Computing Internet Books

This book is amazing. If you think you knew everything or are in an analysis slump, just flip through this book and you'll find something new to analyze.

I have used Web Side Story...moved to Omniture....also work with Google Analytics.....This book does a good job of getting away from the mountains of data, to provide a clear cut "THINK ABOUT WHAT THE ANALYTICS MEAN" on a business basis- definitely worth the time investment.

I can consider myself as pretty noobish in the field of web analytics. I know SEO and usability, but web analytics has always been just looking at the number of visitors and pageviews. Until I received this book, because this book is a real eye-opener for the new comers to web analytics. It totally change your way of thinking about what web analytics is and how you can pull the best out of it.

I can't wait to finish it, which costs a lot of time by the way.

And students, you can consider this as a good step up to web analytics with theory plus hands on stuff. Like a real school book you learn everything you need from what to why. More than 400 pages long.

P.S. There is also a cd included with some nice stuff like a presentation from the writer, pdf and mp3 files with valuable information.

If you find yourself stumped with how to improve your website, or don't know where to begin with looking at web statistics, this book has everything. It begins with going through the foundation of what web analysis really is and definitions and explanations of different metrics and how they can be useful. He then goes into detail with different metrics such as bounce rate, segmentation, and some things you probably never considered. It steps you through knowing what analytics tool to use and how to implement it. It has wonderful examples and sample reports that you can tailor to your own company.

This book is very actionable. I can only speak from a beginner's perspective, but this book is easy to follow and has golden nuggets that even experienced web statisticians can take another look at. The highest recommendation possible from me. I will be waiting for another of Avinash's books.

If you buy 'Web Analytics ...' looking for some guidance, or even a few ideas, as to analysis of your internet marketing/sales endeavors, you will be disappointed. This book is about data collection ... nothing more.

To Avinash Kaushik's credit he appears thorough. I did appreciate his flagging the limitations of data collected by the various methods. On the downside the book is repetitive and could have been better ordered. The '... Hour a Day' is appropriate, as that is about all a reader can risk in one sitting. The text makes an arduous read. If better structured, this book could have been half its length.

If I learned one thing, it is this. I'll architect my approach to web analysis, define the data I need, and then recruit an IT type to build the process to collect the data. Having read the book, I now know what data there can be. For this I'm grateful to the author.

I have to say when I ordered this book I expected it to talk mostly about short-term campaign related landing pages. In fact it's a lot more than that. It talks about a landing page as any page on a site where a given visitor could start interaction with a website.

The first few chapters might need to be skipped if you know the basic of marketing and don't need to be reminded of the all important customer acquisition, conversion and retention concepts.

This is a comprehensive book that details the theory and practice of improving a website to convert more visitors into actors, no matter what the size of your site is.

Optimising landing pages involves as much trial and error as it does using proven methods as the ones in this book. This book will be a great starting point for a lot of people, but it is very hard for a single book to teach you everything you can do to optimise your unique website. It is your deep knowledge of your product and your customers that will help you the most.

I highly recommend this book for web marketing novices, somewhat experts AND for experts. Everyone will get something out of it.

I am owner of unoptimized website and I found this book to be invaluable. My website was not performing as it should, but I didn't know how to correct the problems. Landing Page Optimization showed me why my website sucked and what to do about it.

If you own a website and you are paying for clicks, you had better read this book, because if your site is not optimized, you are losing money and lots of it.

I write a lot of landing pages for my clients, so I was excited to see this book. However, much of it is standard marketing advice you could find in many sources. The author loosely defines "landing page" as the page where the visitor enters your site (as opposed to a page that's specifically designed to transition from a promotional offer to the main site) so it really is a book about web marketing in general.

A lot of space is devoted to short summaries of related subjects (the Meyer-Briggs personality types, various statistical analysis techniques etc) which the reader is either going to be familiar with or, if not, would do well to learn about in more complete discussions elsewhere. An important subject to me (actually, the reason I bought the book) is personalization on landing pages but that gets just ½ a page. There are good case histories but the book needs far, far more of them.

