets, composite widgets, subclassing, and more

Making the most of Qt 4.2's new graphics/view architecture

Connecting to databases, executing SQL queries, and using form and table views

Advanced model/view programming: custom views, generic delegates, and more

Implementing online help, internationalizing applications, and using PyQt's networking and multithreading facilities


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Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites Review

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Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites ReviewI had been looking around for a book like this for some time now: one that guides me through the crucial conceptual design phase of web site development. Most books on web site design are really about user interface design. This book offers a top-down planning approach to getting from the recognition of a need for a web site through to the final working design. It plugs up a lot of the gaping holes that topic-specific design texts leave open.
The over-riding concern and emphasis in the first section of the book is on how to organize the information on the web site in such a way that the target audience can readily get at it. To this end, the authors focus on three 'systems' that need to be developed, implemented and coordinated on a web site: a navigation system, a labeling system and a searching system. Once these systems are thought through and designed then the rest of the work becomes a matter of filling in the information content, functionalities and the bells and whistles.
Clear, concise and even a bit humorous, this book will definitely give you a peace of mind if you find yourself a bit overwhelmed at times when deciding on just how you will approach building a web site.Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites Overview

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Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps Review

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Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps ReviewHere's why: it's not only a great guide to what makes iPhone apps successful, but what will increasingly be the way to make successful software for any platform. Josh does a fantastic job of getting the reader into the right mindset for creating successful apps.
This is an interface, big-idea, that's why that design works book, not a coding book. Nor is it a "how to market your iPhone app book". That said, the interviews alone with designers of big important iPhone apps about how they really designed those apps is worth the price many times over.
Warning: you will probably spend more on buying apps Josh uses as examples of what he is talking about than you will on the book itself - I guess the skills he developed writing his last book, "Best Iphone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders", gave him five star ability for picking great to awesome apps.
Also, while I almost never buy anymore actual paper books, this one is worth it - the color, gloss stock, painstaking layout and content structure would not be done justice as a .pdf.
I could write a longer review, but I'd rather go back to reading, re-reading, mulling and thinking about the what Josh covered in this book. Can't wait for the iPad book!Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps Overview
So you've got an idea for an iPhone app -- along with everyone else on the planet. Set your app apart with elegant design, efficient usability, and a healthy dose of personality. This accessible, well-written guide shows you how to design exceptional user experiences for the iPhone and iPod Touch through practical principles and a rich collection of visual examples.

Whether you're a designer, programmer, manager, or marketer, Tapworthy teaches you to "think iPhone" and helps you ask the right questions -- and get the right answers -- throughout the design process. You'll explore how considerations of design, psychology, culture, ergonomics, and usability combine to create a tapworthy app. Along the way, you'll get behind-the-scenes insights from the designers of apps like Facebook, USA Today, Twitterrific, and many others.

Develop your ideas from initial concept to finished design
Build an effortless user experience that rewards every tap
Explore the secrets of designing for touch
Discover how and why people really use iPhone apps
Learn to use iPhone controls the Apple way
Create your own personality-packed visuals
Ten Tips for Crafting Your App's Visual Identity
Choose a personality. Don't let your app's personality emerge by accident. Before you start designing, choose a personality for your app. The right personality for the right audience and features makes an app irresistible and creates a bonafide emotional connection. Tapworthy designs have the power to charm and beguile.
Voices (left) has a Vaudeville personality appropriate to a funny-voices novelty app. iShots Irish Edition (right) creates a gritty dive-bar ambience for its collection of drink recipes.

Favor standard controls. Because they're commonplace, the standard set of controls is sometimes dismissed as visually dull. Not so fast: commonplace means familiarity and ease for your audience. Conventions are critical to instant and effortless communication. Before creating a brand new interface metaphor or inventing your own custom controls, ask whether it might be done better with the built-in gadgetry.
A coat of paint. Standard controls don't have to be dreary. Use custom colors and graphics to give them a fresh identity. This technique requires a light touch, however; don't distract from the content itself or drain the meaning from otherwise familiar controls.
Wine Steward uses standard lists (known as table views in iOS) but creates a vintage ambience by draping a backdrop image across the screen. The app adds a parchment graphic to the background of each table cell, making each entry appear to be written on an aged wine label. The burgundy-tinted navigation bar maintains the app's wine flavor.

