Webdesign, Coding, Blogging & Internet Culture
Webdesign
Sams Teach Yourself HTML and CSS in 24 Hours
Feb 24th
A while back a friend asked me for some advice on getting into web-design. Now that’s a pretty broad question, kind of like saying you want to “get into cars”, but besides taking a course, which I usually suggest recommend for someone totally new to a subject, there are a few books around, so I suggested he pick up this one.
The reasons I liked this book are mainly that it’s focused on HTML, doesn’t try and teach PHP or another server language, yet still covers things people need to know like how to organize a website, choose an ISP and More >
Designing Web Interfaces
Mar 29th
The Problem: For most of the history of the web, just getting something up on the screen that resembles your original design — in two or more web browsers — has been a challenge on it’s own. Today, browsers have become more standardized, and libraries like jQuery UI and the Dojo Toolkit are bringing desk-top-style interface widgets to websites. However while designers have the ability to create sophisticated interfaces, designing sites that are easy to use is still a challenge because the challenge is only partly technical.
Public websites (as opposed to those for internal use by an organization) often have More >
Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed
Feb 9th
Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed teaches readers how to create applications using the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR). Readers will learn three things: what AIR is and what it offers to developers, the process of creating an application and some good practises for developing your applications.
In a nutshell AIR lets developers write cross-platform applications in ActionScript or JavaScript- though ActionScript is given most of the coverage in the book. If this sounds a bit like Java’s “write once, run (or test) anywhere,” the comparison is a valid one– in fact, with the new 3D animation support and UI toolkit, AIR could be More >
Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6
Aug 11th
The name Drupal is Dutch for ‘droplet’, hence the water droplet icon found on hundreds of websites. Behind that icon is a content management system that has evolved over the years from a basic content management system into what has been called a “Swiss-army knife of web software”. As that statement might lead you to think, Drupal does have a reputation for having a steep learning curve, but probably not that much more than other content management systems become when you step outside the defaults.
Like many such systems it employs some kind of system of blocks of content that are More >
Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation
Feb 3rd
The techniques covered are for 2D animation of the kind that that might end-up on a website or broadcast. Each chapter proceeds along the path of creating an animation, from the concept, through setting up the Flash workspace, using Flash’s features to create the animation and then into post-production using Adobe’s After Effects.
It should be noted, there isn’t an over-arching animation project created in this book; However, readers could certainly follow along with their own project as the process is fairly linear, from the planning stages, through effectively using Flash’s library and a host of useful plug-in for tasks such More >
Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation, Making things Move!
Jul 27th
It’s worth point out that this book focuses almost exclusively on on animation with ActionScript- there is no coverage of creating forms, buttons or even a lot of the usual flying logos that ActionScript is often used for in web design; Instead it’s choke-full of information required to create realistic animation.
The book starts off gradually, showing the reader how to write a simple ActionScript to display a ball, introduces the events system to make it react to events, and then how to compile the script into a .swf file suitable for displaying in a web browser or stand-alone application. While More >
The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques
Feb 7th
The first chapter covers the interface and introduces the reader to the basic features (layers, the toolbar) as well as tucking on some new additions in CS2 like Smart Objects that allow linking external image files into a Photoshop document.
The next chapter looks at some basic skills like using layer masks, the blending modes, combining two images together, layer transparency, vector shapes, drawing tools.
The following two chapters then concentrate on creating various button styles, from the Mac-inspired ‘Aqua’ buttons to more conservative web buttons that look good without being too flashy.
In the chapter on backgrounds, the reader is shown how More >
Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Check-lists
Dec 26th
The book is broken down into a series of check-lists for developing websites organized into major themes. Usually there is a short point, and explanation and sometimes an example- you might think of it as a stripped-down version of the format used in the O’Reilly Cookbook series.
Chapters are:
- Pre-planning
- Initial questions – target audience, goals and budget issues
- Preparing content
- Managing content
- Usability, focus on the user
- Colour,using colour in your website
- Information architecture, organizing your website
- Navigation
- Coding your site, proper X/HTML, CSS
- Creating accessible websites
- Optimization. JavaScript and CSS, images, minimizing URLs
- Search engine Optimization, avoid being banned
- Design
- Testing, usability,accessibility testing
- Preparing for launch
- Post Launch follow-up, collecting data
- E-commerce Check-lists
This book arrived while More >
Digital Photography Expert Techniques
Dec 21st
This book uses Photoshop CS2, so it’s quite current (as of this writing CS3 isn’t due out till early next year). A nice touch in this book is chapter sections are marked in colour on the top of the page, making flipping through to a section easy. The first two chapters deal with set-up, taking pictures and setting up your computer set-up, including how to calibrate your monitor. A nice touch is chapter sections are marked in colour on the top of the page, making flipping through to a section easy. As well there are lots of notes in the More >
Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax: From Novice to Professional
Nov 16th
The first chapter gives a brief history of GoogleMaps and its API as well as showing KML, a simple technique for creating maps that I wasn’t aware of ? in fact, it’s probably the quickest way (especially for a non-technical user) to add a map to a web page.
Chapter two covers most of how to add a map onto your web page, setting the area, what controls appear on the map and adding marker points. For many websites, this might be all you need. – then again you could also work this out on-line, but the book is just getting More >