If you're just starting out in web marketing this book might be a good primer (hence the 3 stars). Otherwise you'd be better off to read the MarketingSherpa case studies along with Jakob Nielsen's writings on web usability.

As a small business owner reading a book about Landing Page Optimization I thought it would be more than I could handle. After just a few chapters I got the hang of what he was talking about. Its a tough subject that would over shadow many web designers, but I think it is a valuable subject once you have a website operational. Thanks Tim for you research and hard work.

[...]

It is a great book, with lots of important information.
It may helps the web guys to improve their business perception and may help the business people to develop their web technology perception.
A very good mix of information very oriented to customer aquisition and retention.

Upgrade Your Life is a great book. I've followed the blog for several years, but it's nice to have an analog version when you want to practice the best techniques available.

Recommended for information or technology workers who need to get more productive to survive and/or avoid insanity.

I suspect most people will find some useful tips in this book. As always, they are only useful if you actually do them. But many are fairly simple to implement which helps! And the book is written so you can go immediately to those areas of most interest to you, if you like.

I remember reading the first edition of Gina Trapani's Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better and thinking how wonderful it was. Of course, when the second edition came out, I had to get that one too. And as with the first one, I have all sorts of post-it notes scattered throughout the book for reference and "go back and try this" notes. Well worth the time and money you spend here.

Contents:
Control Your Email; Organize Your Data; Trick Yourself into Getting Done; Clear Your Mind; Firewall Your Attention; Streamline Common Tasks; Automate Repetitive Tasks; Get Your Data To Go; Master The Web; Hone Your Computer Survival Skills; Manage Multiple Computers; Index

Over the span of the chapters above, Trapani presents 116 different "hacks" that you can incorporate into your daily computer life to, well... work smarter, faster, and better. As with most books that are a compilation of different tips, some will resonate strongly with your current needs, while others are skimming material that may not be relevant. For instance, the hacks in the first chapter, Organize Your Data, hit home. I'm working towards consolidating multiple email addresses with Gmail, and I'm cutting down the number of folders I have, relying on search to find what I need. Master The Web also had some cool tricks, like having multiple home pages in Firefox and using Google Notebook for web clippings. I wasn't quite into the Managing Multiple Computers as much, as my current setup doesn't call for that. Still, it's good information to have around should you need it at a later time.

I actually found a couple different things occurring as I read through the material. There were hacks where some software was presented that did a certain task, and I'd realize I've been looking for something just like that. Similar to scratching an itch that you couldn't quite reach. Then there were the hacks that opened your eyes to whole areas you didn't even know you needed. Let's call that finding AND scratching the itch you didn't know you had five minutes prior. After going through some of the Automate Repetitive Tasks hacks, I have started to look at a lot of things I do with a view towards eliminating the manual repetitive effort that I just accepted as necessary before.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who spends most of their waking hours in front of a computer, and/or earn their living in front of one. Taking away even a small handful of nuggets can radically change the way you do things.

This is a collection of hints, tips and hacks for the technologically inclined. Areas covered are email, organizing your data, tricks to overcome your procrastination, clearing your mind, focusing your attention, streamlining common tasks, mastering the web, honing your computer survival skills and managing multiple computers.

Not at all ironically, the people for whom this book will be most useful - real geeks - will already know some, not all, of these things. I am most definitely a geek, but I did learn many new things and happy for that.

In some ways, the book will a half-loaf for many. There's a lot of Macintosh stuff that will not be helpful to Windows users and vice-versa. There's Windows Vista material that will not be useful to those (most of us, perhaps?) who are sticking with Windows XP. But this is not a major problem: the book has so much good stuff in it, that there is plenty for everyone.

Trapani's writing style is wonderfully clear, direct and concise.

Overall, other than calling it useful, versatile, eclectic and well-done, this book is difficult to classify. It merges real life (remembering to pick up the milk) with the technical (setting up a VPN) and lots, lots more. It is definitely a fun book to browse, packed with lots of great information.

A very worthwhile addition to your library.

Jerry

I'm not the most disorganized person on the planet, but I'm not the most organized either. I found the book to be a good reference and helpful in getting things organized. The chapter on e-mails - first chapter - actually worked. I feel my inbox is managed well. 200 new messages a day (that's not as much as some folks!) and I'm breezing through them without backlog. On the down side, I found a few tips a little too "organized" for my taste. I'm more about simple effective solutions and this book provides quite a few. It's well worth the investment.