' You stay classy. Luxurious textures applied with taste increase your app's perceived value.
' Keep it real. Realistic lighting effects and colors create elements that invite touch and create an emotional attachment. They also provide subtle guidance about what your audience can interact with.
' Borrow interface metaphors from the physical world. Lean on users' real-world experience to create intuitive experiences. People will try anything on a touchscreen, for example, that they'd logically try on a physical object or with a mouse-driven cursor. Besides these practical benefits, using an everyday object as an interface metaphor imbues an app with the same associations that folks might have with the real McCoy--a shelf of books, a retro alarm clock, a much-used chessboard, a toy robot.
' Don't be afraid to take risks. Make sure your interfaces are intuitive, sure, but don't be afraid to try something completely new and different. Designers and developers are hatching fresh iPhone magic every day, and there's still much to explore and invent. While you should look hard at whether you might accomplish what you need to do with standard controls, it's also worth asking, Am I going far enough?
The app icon is your business card. The icon carries disproportionate weight in the marketing of your app, and it's important to give it disproportionate design attention, too. Be descriptive more than artistic. Make your app icon a literal description of your app's function, interface, name, or brand.
Use a dull launch image. Disguise your app's launch image as the app background for a faster perceived launch. Always cultivate the illusion of suspended animation when switching in and out of your app.
Be kind to new users. Provide simple welcome-mat pointers for first-timers. Beware of more complex help screens; they're warning signs of an overcomplicated interface.

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Computers as Components: Principles of Embedded Computing Systems Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) Review

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Computers as Components: Principles of Embedded Computing Systems Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) ReviewThis book was used as a text book at a graduate level class in embedded design at University of St Thomas, Minnesota. I am also a professional embedded engineer (both hardware and software). What this book does the best is to provide a framework for embedded design. There are various examples in the text on the embedded design process via the requirements/specifications/hardware architecture/software architecture/component design/test process.
This has definitely impacted both my understand on a theoretical level as well as my design process at work.
Highly recommended!Computers as Components: Principles of Embedded Computing Systems Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) Overview
The vast majority of existing computers are embedded in the myriad of intelligent devices and applications-not in desktop machines. We are witnessing the emergence of a new discipline with its own principles, constraints, and design processes.
Computers as Components is the first book to teach this new discipline. It unravels the complexity of these systems and the tools and methods necessary for designing them. Researchers, students, and savvy professionals, schooled in hardware or software, will value the integrated engineering design approach to this fast emerging field. * Demonstrates concepts and techniques using two powerful real-world processors as case studies throughout the book: the ARM processor and the SHARC DSP (digital signal processor).* Illustrates the major concepts of each chapter with real-world design examples such as software modems, telephone answering machines, and video accelerators.* Teaches the basics of UML (Unified Modeling Language) and applies it throughout the text to help you visualize stages in the design process.* Illustrates real-time operating systems using the POSIX real-time extensions and Linux.* Describes performance analysis and optimization of embedded software, including the effects of caches.* Includes two CD-ROMs with evaluation software: One contains the ARM Developer Suite; the other contains VisualDSP for the SHARC DSP family of processors.

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Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data Review

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Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data ReviewAfter reading this book I have the following positive points to make:
.. It is very well designed, it is nice to look at it.
.. Has some good ideas (but they are not original ones).
.. In general, following its advice you will be able to do a better design of dashboards and management information systems screens.
If I counted only this I would give it 5 stars, but, I think this book has some negative points. One of the points makes the author inconsistent with his own recommendations throughout the book.
The book is about designing dashboards and the major line of thought is:
- keep it simple, clean and objective.
- Use the tools (graphics and tables) in a rational way.
- don't use all the fancy features that software vendors put in their products for they will make your dashboard less effective.
But the author when writing it, forgot part of his own teachings and produced a text that is very prolixic, too many words to explain simple concepts and ideas. Lacks objectivity.
So, if you want to better understand the use of graphs, take a look at Naomi Robbins, "Creating More Effective Graphs". This book is very objective, simple and fast to read.

