DBookshelf

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook

kennedy — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:04:58 +0000

First published in 1973, the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook has become the essential source for fair prices and practice. Assembled by the national organization for graphic artists, this 10th edition contains the latest information on business, pricing and ethical standards for nearly every discipline in the visual communications industry, from advertising to publishing to corporate markets.

The Ultimate CSS Reference

aaron — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:00:34 +0000

A complete and thorough and up-to-date reference guide for CSS.

Stop wasting time doing Internet searches only to find inaccurate, out-of-date, or incomplete information. “CSS: The Ultimate Reference” includes all the ins-and-outs you need to know including compatibility information for all major browsers, lists of useful hacks, known bugs in CSS, and much more – all presented in a beautiful, full color layout that will have you coming back over and over again.

Coverage includes: CSS 2.1 syntax and specifications, including features from current CSS 3 working drafts that are implemented in one or more major browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera), and useful browser-specific features A clear and concise guide to the CSS cascade, including compatibility information, known bugs and useful CSS hacks A media type guide, with coverage of which media types apply in which user agents under what conditions. A quick-reference guide to currently supported at-rules (@import, @media, etc.). An alphabetical property reference

jQuery Cookbook

aaron — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:10:31 +0000

Query simplifies building rich, interactive web frontends. Getting started with this JavaScript library is easy, but it can take years to fully realize its breadth and depth; this cookbook shortens the learning curve considerably. With these recipes, you’ll learn patterns and practices from 19 leading developers who use jQuery for everything from integrating simple components into websites and applications to developing complex, high-performance user interfaces.

Ideal for newcomers and JavaScript veterans alike, jQuery Cookbook starts with the basics and then moves to practical use cases with tested solutions to common web development hurdles. You also get recipes on advanced topics, such as methods for applying jQuery to large projects.

- Solve problems involving events, effects, dimensions, forms, themes, and user interface elements
- Learn how to enhance your forms, and how to position and reposition elements on a page
- Make the most of jQuery’s event management system, including custom events and custom event data
- Create UI elements-such as tabs, accordions, and modals-from scratch
- Optimize your code to eliminate bottlenecks and ensure peak performance
- Learn how to test your jQuery applications

CSS: The Missing Manual

aaron — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Cascading Style Sheets can turn humdrum websites into highly-functional, professional-looking destinations, but many designers merely treat CSS as window-dressing to spruce up their site’s appearance. You can tap into the real power of this tool with CSS: The Missing Manual. This second edition combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you how to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. Witty and entertaining, this second edition gives you up-to-the-minute pro techniques. You’ll learn how to:

- Create HTML that’s simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS
- Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders
- Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars — complete with rollover effects
- Create effective photo galleries and special effects, including drop shadows
- Get up to speed on CSS 3 properties that work in the latest browser versions
- Build complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs
- Style web pages for printing

With CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, you’ll find all-new online tutorial pages, expanded CSS 3 coverage, and broad support for Firebox, Safari, and other major web browsers, including Internet Explorer 8. Learn how to use CSS effectively to build new websites, or refurbish old sites that are due for an upgrade.

Writing Mobile Code

aaron — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Mobile devices have now become both much richer and much morewidespread – just look at the capabilities of the newest cell phones. At the sametime advances such as the .NET Compact Framework have opened the worldof application development for these devices to a much larger group ofpotential developers. Most of the material available to help traditionalapplication developers adapt to the very different world of mobile applications(including books) has focused on particular features sets of either thedevelopment tools or the devices. This is the first concise and practicalengineering book that lays out the principals and methods of good mobilesoftware design and uses concrete examples to back up the theaory. While thenumerous examples use the .NET Compact Framework, the general principalsdiscussed are valid for all mobile device development. This is a book which isdestined to be a well-respected guide to this growing field for years to come.

Head First Rails

aaron — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:00:17 +0000

Ready to transport your web applications into the Web 2.0 era? Head First Rails takes your programming — and productivity — to the max. You’ll learn everything from the fundamentals of Rails scaffolding to building customized interactive web apps using Rails’ rich set of tools and the MVC framework. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have learned more than just another web framework. You’ll master database interactions, integration with Ajax and XML, rich content, and even dynamic graphing of your data — all in a fraction of the time it takes to build the same apps with Java, PHP, ASP.NET, or Perl. You’ll even get comfortable and familiar with Ruby, the language that underpins Rails. But you’ll do it in the context of web programming, and not through boring exercises such as “Hello, World!” Your time is way too valuable to waste struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First Rails uses a visually rich format designed to take advantage of the way your brain really works.