The Missing Handbook is a great help in navigating the many complexities of Vista. It is written well and has an excellent index.

I purchased this book for a friend and he told me that it was very helpful

This is a great reference book. They're right, it should have been in the box. A must have to save time figuring out the little quirks Vista has. Very easy read.

This book gives you all of the answers you need for all levels of computer users. Excellent inforamtion and easy to read. Also amusing and light, now like a test book.

My review is simply a 5 star rating. It more than did the job. thanks Richard A G.

I first became interested Learning ActionScript 3 after initially reading a few samples posted on Adobe's website. What I found was an excellent starting point that drove me to finally make the jump from ActionScript 1 and 2. In practice, most books I have read about ActionScript 3 focus on the Flex platform, which is outside of what I'm looking for. Rather, I needed something that focused on developing in the Flash IDE (Flash CS3 as of this review), which is exactly what this book is written for.

I picked it up as supplement material to aid me in programming a large game programming project. Basically, I've referenced this book to understand the key concepts needed for my game, borrowing code samples where needed and applying them to my own project. In practice, it's the application here that really teaches the concept, and I've found that this book is a great starting point as well as reference for grasping these concepts.

The authors have done a great job presenting the material in an easily-readable casual conversation style. Of these discussions, I particularly found their comparisons to the previous versions of the language most satisfying. As AS3 is very different from AS1/2, I appreciate learning what was changed and why.

I can not vouch for the beginner's guide level for this book. I came into this book as an intermediate ActionScript programmer and often found myself skimming over any discussion on the details of some of the programs. For the most part, the code is easy enough to read and get the point, and if I had questions, these were almost always addressed in the discussion. That said, I think this book is ideal for any intermediate programmer looking to make the jump to AS3.

I am aware that there are some errata in this book, and to that extent, I can simply comment that the website is well maintained, code samples there seem accurate. No problems here.

All in all, I would highly recommend Learning ActionScript 3 as a great companion book for anyone looking to get started programming with ActionScript 3.

If you're new to programming in general, as another reviewer said, "Look elsewhere."

But if you've got a little knowledge of javascript, C++, or even FORTRAN (yikes!), feel free to grab this book and jump in.

I'm in agreement with Lou Costello, regarding the drawbacks of this book. However, there are a lot of good things, too, like great examples and, as noted, the companion website.

If you can get around a pageful of code fairly well, are geek enough to enjoy debugging a few minor typos in the text, and if you're a fairly speedy typist, BUY THIS BOOK! Sit down with it and hammer out a few programs. The code examples are short and clearly demonstrate the concepts being discussed. And they will provide a TON of great ideas for your own projects. If you don't want to type the code examples yourself, download them from the website.

"A Beginner's Guide"? Naw, not really for beginning programmers.
A worthwhile purchase for anyone undaunted by code? Definitely YES.

A "beginner's guide" will disappoint you if you are completely new to learning ActionScript 3.0. I am sure it is a great book, but not enough for a beginner to grasp the fundamentals. Too sad I read this confession only after I was going through the first chapter.

The book seems to be OK with one MAJOR PROBLEM. This book is trying to teach a person actionscripting with code examples that have errors in them. This make the learning process harder because when you write the code from the book and it doesn't work it is hard to find figure out where the code went wrong. A note to the authors there is a simple way to check the code before you put it in the book Flash has a TEST MOVIE ability. There is a website that has the correct code in it. This makes figuring out where the code breaks down difficult. I'm just a beginner it would be nice to just look for my errors not both. I've been fixing the code errors in the book with a red pencil, most of the code examples I've been through have little red notes added

I'm a beginner to Flash but not to scripting, programming and graphical applications in general. If you're looking for a true beginners book skip this one. The book states right on the cover that its aimed at "those new to ActionScript, visual learners" Well I've programmed in many languages, and am fluent in all kinds of applications and this book is definitely NOT targeted at a non-programmer or a beginner.