The second flaw is that in the examples to show how to do a well designed dashboard, the author used two types of graphs that are not available in today's softwares. One type of graph was created by the author while writing this book (bullet graphs) and the other (sparkline) is the creation of Mr.Tufte, which will appear in a future book of his. It would be more useful to see examples with the typical tools available to design a dashboard.So, be prepared for a nice experience with pictures and graphs in a sea of words. It is an excellent book that will help design dashboards and the like. (So far is the best book on this topic).
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data OverviewDashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.
This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. Information Dashboard Design will explain how to:

Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design
Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly
Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information
Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion
Organize business information to support meaning and usability
Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience
Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation
Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. As Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, speaks frequently at conferences, and teaches in the MBA program at the University of California in Berkeley. He is also the author of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten.


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The Business Analyst's Handbook Review

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The Business Analyst's Handbook ReviewThis book has solid reference material that experienced Business Analysts can utilize on virtually any assignment. This is not the best book for a new Business Analyst and is really geared towards a practitioner that understands their craft and appreciates additional guidance. Coverage of techniques and models is very comprehensive.The Business Analyst's Handbook OverviewThe Business Analyst (BA) plays an important role as liaison between business stakeholders and the technical team (software developers, vendors, etc.), ensuring that business needs are reflected in any software solution. Despite the importance of the job, there is currently no book specifically designed as a comprehensive reference manual for the working BA. The Business Analyst's Handbook solves this problem by providing a useful compendium of tools, tables, lists, and templates that BAs can use on-the-job to carry out their tasks. For example, you might be preparing for an interview session and use the book's checklist of interviewees to verify whether there is appropriate coverage of business stakeholders. Or you might be asked to review some diagrams and refer to the Glossaries of Symbols (organized by diagram type) for guidance. Or you may be asked to prepare textual requirements documentation and refer to the Business Requirement template for a list of artifacts and table of contents. Whatever your BA needs, the Business Analyst's Handbook places the necessary information right at your fingertips.

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Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide (2nd Edition) Review

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Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide (2nd Edition) ReviewI found this book almost PERFECT for my needs. Short, concise, and focused on the exam. The sample questions were also very reflective of the exam. If you pass the sample questions, you are probably ready for the exam. With what you learn from the sample questions, content as well as question style, you should actually do a bit better on the exam. That was my experience- about 75% on the book questions, 87% (42/48) on the exam, with no extra study after my initial reading.
And considering the purpose of architect certification is to certify someone with 5+ years experience and deep understanding of design and architectural issues, then a more detailed book would be a thick painful experience. Also, a more detailed book would commit the authors to exposing more of the exam content, and devalue it as a fair measure of an architect. The fact that it requires a wide professional background with some core reading is excellent. If you struggle with the exam, enjoy the honest feedback! You have more reading to do, and experience to gain.
With sufficient experience in Java, UML, design patterns, security, general IT and web knowledge, and basic architectural principles, the book more than suffices. Basic EJB knowledge is sufficient since the book doesn't expect a programmer's knowledge of APIs and such.
If you are new to architecture, my recommendations are similar to another reviewers:
UML Distilled, Martin Fowler
Design Patterns, Gamma et al
Mastering Enterprise Java Beans, Roman, Amber, Jewell
EJB Design Patterns, Floyd Marinescu
And if you don't know enough about design patterns and UML to pass those chapters before even reading the chapters, you may be taking the exam a bit prematurely.
I will agree with one statement- the book lacks chapters on some of the objectives. But, considering that they might be considered fair prerequisites for someone qualified to take the exam, I'm not complaining. Though, in looking over my exam results, most of my wrong answers were from the sections without corresponding chapters...common architectures, legacy connectivity, messaging :(. I think my proclivity for screen-scraping did me in.
All-in-all, a masterful book and exam.Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide (2nd Edition) OverviewDefinitive, Comprehensive SCEA Exam Prep–Straight from Sun's Exam Developers!This book delivers complete, focused review for Sun's new Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA) for Java EE certification exam–straight from two of the exam's creators! SCEA lead developer/assessor Mark Cade and SCEA lead developer/assessor Humphrey Sheil offer powerful insights, real-world architectural case studies, and challenging sample questions that systematically prepare you for the actual exam. For every question, the authors show why the right answers are right–and why the other answers are wrong. Cade and Sheil cover every SCEA exam topic, skill, and technique, including:Understanding system architecture and its goals

