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[BACK TO RESOURCES] |
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Resources - Book Bytes |
| by Stephen M.H. Braitman - NBMA Director of Communications Book Bytes announces new publications of interest to our members and community in multimedia, technology, business, and culture. First appearance of each Book Bytes column is in the NBMA email events newsletter. To subscribe, send a blank email message to: nbmaevents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you have a recommendation for review — and, especially, if you have published a book — send the information to . |
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September 2002 Information Architecture For The World Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville 461 pages, $39.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com The best basic primer on creating logical navigation and search-savvy structures for Web sites is now in its 2nd edition. Besides all the philosophical stuff (what is/isn't information architecture; what's the ROI for decent implementation, etc.), the new edition adds a wealth of information (no pun intended) on how organizations thrive or fall based on a business strategy that incorporates the Best Practices of I.A. The process and methodology sections lessen the anxiety that ensues with embarking on a new I.A. development; it's handholding of a superior type. Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Stratagies John Yunker 552 pages, $39.99 New Riders www.newriders.com This book incorporates the "grand scheme" of a truly borderless world through the Web. Unfortunately, most companies who plan on delivery of Web-based services beyond their own country's territory often fail to take into consideration what other cultures, languages, and customs can do to their well laid plans. John Yunker takes a coherent, orderly approach to looking at all sides of the globalization issue, from language to design to search engine customization and beyond. The many examples he cites, from FedEx to Victoria's Secret, offer inspiration as well as cautionary tales for development. The Entertainment Marketing Revolution Al Lieberman with Patricia Esgate 345 pages, $34 Financial Times/Prentice Hall www.ft-ph.com A basic compendium of the current state of marketing forces at work in the vast entertainment universe. The book serves up a useful primer on the many high-road and low-road methods that movies, television, radio, music, books, and even the performing arts use to get their audiences and sales. The Web is a big part of the picture, though traditional print and broadcast media retain their compelling force. The approach is rather encyclopedic, and does not offer much in the way of practical creative strategies. It lays out the landscape of how things are done among the major players (good bio sketches of the power brokers), leaving the reader to assess the value or practicality of the choices to their own needs. Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book Adobe Creative Team 580 pages, $45 Adobe Press www.adobe.com/adobepress/main.html Adobe Photoshop 7 One-Click WOW! Jack Davis and Linnea Dayton 90 pages, $29.99 Adobe Press/Peachpit Press www.peachpit.com/wow Adobe Photoshop 7 Web Design With GoLive 6 Michael Baumgardt 321 pages, $45 Adobe Press/Peachpit Press www.peachpit.com/wow Creative Thinking in Photoshop Sharon Steuer 224 pages, $45 New Riders www.newriders.com Photoshop 7 Magic Sherry London and Rhoda Grossman 289 pages, $45 New Riders www.newriders.com A slew of new Photoshop books, geared to specific tendencies and interests in users. The Classroom in A Book is "the official training workbook from Adobe Systems, Inc.," which does a fine job, but some little part of me wants to say, how come this user manual isn't included with the software? Baumgardt's focus is Photoshop and the Web, combining the best of pure design methodologies and Web-specific techniques. Plus, his Euro-focus allows for some out-of the box thinking (or at least out-of-the-USA) regarding Web design possibilities. "One-Click Wow!" is a brief but eminently useful guide to specific Photoshop tips and techniques, well integrated with the accompanying CD-ROM. "Magic" explores a series of Photoshop projects with a team of experts, utilizing excellent graphic tutorials. Sharon Steuer comes from a purely artistic tendency, exploiting Photoshop's flexibility in enabling free expression. "A new approach to digital art" is her book's subtitle, and it at least will get your right brain / left brain working together. Check out all these books in more detail on the publisher Web sites. And there's always Amazon.com. The E-Business (R)Evolution: Living and Working in an