The book immediately jumps to jargon frequently asking the reader to ignore the jargon as it will be explained later. For example the initial chapters are laced with descriptions of "class" but the actual discussion of class does not occur until chapter six. That's a long time to go trying to read pages of class discussion with no clear definition.

The book states clearly that it is not a reference. This means it can avoid creating a strong set of appendices or a good glossary. Don't know a term (which if you're new you won't), don't turn to this book to fill it in. Want a list of possible commands - look elsewhere.

The book claims to be for "visual learners" yet most of the examples do virtually nothing visually. Instead the example are a bunch of esoteric theoretical examples meant to give you the "philosophy" about using a particular command or structure, instead of a commonplace example. When the commonplace examples are given, frequently they're at the end of the chapter and not described - instead "by now you should be able to understand how this code works."

The book does not strongly tie ActionScript to the flash timeline (this will get me flamed). Sure they state often that you now can tie your actions to objects, but if you're a beginner then you need to describe how.

The book is on its first printing and is filled with errors and typos. Luckily I have a background in working with edge programs and first printings always come with this burden. Here the burden is deadly to the beginner who can easily spend hours trying to figure out whats going wrong only to learn it was a typo.

Now all that said, this is a good book. The authors are trying. I think the real problem is the authors are use to teaching this subject in person to a class, using the book as a class guide. With an instructor available the book could be used. However without an instructor present, this is a terrible uphill battle.

A generally optimistic look at the cloud computing (under the auspices of remote processing/parallel or utility computing) future. Similar to Wikinomics, The Big Switch is a concept book that describes the World Wide Web using a myriad of hyperboles. Contrary to Wikinomics, The Big Switch repeats many of the same stories tech-history writers have been telling for years. To his credit, Nicholas Carr does include some insight and a few new stories, but overall those who have done any reading about, have background in, or follow technology headlines will find Carr's book less than satisfying.

On a positive note, the writing is easy to read and will be understandable for non-computer people. Also has the potential to get one enthused - if not slightly nervous - about the possibilities of technology.

A useful way to enjoy The Big Switch would be to borrow it from the library, skim, and copy out the few passages that will appeal.

I liked the book in general but struggled with the utility analogy. Here is why:

The utilities have traditionally built the infrastructure from the generation plant to your house. If the meter goes wrong, you call them. Power goes out in the middle of the night, they are on the hook. They make the investments, and they reap the rewards.

In the utility computing environment world, we have multiple players. If the connection between me and say Google is down, it could be my local ISP, the connection or backbone or Google itself. The physical connection has multiple entities, with far different agendas in play.

In the book, many of the examples are for free or very cheap solutions. Who pays for the required upgrades to the infrastructure? The consumer will at the ISP level indirectly, not the IT utility. I found it curois when Carr sited Google's new data center and its placement, where the local county had made the investment in dark fiber.

The final flaw is this: if ISPs start charging for bandwidth caps, it goes against the utility model. Unlike the electricity where power users get better rates, the consumer ISP model would suggest that I limit my usage or at least aggressively monitor my usage. With teenage daughter who have grown accustom to videos and music on demand, this will be areal challenge.

Big Switch is easy to read and, for the most part, entertaining. The first half of the book is coherent and provides a fun (but not new) comparison of the development of electrical distribution systems to the development of information distribution systems. I enjoyed reading the first half of the book.

The second half of the book needs the attention of an editor with a sharp pencil and some technical knowledge. The technology and challenges are trivialized and seemed to be presented in an almost random fashion. I did not enjoy the second half of the book and wanted to send it back for a rewrite.

Carr teases us with a fascinating explanation of the development of electricity-as-service in the 19th century, then examines the consequences of the grid in the 20th century with hasty, shallow criticism. The rest of the book is a patchwork of web 2.0 anecdotes and borrowed predictions.

The book is worth reading if you don't know much about computer science or computer commerce, and wonder what all the hubbub is about. Don't let it be the last word you consider on the subject -- this is a seductive book, but don't expect it to stick around for breakfast.