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Systems Analysis and Design (Shelly Cashman) Review

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Systems Analysis and Design (Shelly Cashman) ReviewThere are few things I can say after reading this book pretty much from cover to cover:
- Nowadays there are lots of critics of structured SAD, so if you're happen to be one of them, I am pretty sure you will not give this text a good grade. While it does cover Object-Oriented SAD, it is not build upon it. This text (as it seems to me) is revolves around structured SAD using SDLC.
- I liked this text because it has LOTS of colorful diagrams, screen-shots, and charts. This gives a text more alive presentation and makes it more fun to read, even though you're getting lost in terms and abbreviation.
- The text has plenty of abbreviations because SAD process integrates all system components. You can imagine how much data that is, especially considering the fact of collecting that data and organizing it.
- I thing this text by itself will not make you an system analyst. You will need to read more, but it serves well as an introduction to SAD.
The obvious negative thing - these editions that coming up new each year are costly for students, but this is a issue of all comp. textbooks, not just this.Brief contents:
-ch 1. Introduction to Systems Analysis and Design
PHASE 1: SYSTEM PLANNING
-ch 2. Analyzing the business case
PHASE 2: SYSTEM ANALYSIS
-ch 3. Requirements modeling
-ch 4. Data and process modeling
-ch 5. Object modeling
-ch 6. Development strategies
PHASE 3: SYSTEM DESIGN
-ch 7. Output and user interface design
-ch 8. Data Design
-ch 9. System architecture
PHASE 4: Systems implementation
-ch10. Systems implementation
PHASE 5: SYSTEMS OPERATION, SUPPORT, AND SECURITY
-ch11. Systems operation, support and security
THE SYSTEM ANALYST'S TOOLKIT
Toolkit 1: Communication tools
Toolkit 2: CASE Tools
Toolkit 3: Financial Analysis Tools
Toolkit 4: Project Management Tools
Toolkit 5: Internet Resource Tools
Systems Analysis and Design (Shelly Cashman) OverviewBuilding on the proven pedagogy of its predecessors, with an increased focus on object modeling and project management, Systems Analysis and Design, Seventh Edition presents a clear introduction to systems analysis and design. Students will find concepts easy-to-understand through the clear writing style and full-color figures that illustrate current technology and trends. Examples and cases are drawn from actual systems projects that enable students to learn in the context of solving problems, much like the ones they will encounter on the job. This approach, combined with motivating tools such as the SCR Associates interactive Web-Based Case Study, Systems Analyst's Toolkit, the Student Study Tool on CD-ROM, and more, makes Systems Analysis and Design, Seventh Edition a wise and exciting choice for your introductory systems analysis and design class.

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

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Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition ReviewPresents 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.Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition Overview
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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Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect Review

