Book Bytes – MyMac Magazine #63 – Bonus

Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing and Promotions:
How to Promote Yourself, Your Business, Your Ideas Online
by Peter Kent and Tara Calishain
Top Floor Publishing
http://www.PoorRichard.com/promo
ISBN 0-9661032-7-0, 404 pages
$29.95 US

Here we have a hybrid, combining seasoned real-world knowledge with a first-rate listing of valuable recommended URLs, all on the subject of Internet PR and marketing. The authors have been down this road themselves, and use personal examples to enhance their broad-spectrum recommendations on how to do it well and reap long-term harvests. Promising “geek-free commonsense advice on getting the word out in Cyberspace,” Calishain and Kent do precisely what you expect, and more. Regardless of the stage of Internet marketing you are currently engaged in, if you want to do it better, ask Poor Richard. RECOMMENDED.

MacMice Rating: 3

 
Sams Teach Yourself Today e-Trading
by Tiernan Ray
Sams Publishing
http://www.samspublishing.com
ISBN 0-672-31821-0, 404 pages
$17.99 US, $26.95 CN, £12.99 UK

As this “Teach Yourself Today” series matures, it keeps getting better with every new release. Online investing is here to stay, for better AND for worse, according to my sources. I have yet to take the plunge, but the future is on our digital doorstop, pounding to be admitted.

The author is honest, kicking off with “The Pros and Cons of Online Trading” and “Is Online Trading Right for You?” It’s not for everyone, friends, so read these chapters objectively. Every Internet tool the investor needs is described, alongside suggestions that makes sense both offline and online. Do NOT begin this enterprise lightly, as you will understand after reading Chapter Eleven “Troubleshooting and Ending Your Online Trading Relationship.”

With more books on this hot topic appearing every week, how is the newcomer to online investing to choose? Every title Book Bytes has seen has merit, and in value for money Sams Teach Yourself Today e-Trading is near the top.

MacMice Rating: 4

 
Web Design: The Complete Reference
http://www.webdesigncomplete.com
by Thomas A. Powell
http://www.pint.com
Osborne / McGraw-Hill
http://www.osborne.com
ISBN 0-07-212297-8, 872 pages
$39.99 US

Ouch! I just dropped this monster volume on my big toe, and it hurts. You can consider the word “complete” in Web Design: The Complete Reference to be accurate, because this baby is big, heavy, and full of smarts. If the publisher insisted I study all the text, charts, diagrams, tables, and screen shots in this book, I’d be a year older before submitting this review, so please accept this capsule coverage as a way to get the word out.

Powell’s chapters cover the basics in a hefty 150+ pages, before launching into the coding of links, site map creation, and a book-within-a-book on page types, layouts, and text. Subsequent topics include a loooooong unit on “Building Interactivity Using GUI Features”, plus an excellent chapter discussing “Web Technologies and Their Effect on Web Design.”

AHH! I’m going nuts trying to condense Web Design: The Complete Reference into a hundred words, so please forgive me. With the example of a Demo Company used to illustrate the evolution of web design from conception to completion and beyond, the author knows his subject thoroughly, and presents it in a lucid, conversational style.

My personal favorite areas are the first two appendices, in which each of the hundreds of “core web site design principles” mentioned in the text are itemized, and the heart-warming “Sample Site-Evaluation Procedure,” with multiple-choice test format used to help readers understand everything which came in the primary text. If I knew ten percent of this stuff, I’d be a web wizard, but I know enough to give a strong RECOMMENDATION to Web Design: The Complete Reference.

MacMice Rating: 4

 
One-Minute Designer, Revised Edition
by Roger C. Parker
http://www.rcparker.com
MIS Press / IDG Book Worldwide
http://www.idgbooks.com
ISBN 1-55828-593-8, 287 pages
$24.95 US, $34.95

I admit I have kept this title on the “pending” shelf for too many months, because it is not a newly-released title, and because I thought it probably brought nothing monumental to the party. I was wrong. I admire Roger C. Parker tremendously for his Looking Good in Print, reviewed previously here in Book Bytes.

Promising “the best design ideas in 60 second flat,” the One-Minute Designer uses an extensive series of concise lessons to explain and demonstrate everything the Y2K graphic designer needs to know to get from Little League into the World Series. Roger has readers begin with their computers shut down and their brains running in high gear, and he soon is covering fonts, typography, and a truckload of hands-on projects.

Each page in One-Minute Designer has a clever split, with text info on the top and graphical examples on the bottom, plus a liberal use of red ink to point readers to pertinent details. The book concludes with an terrific glossary of typography and design terms, and a first-rate bibliography. If you are not yet a home run hitter in the design game, consider this title a wise purchase.