Nicholas Carr wrote a good book about the big switch from personal/local computing towards centralized computing. He compares this switch with the change from the local electricity production towards centralized power plants. He takes quite a few pages to explain this parallel, even though it's a very obvious switch.
Unfortunately, he misses the big picture, i.e., the fact that these big switches have been taking place for centuries on all kinds of trades. And these switches are still taking place.
It's an economic truth that holds just as well for:
- making your own tools, towards buying factory made tools;
- growing your own food, towards buying your food prepared in a factory;
- knitting your own clothes, towards buying your clothes made in factories (centralized in low wage countries);
- preparing your own diner, towards buying ready made meals or eating outdoors;
- from fishing your own trout towards getting it from large fish farms;
- teaching your children, towards schools that educate your children;
- taking care of your children, toward daycare centers;
- etc., etc.

Interesting question for you: what will be the next big switch?

Next question:
Will there ever be a reversal, i.e., from centralized production/care taking back towards local/personalized production?

Is it likely that power production will move back again to individual homes? For example, due to solar power cells on roofs? (less loss of energy due to transport)
Will grid computing ever change the centralization toward local computing again? It will be interesting to see if economy of scale has limits, for example environmental limits. What is better for your child: big centralized schools, or small local ones? Which food tastes better: factory food or the local grown food?
When will "better" win from "cheaper"?

if you've ever considered starting a web business, this books presents many examples and thought provoking questions keep you in the right direction.

Web 2.0 provides a business focused follow-up to many of technical concepts discussed in Collective Intelligence. Conceptually I believe Web 2.0 provides the underlying justifications for "why" an organization wants to be pursue a new knowledge management strategy that uses the basically limitless resources of the many Internet users to create value. Collective Intelligence describes the how and Web 2.0 discusses the why. This book is essential for those who are interested in the technical side of the web 2.0, Web 2.0 provides the business justifications that the reader can wrap his or her technical vision in a Web 2.0 business strategy.

The book is impressive in its clarity. Shuen's concise, clear language presents the marketing and business aspects of Web 2.0 without the typical hype. If you are new to Web 2.0, social networks and curious about the rise of Facebook, Youtube, and similar outlets, then give this book a thorough read. You will come away understanding the core business principles driving the success of these online behemoths.

One example of user-contributed value Shuen highlights is the tag cloud on Flickr. The tag cloud is a categorization of popular items on the site derived from user input. The tag cloud allows people to explore through concepts rather than just finding specific. Shuen reports that 85% of the photos in Flickr have human-added metadata. This data is used to better organize search and categorize the images. The interaction with the customer is a key item Shuen points out as critical to Flickr's success. This user contribution to the site generates value for all users. A key she says to successful Web 2.0 operations.

Shuen also highlights LinkedIn and Facebook. She describes positive network effects at work in these companies. On LinkedIn the value of the site is determined by the network it can offer you. When you join the network, you add a positive impact, your presence may lead to others to join or you may linked up previously separated groups. By joining the network you increase its utility to all users while simultaneously making it more attractive to non-users. These positive network effects as Shuen calls them are critical to Web 2.0 success.

A nice feature of the book, is that at the end of each chapter, Shuen presents Strategic and Tactical Questions. These are excellent bullet list to help you think about enabling Web 2.0 on your business or expanding your Web 2.0 up-start. For example, she encourages you to "think about positive network effects" taking place in your business. How have you actively considered and worked with positive network effects to grown your company?

Shuen break downs Web 2.0 into some key areas: collective user value, network effects, competence syndication, and recombinant innovation areas she documents as core to Web 2.0 business. If these you want to learn more about these concepts and Web 2.0 in general, this is the book to start.

In Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide, author Amy Shuen demonstrates subject mastery from the first sentence. Steeped in her topic (she's taught it at Wharton, Haas School of Business, CEIBS and École Polytechnique), the reader gets detailed information on the meaning of Web 2.0. This isn't a book filled with hype -it provides theory, thoughtful detail and is practical. Chapters end with strategic and tactical questions. The illustrations and screen captures provide depth and clarity. Companies like Flickr, LinkedIn, and Facebook are used as case studies.