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Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect ReviewEnough said.
This and Effective Java by Bloch are the two books every Java programmer should have read. It will change the way you program and you'll be grateful for the change. The examples in this book are in Java but that's because they had to be in some language; I don't think any part of this book is specific to Java. If your code is consumed by other people, or even a future self, then this book will help you think through issues you may not have know you have. It did me.
In my opinion, this is those one of those once in a decade books that changes the game for anyone who reads it.
A totally mature, non-didactic work written by someone with that perfect combination of real-world experience, a high intellect, a no BS attitude, and humility.
This book is like getting a magical time telescope- you can see what the decisions you are making in your coding today will actually lead to in the future and what the inescapable consequences will be for you.
Actually, reading this book is a little like being put into the role of Scrooge being visited by the three ghosts of Christmas. You get to see what's going to happen to you because of your past and present actions before it happens. At it's heart it's a longitudinal study of how code is first consumed, abused and misused by other programmers and how those abuses become dependencies which determine what YOU, the code's author can and cannot do in future releases.
In a very small nutshell- totally innocent innocuous, completely legal and even recommended programming practices which you apply every day in your code can and will completely shut down any chance for your code to evolve in any rational way going forward in future releases. Why? Because you can't see the potential consequences of consumers of your code doing something you never thought they might do in ways you never meant for them to do it.
But here's a guy who did do those things and lived to pay the price.
For example, if you think that using interfaces (in Java) is usually the best way to program, then you might have a nasty surprise coming at you when other people (damn them!) actually start to program against your code.
When the book's over, you might be as happy as Scrooge that there's still time to change things before it's too late.
Like Bloch's Effective Java, the lessons in this book are so important that they're destined to become diffused throughout the general programming culture and become known to people who haven't even heard of the book. But can you wait until all that filters down to you through osmosis?
Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect OverviewThe definitive guide to API design, this book will be required reading for all designers and engineers involved with the development, testing, and maintenance of APIs.

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Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer Review

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Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer ReviewThis is the book that should have been included with Adobe LiveCycle Designer! It takes you step-by-step through the process of designing a and creating an interactive form and explains how to add scripts using both Adobe's Form Calc and JavaScript. First it goes through an overview of the software interface and explains the differences between different form types. Chapter 2 provides a discussion of basic design concepts and considerations for making forms readable and user-friendly. Don't skip that chapter - there's lots of great suggestions there! Next the book shows you how to create a form and incorporate all the built-in objects and tools like fill-in fields, menus, and buttons. There's also a section explaining master pages, body pages and most importantly sub-forms which are the real key to getting the most out of the software. Chapter 4 has all the basics for adding functionality with JavaScript and Form Calc. The explanation here is very straightforward and easy to follow, especially for a non-computer person like me. There are tons of examples in the text and Mr. Terry has provided a link to download all the forms he created and discusses, including several examples linked to xml data files that you can use as a starting place to make your own. In chapter 5, he shows you how to use the forms to enter and collect data, including very understandable examples of what should happen when you take various actions. Finally, the last chapter provides sample scripts for common tasks and explains how and why they work. Use this book as a workbook - go through the examples and sample files and you will be well on your way to creating very useful and functional forms. I tried using the tutorials that came with the software, but felt like I had only scratched the surface of knowing how to use LiveCycle Designer. This book filled an essential gap in my knowledge. I find a lot of computer books virtually incomprehensible, but Mr. Terry's writing style makes this book very easy to read and use. Never thought I could get excited about making a form, but the software is really pretty cool and this book helped me find that out. Highly recommended!!!Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer OverviewAdobe LiveCycle Designer is the form creation tool that comes bundled with Adobe Acrobat Professional. This is the first and only book that explains how to use Designer to create interactive and dynamic forms. The book was written in tandem with the Adobe LiveCycle development team and it has been thoroughly reviewed by over a dozen Adobe engineers. This book is accessible enough for a beginner but rich enough for an experienced user. It covers all of the major topics and includes valuable links to other LiveCycle Designer documentation and resources.

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Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment Review

