If you're a webmaster, designer, or manager, The 7 Keys to Effective Web Sites just might open the door to improving your Web site.
Be forewarned, however, that the title of this book is somewhat misleading. Rather than focus on procedures for designing Web sites, the authors provide seven goals that should be sought in site creation. Each goal, or key, begins with the words "A site must", and the "musts" range from "be current and timely" to "have intuitive on-page navigation".
How to achieve these laudable ambitions? The book features sites held up as superb examples of each goal. For example, the chapter on achieving "current and timely" Web sites includes the URL for and description of the IRS's "Digital Daily" site, USA Today, and ESPNet SportsZone. Technical tips also are provided for each goal. In addition, the book contains a section on "new and emerging Web features," such as RealAudio and user migration assumptions.
The appendices include a guide to Web sites, as well as colorful illustrations of some good examples of each of the seven keys.
The authors of Graphics and Web Page Design don't stint when it comes to task-oriented documentation.
This book is packed with procedures that focus on getting you started with designing Web pages with pizazz. As more and more applications for spicing up your sites come onto the market, it's getting more difficult to compete for netsurfers' attention. The solution, of course, is "exciting, effective, award-winning Web pages" * but how? Well, the authors hope that if you seek that goal, you'll find the answer in their book.
You'll learn what the guide terms "survival skills." From how to make engraved, 3-D, and metallic text to creating icons, portable documents, and digital videos, this workshop has it all. In addition, you get a CD filled with a variety of software (Acrobat Reader, CoolEdit for Windows, Shockwave) and textures, backgrounds, buttons, and controls in Photoshop 3 TIFF format.
For those to whom the Internet is essential to their livelihood and well being (i.e., anyone in the computer industry), Using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 is an extremely valuable resource, as is its parallel Netscape Navigator book (see review below).
These hefty books (each more than 800 pages, plus CD-ROMs) cover everything from loading and configuring the browsers to using VRML and JavaScript.
The CD-ROM for Internet Explorer is as packed full of goodies as a successful trick-or-treat bag. There's source code (examples from the book), plug-ins (ranging from Acrobat to VDOLive), e-mail and newsreaders, and numerous tools (audio, multimedia, video/image, HTML, Java, VRML). Plus, you get electronic versions of three books, one on using HTML and two focusing on Java.
If you're a more experienced user, you'll want to skip the "Internet Fundamentals" section. From that section on, however, both intermediate and advanced users will find useful information. You'll learn about helper applications, configuring for sound, graphics, and video, and more. And webmasters alert: the sections on "Building World-Class Web Pages for Internet Explorer" and "Building World-Class Web Sites and Servers for Internet Explorer" should provide you with enough details to win awards.
Using Netscape 3 is similar to Using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 in that it provides a CD-ROM full of plug-ins, HTML editors and utilities, and other tools. You also get the same three books (see review above).
In addition, the chapters for novice users are alike in both books. The Netscape volume, however, contains some different plug-ins and helper applications, and includes sections on CoolTalk and Power Pack 2.0. In general, however, the material covered is the same, with only the software differing.
You'll learn how to create "World Class" home pages, Web sites, and servers for Netscape, too. Plus, you get advanced customization information. So, which book should you get? These days, it's not safe to assume that users have one browser rather than another. So, to play it safe, particularly if you're a webmaster, you'd probably be wise to invest in both.
The "safari" described in Dr. Livingstone's Online Shopping Safari Guidebook takes you into the Web's tangle of shopping offers. From purchasing a Pontiac to buying perfume and Prozac, the online opportunities for giving into shopping madness are endless. The questions most would-be buyers ask, however, are two-fold: First, how do I find the items I want? After all, if you're going to try to be efficient and buy something online, you don't want to end up wasting more time hunting for a site than you would for a parking space at the mall. And second, where can I get the best deal for my dollars?
This guidebook aims at answering these conundrums. Fiore, aided by the brilliant Dr. Livingstone, invites you into the wilds of the Web and reveals the secret of finding what you want quickly, for the best prices.
"It's a Jungle Out There!" is the title of one chapter, but the author soothes your fears on such key issues as service and security. Novices will benefit from information on such basics as online services. But all wannabe online consumers will happily follow Dr. Livingstone as he helps you to bargain hunt in the "jungle". You'll also enjoy plunging into the good doctor's online shopping yellow pages. This section gives URLs for buying "chic underwear", gifts for your pets, self-management tapes for children, diamonds, the "original Burp gum", and more.
Before you buy, invest some time in the "secret scouting reports". These reports describe selected online shopping sites. The best receive the rating "Jungle Jewels".
Users within the United States also get an Internet access kit for Windows with the book, offering 30 days of unlimited access for $5.00. And all users get the secret password to Dr. Livingstone's Web site, which includes online shopping updates.