In the first chapter, Users Create Value, she tags Flickr as the poster child for freemium-based businesses. Shuen points out that this model was first developed in 2006-and that low marketing, investment and distribution costs allow revenue streams to cover costs quickly. She's ahead of another book on the topic that's expected at the end of 2008 -Free by Wired's Chris Anderson.

There's a great discussion on mash-ups in Chapter Four, Companies Capitalize Competencies. The final chapter of the book, Businesses Incorporate Strategies, contains Shuen's Five Steps to Web 2.0-thought-provoking reading for anyone in business. You'll have to read the book to fully understand her rationale, but here are the steps as she sees them:

+Build on collective user value
+Activate network effects
+Work through social networks
+Dynamically syndicate competence
+Build a Web 2.0 business plan

The publisher, O'Reilly, distributes Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide under their Safari imprint. This means that there is an online version of the book for quick access that allows a reader to put the material to work almost immediately. Other publishers should follow O'Reilly's lead--their organization clearly embraces multiple ways to provide value to readers.

I recommend this book for tech neophytes who know that they need to learn more about Web 2.0, and for seasoned experts who want to gain exposure to a rich set of cases-along with questions that will compel them to dig deeper on the topic.

Relying on case studies ranging from Flickr and Facebook to Netflix and LinkedIn, "Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide" provides entrepreneurs, corporations and business administration students equally with a resource to make sense of the business side of all things Web 2.0.

The book doesn't go into technicalities or spend time on design matters as they typically appear in Web 2.0 applications today: as a matter of fact, it abstracts itself from look and feel of the sites analyzed, focusing on how the different sites make money.

The result is a five step action plan that starts with building on collective user value (users no longer are mere consumers of content, but rather active contributors and creators); activating network effects (seeking the ways in which a business can leverage the multiple connections between the layers, places and groups and how they can grow your offering); working through social networks (the fundamental building block of the Web 2.0 economy); dynamically syndicating competence (picking your battles and doing what you do best faster, making it accessible to more people); and recombining innovations (looking for ways to connect the online with the offline, the new with the old).

The result is a book that is highly recommended if you are looking to take your business to the next level of the social web: a place where being social is not merely an option but a requirement.

Designing Interfaces catalogs UI design patterns in use and provides guidance in using them, with plenty of examples. It takes a consistent approach to describing each pattern: What it is, when to use it, why to use it and how to use it. The book is both a good overview and a reference. If UI design is an area of interest to you, then read through this book and then keep it available as a reference.

For many years now, I have been coding web sites and applications. Through all that time, nothing has ever been as tough for me as coming up with a design that I am truly happy with. Attempting to create an optimized and stable algorithm or coming up with the answer to a problem that requires non-conventional coding practices; these are always challenges, but ones that are most often eventually solved. Creating that mythical eye catching never-been-done-before layout is something that I have attempted and, sadly to say, usually fell short on. I suppose you'd consider this a case of a programmer wanting an application to not look like a programmer designed it. This was my reason for picking up the Designing Interfaces book.

The first chapter talks about how users think. However, as I finished the chapter introduction, I realized that the author and I are definitely coming from two very different places. In my experience, I get very little hands-on with the user base, or the client that the application is being built for. Even if I do talk to the client directly, instead of going through the levels of proper channels, they usually have a set design in mind, limiting my choices. That's not to say, however, that a good designer couldn't be creative given these design constraints. On the other hand, the author mentions that building a user profile is something that eats up a lot of time though it is always worth it, and while I agree whole-heartedly, sometimes a deadline approaches too quickly or it's just not in the budget to give this the time it truly needs. Past this quibble and reading on, the patterns of human behavior in the first chapter give an almost checklist of things to keep in mind when designing, and even though you read and probably think, "common sense", it is very helpful to have in one place.

As the chapters passed one by one, I found the same patterns in my reading emerge. Read the introduction to the chapters the first time you pick up the book to get an idea behind why that particular chapter is important, or, at the very least, for posterity. After that, just skip to the section in each chapter marked as "Patterns" when you need them. These patterns are where the book really shines. Each of these patterns are laid out in a similar way letting you quickly see what it is, when you would use it, why it is used (as in why it is beneficial to your user), how you create the pattern, and then some examples of its use. Considering that there are nine chapters, each with about ten different patterns, this book contains a wealth of information.