MacMice Rating: 4

 
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Personal Finance
by Bonnie Biafore
Alpha Books / Que
http://www.quecorp.com
ISBN 0-7897-2332-8, 362 pages
$18.95 US, $28.95 CN, £17.50 UK

This book packs a ton of helpful information into an easily-negotiable package. The author has chosen to give readers mini-lessons on every aspect of personal finance, including common sense advice that holds true offline. If you are starting from scratch, or know somebody who is, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Personal Finance will serve as worthwhile basic training.

Biafore’s dozens of recommended web sites, if studied patiently and thoroughly, can assist the newcomer to personal finance with “the best ways to spend, save, invest, and plan for the future,” as promised on the front cover. Exception: do not EVER try to do something “the quick and easy way” with your hard-earned $$$. In spite of headlines in the popular press and financial publications, turning cents into dollars requires sense and time. Be patient, learn from the experts, and keep studying.

MacMice Rating: 3

 
How to use Your Mac, Visually in Full Color
by Gene Steinberg
http://www.macnightowl.com
Sams Publishing
http://www.samspublishing.com
ISBN 0-672-31827-X, 240 pages
$24.99 US, $37.95 CN, £22.50 UK

This new “visually in full color” title for basic Macintosh usage comes from one of the best writers on the block. How does Gene do it, in spite of never sleeping? The “how to” approach permeates every page, with itemized procedures and lessons in numbered, pictorial quadrants. Oh, how I wish I had a book such as this one when I was getting started. It would have saved so much frustration and agony, and made me a much better Macperson from the outset.

Troubleshooting and intermediate-level tips and techniques commence two-thirds into How to use Your Mac, adding value as users progress beyond “how to use the Preferences Folder.” Actual color photos of hardware and peripherals are liberally sprinkled through color-coordinated chapters. Overall, Book Bytes is pleased to RECOMMEND this beginners book. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a comparable intermediate-advanced book “visually in full color”? It would have to be 2,000 pages long, and cost $100! Food for thought, Gene.

MacMice Rating: 4

 
Creating Killer Web Sites, 2nd Edition:
The Art of Third-Generation Site Design
http://www.killersites.com
by David Siegel
http://www.Siegel.com
New Riders Press / Hayden Books
http://www.newriders.com
ISBN 1-56830-433-1, 305 pages
$49.99 US, $70.95 CN, £44.95 UK

Long live David Siegel. This book sold a zillion copies when first issued a few years ago, and it’s still a winner. Siegel has a powerhouse of knowledge, plus strong skills in explaining what works and why. If you are not already one of his loyal followers, look into this and his other titles to see what you have been missing.

Creating Killer Web Sites is bursting with colorful screen shots and graphics, all itemized and referenced to relevant textual material. The physical book is a grand example of how to keep complex subject matter visually fresh and interesting. It is a pleasure to thumb through the pages and let your eye lead you through vivid “deadly sins” of site construction, snippets of HTML alongside final page content, gallery examples of some of Siegel’s favorite sites, and much more.

Lack of personal experience leads me to keep my commentary short and sweet. Within a minute of perusing this book, serious webheads will know whether Siegel’s methods are compatible with theirs. If Creating Killer Web Sites is your passion, do yourself a favor and check out this book, because your colleagues and competitors already have.

MacMice Rating: 4

 
Your Official Grown-up’s Guide to AOL and the Internet
by Sandy Berger
http://www.compukiss.com
AOL Press / IDG Books Worldwide
http://www.idgbooks.com
ISBN 0-7645-3417-3, 422 pages
$19.99 US

A hundred pages into this book I realized I already knew everything Sandy Berger was writing, and that is a compliment. The target audience for the Grown-up’s Guide to AOL and the Internet is the geezer brigade, who are using America Online to participate for the first time in the Internet culture. From “Mouse Practice for Mac Users” to “Working with Graphics and Photos” and basic troubleshooting, the author holds the hands of her life-experienced but net-inexperienced readers at every stage of the journey. If you or somebody you know is taking the AOL plunge and is feeling lost from the opening “You’ve Got Mail,” suggest this book, and watch their confidence grow.

 

Websites mentioned:
http://www.PoorRichard.com/promo
http://www.samspublishing.com
http://www.webdesigncomplete.com
http://www.pint.com
http://www.osborne.com
http://www.rcparker.com
http://www.idgbooks.com
http://www.quecorp.com
http://www.macnightowl.com
http://www.killersites.com
http://www.Siegel.com
http://www.newriders.com
http://www.compukiss.com