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Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment ReviewThis book allowed me to quickly create some simple applications using the processing API. So, in that respect, the book was successful. However, the book falls short in three respects.
1) One would expect a book with the title "Visualizing Data" to be crammed with pictures showing many different data visualizations. However, this book has relatively few. Every colleague of mine who passed by my desk and picked up the book had the exact same reaction.
2) The processing language is touted as a means for people unfamiliar with programming to get up to speed with visualization. However, I would be very surprised if anyone with little programming experience would get much out of this book.
3) Don't expect to use this book as a reference for the processing language. It is basically just a collection of half explained examples. Consider for example the function smooth(). This function appears in almost every example but forget about trying to find an explanation of what the function does in the book.
The book is probably worth buying to get up to speed quickly but plan on spending a significant amount of time sifting through the processing.org website and other online resources before being able to get anything non-trivial done. And if you don't already know Java then don't expect to accomplish anything even modestly complex without a lot of outside help.
Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment Overview
Enormous quantities of data go unused or underused today, simply because people can't visualize the quantities and relationships in it. Using a downloadable programming environment developed by the author, Visualizing Data demonstrates methods for representing data accurately on the Web and elsewhere, complete with user interaction, animation, and more. How do the 3.1 billion A, C, G and T letters of the human genome compare to those of a chimp or a mouse? What do the paths that millions of visitors take through a web site look like? With Visualizing Data, you learn how to answer complex questions like these with thoroughly interactive displays. We're not talking about cookie-cutter charts and graphs. This book teaches you how to design entire interfaces around large, complex data sets with the help of a powerful new design and prototyping tool called "Processing". Used by many researchers and companies to convey specific data in a clear and understandable manner, the Processing beta is available free. With this tool and Visualizing Data as a guide, you'll learn basic visualization principles, how to choose the right kind of display for your purposes, and how to provide interactive features that will bring users to your site over and over. This book teaches you:

The seven stages of visualizing data -- acquire, parse, filter, mine, represent, refine, and interact
How all data problems begin with a question and end with a narrative construct that provides a clear answer without extraneous details
Several example projects with the code to make them work
Positive and negative points of each representation discussed. The focus is on customization so that each one best suits what you want to convey about your data set
The book does not provide ready-made "visualizations" that can be plugged into any data set. Instead, with chapters divided by types of data rather than types of display, you'll learn how each visualization conveys the unique properties of the data it represents -- why the data was collected, what's interesting about it, and what stories it can tell. Visualizing Data teaches you how to answer questions, not simply display information.

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Threads Primer: A Guide to Multithreaded Programming Review

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Threads Primer: A Guide to Multithreaded Programming ReviewThis was an excellent book with detailed coverage of threads programming even down to how various hardware architectures affect multithreaded program behavior. However there is a more current edition under a different name (Multithreaded Programming with Pthreads) by the same authors that is more current that I would recommend instead (everything in this book is in the newer book).Threads Primer: A Guide to Multithreaded Programming OverviewFor programmers, system architects, and technical programmer managers.Providing an overview of the Solaris and POSIX multithreading architectures, this book explains threads at a level that is completely accessible to programmers and system architects with no previous knowledge of threads. Covers the business and technical benefits of threaded programs, along with discussions of third party software that is threaded, pointing out the benefits.

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HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS Review

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HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS ReviewThis book is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of every CSS nuance, but it presents all the main areas in a very clear, but not dumbed-down manner. Basically it answered my three questions:
1. I wanted to re-write an older web site using CSS and modern HTML web stds, so where do I start?
2. What is my best approach?
3. Why would I want to do it that way?
So along the way it clarified for me how I should use divs for page structure, improve my navigation lists, specify font size in the best manner, and most of all how to use css in a structured way with minimal rewriting of styles etc for subtle changes in page requirements.
The book is probably most useful if you want to follow his emphasis and use XHTML Strict with CSS.
Very nicely written, very cleanly laid out. The associated website is useful, but the book stands alone as a very useful reference or starter for someone wanting to design their pages in an effective standards-based way.HTML Dog: The Best-Practice Guide to XHTML and CSS OverviewFor readers who want to design Web pages thatload quickly, are easy to update, accessible to all, work on allbrowsers and can be quickly adapted to different media, thiscomprehensive guide represents the best way to go about it. By focusingon the ways the two languages--XHTML and CSS--complement each other,Web design pro Patrick Griffiths provides the fastest,most efficient way of accomplishing specific Web design tasks. With Webstandards best practices at its heart, it outlines how to do things theright way from the outset, resulting in highly optimized web pages, ina quicker, easier, less painful way than users could hope for! Splitinto 10 easy-to-follow chapters such as Text, Images, Layout, Lists,and Forms, and coupled with handy quick-reference XHTML tag and CSSproperty appendixes, HTML Dog is the perfect guide andcompanion for anyone wanting to master these languages. Readers canalso see the lessons in action with more than 70 online examplesconstructed especially for the book.


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