I was originally hoping for more of a design lesson; color theory, placement with a hint of golden ratios, maybe a small college art class packed into 331 pages. Though I did not get much of that, at least until the last chapter or two, I definitely found an excellent reference to keep by my side. For example, if I'm building a layout, I'll open the book right up to chapter 4 to see what the common options are; for showing hierarchical data, I'm opening up to chapter 6 to see when and for what reason I might want to go with a tree map over a normal tree. I couldn't recommend it more to someone wanting a helpful component pocket guide of sorts for interfaces, but if you are looking for theory, I'd go with something more geared in that direction.

Jenifer Tidwell's pattern based approach is amazingly good! She carefully organizes and enumerates a wide variety of effective user interface options for both small screen (ie: Blackberry, cell phones) and larger screen forms. I am not an expert in UI design by any means (I have read Donald Norman, Tagnazzini, Shneiderman and Mayhew but I have no background in graphic design), but I do project reviews and this book has given me some insight into problems and potential fixes in a few areas. I was also able to pick up on a couple of "hidden" features in some of the software tools that I do use and to label and critique several "features" that weren't working well.

The style is easy to read. Tidwell explains, illustrates and covers the merits of each user interface. The research is solid. For example she notes that the Fisheye menu, while slightly favored by programmers and experienced users is considered confusing by and less effective for casual users and recommends a hierarchical approach.

I recommend this book for corporate libraries and as a reference for individuals and groups working on what might become overly complicated design.

the book covers all the major issues of its title.
it does not however gives you solutions for unique cases - those you have to think of by yourself. very "to the point" writing.
a bit puzzling the choice to write some of the examples as if the general user is a woman.
all in all , a much recommended title.

While I don't own a physical copy of this book, I had used an electronic form of it in the course of my studies.

I will first forewarn those who are interested in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that this text does not heavily focus on the science of Psychological principles such as Gestalt Perception, nor does it concern itself with techniques/methodologies such as Threading and Model-View-Controller (MVC) to improve the performance of programs. The focus of this text falls strictly on the layout and/or graphical design in regards to interfaces and web pages.

As well, each principle has certain uses depending on the medium used, which the text does a good job of elaborating (for example, cell phone programs would not be designed the same as a full Windows Application).

A word to the wise though: Requirements must come before Design. There are certain design principles outlined in this text that cannot be realized if the very requirements of the program do not allow for it - For example, Microsoft Office 2007 has in many ways disregarded the principle of habituation/familiarity (as it looks much different from typical Windows Applications in general). One will still need the skill of compromise in order to apply the information presented here effectively in the real world.

Hi, I bought this kit for my certification plan.

It's a great kit that helps me to learn the new features of Windows Server 2008.

Giuseppe

I've received my books on time in perfect condition
Keep up the good work!

I already bought in the past the 2003 resource kit and this one is still as it is/was for 2003: Great!
Thanks all
Nicolas

Warning about ebay!!! I try to avoid credit cards so I can prevent massive debt, so I tried using ebay and paying everything with personal checks. The sellers grew very impatient or didn't report having received my payment and soon I had too many nonpayment strikes and my account was blocked within a month or two. To fix it, I had to mail my proof of payments into ebay, but that is way too much hassle and no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again next time! I wouldn't trust a company that can't tell the difference between a fake J.K. Rowling autograph and a real one!

I was a complete novice at selling on eBay, but thanks to this book I have completed three transactions! I did not have a single question that was not answered in this book. I highly recommend this as a resource for new (and not so new) eBayers!

This is a good book if you want
to know how to do Ebay.
Good service. Thank you.

The book does exactly what I expected it to do. Had I reviewed the tutorial already on eBay having to do with selling, I might have tried to work with it rather than buying a book.
Since some of the items I expect to offer on eBay are expensive (over $100) I wanted to be sure they were presented properly in order to draw a decent group of bidders. For me the book was a worthwhile investment.

This really helped an old gramma like me ,learn how to sell things on Ebay...Now my garage is getting emptier because I can sell my things from my house..
What a life saver and fun too !!!!!!! Gramma Debbi