Head First WordPress

aaron — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:36 +0000

Whether you’re promoting your business or writing about your travel adventures, Head First WordPress will teach you not only how to make your blog look unique and attention-grabbing, but also how to take advantage of WordPress platform’s more complex features to make your Web site work well, too.

You’ll learn how to move beyond the standard WordPress look and feel by customizing your blog with your own URL, templates, plugin functionality, and more. As you learn, you’ll be working with real WordPress files: The book’s Web site provides pre-fab WordPress themes to download and work with as you follow along with the text.

- Get your site up and running by setting up a MySQL database and creating configuration files
- Work with the Wordpress platform to create posts and pages, learn the difference between tags and categories, edit content, moderate comments, and manage spam
- Explore how to extend Wordpress with plugins and templates
- Convert custom designs (in HTML and CSS) into functional themes and use them in WordPress

We think your time is too valuable to waste struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First WordPress uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Head First PHP & MySQL

aaron — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:00:01 +0000

If you’re ready to create web pages more complex than those you can build with HTML and CSS, Head First PHP & MySQL is the ultimate learning guide to building dynamic, database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL. Packed with real-world examples, this book teaches you all the essentials of server-side programming, from the fundamentals of PHP and MySQL coding to advanced topics such as form validation, session IDs, cookies, database queries and joins, file I/O operations, content management, and more. Head First PHP & MySQL offers the same visually rich format that’s turned every title in the Head First series into a bestseller, with plenty of exercises, quizzes, puzzles, and other interactive features to help you retain what you’ve learned. Use PHP to transform static HTML pages into dynamic web sites Create and populate your own MySQL database tables, and work with data stored in files Perform sophisticated MySQL queries with joins, and refine your results with LIMIT and ORDER BY Use cookies and sessions to track visitors’ login information and personalize the site for users Protect your data from SQL injection attacks Use regular expressions to validate information on forms Dynamically display text based on session info and create images on the fly Pull syndicated data from other sites using PHP and XML Throughout the book, you’ll build sophisticated examples — including a mailing list, a job board, and an online dating site — to help you learn how to harness the power of PHP and MySQL in a variety of contexts. If you’re ready to build a truly dynamic website, Head First PHP & MySQL is the ideal way to get going.

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

aaron — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:00:42 +0000

Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you’re an expert? Then it’s about time you picked up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those web pages you’ve always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans, and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your Web pages over time, and so your web pages work in all the browsers and mobile devices out there. Oh, and if you’ve never heard of CSS, that’s okay–we won’t tell anyone you’re still partying like it’s 1999–but if you’re going to create Web pages in the 21st century then you’ll want to know and understand CSS.

Learn the real secrets of creating Web pages, and why everything your boss told you about HTML tables is probably wrong (and what to do instead). Most importantly, hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions how his HTML is now strict, and his CSS is in an external style sheet.

With Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, you’ll avoid the embarrassment of thinking web-safe colors still matter, and the foolishness of slipping a font tag into your pages. Best of all, you’ll learn HTML and CSS in a way that won’t put you to sleep. If you’ve read a Head First book, you know what to expect: a visually-rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, this book will load HTML, CSS, and XHTML into your brain in a way that sticks.

So what are you waiting for? Leave those other dusty books behind and come join us in Webville. Your tour is about to begin.

Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual

aaron — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:00:28 +0000

When it comes to building professional websites, Dreamweaver CS4 is capable of doing more than any other web design program — including previous versions of Dreamweaver. But the software’s sophisticated features aren’t simple. Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual will help you master this program quickly, so you can bring stunning, interactive websites to life.

Under the expert guidance of bestselling author and teacher David McFarland, you’ll learn how to build professional-looking websites quickly and painlessly. McFarland has loaded the book with over 150 pages of hands-on tutorials to help you create database-enabled PHP pages, use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for cutting-edge design, add XML-based news feeds, include dynamic effects with JavaScript and AJAX, and more. This witty and objective book offers jargon-free language and clear descriptions that will help you:

- Learn how to control the appearance of your web pages with CSS, from the basics to advanced techniques
- Design dynamic database-driven websites, from blogs to product catalogs, and from shopping carts to newsletter signup forms
- Add interactivity to your website with ready-to-use JavaScript programs from Adobe’s Spry Framework
- Effortlessly control the many helper files that power your website and manage thousands of pages
- Examine web-page components and Dreamweaver’s capabilities with the book’s “live examples”

Perfect for beginners who need step-by-step guidance, and for longtime Dreamweaver designers who need a handy reference to the new version, this thoroughly updated edition of our bestselling Missing Manual is your complete guide to designing, organizing, building, and deploying websites. It’s the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver CS4.dull websites—Web Standards can be fun!