Interconnected World Daniel Amor 864 pages, $39.99 Prentice Hall PTR/Hewlett-Packard www.phptr.com A massive comprehensive tome, now in its second edition, attempting to capture all the business and social components of the Internet revolution. Rather pretentiously titled (but, hey, the author is German, after all!), "The E-Business (R)Evolution" is actually extremely readable, coherent, and logically focused on key aspects driving modern society in this wired age. This is the standard reference book that brings everything from enterprise applications, one-to-one marketing, customer relationship management, and the open source movement all together. Beginner’s Final Cut Pro: Learn To Edit Digital Video Michael Rubin 270 pages, $34.99 Peachpit Press www.peachpit.com/wow Basic and clearly illustrated guide to using one of the more popular and easy-to-use software programs to edit digital video. A lot of us have digital (or hybrid digital) video cameras, but the critical transfer of that data to our computers is the first stumbling block that makes us throw up our hands in frustration and just keep buying 8mm cassettes by the bundle, storing them chaotically in the drawer. (Oh, did I just say too much?) After a few readthroughs of Rubin's book, you'll be able to deal with the subject without the emotional breakdowns. Flash To The Core: An Interactive Sketchbook Joshua Davis 341 pages, $45 New Riders www.newriders.com Web designers can't ignore the power of Macromedia's Flash technology. Creative, cutting-edge designers can't ignore the ways in which Joshua Davis warps, bends, explodes, and blazes beyond the borders of what is generally perceived as possible with Flash. This is an inspiring book, with equal doses of aesthetics, philosophy, and technique. MTIV: Process, Inspiration And Practice For The New Media Designer Hillman Curtis 240 pages, $45 New Riders www.newriders.com HTML & Web Artistry 2: More Than Code Natalie Zee and Susan Harris 364 pages, $45 New Riders www.newriders.com Two beautifully designed books (they'd look great on a coffee table) geared towards sophisticated Web designers who want to take advantage of powerful HTML functions without getting too bogged down in code mania. Curtis is more broadly focused on the philosophy of design and makes for intriguing, challenging reading. Zee and Harris get into the nitty gritty (but very prettily done) of how to do animations, Flash interfaces, style sheets, adding sound, drops caps, and other effects. If you want or need to take your Web design skills to the next level, these are inspiring assistants. The Streaming Media Handbook Eyal Menin 310 pages, $34.99 Prentice Hall PTR www.phptr.com Exactly what is says: A good, basic handbook on all the critical elements of streaming media for Web delivery. Handles the introductory stuff (what is it, where do you et it) then plunges into actual video capture, compression, and encoding processes. Lots of "how to" tutorials. Surprisingly valuable: Marketing techniques and other strategies for getting the most impact with your streaming. XML Schema Eric van der Vlist 380 pages, $39.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com XML, extensible markup language, allows great freedom for developers to create new, robust methods of storing and sharing information through the Internet. Setting up an XML schema simply is a way of setting up a design framework to codify the way in which information transfer can take place. In other words, the rules by which "product packages" of code can be designed and work. Van der Vlist's master compendium of how to set up these schemas is essential for programmers working in this field, but also valuable to Web designers, Webmasters, and other Web folk who particularly deal with issues like content management and data exchange systems. The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Photography Like A Pro Petersen's PHOTOgraphic Magazine editors and Mike Stensvold 431 pages, $18.95 The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Organizing Your Life Georgene Lockwood 394 pages, $16.95 The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Spirituality In The Workplace C. Dane Ealy 337 pages, $18.95 Alpha Press www.idiotsguides.com Lastly, but not least, three books that offer help, plain, simple, and unapologetically. If you only get the essentials of good flash technique (and I don't mean Macromedia) from "Photography Like A Pro," then consider yourself proud. As for organizing your life, we all could use more of that (hallelujah!). However, I worry about all those who used the first edition of this book religiously, and how the second edition here will challenge their previous concepts of order. That may need higher spiritual reflection, which could lead to better - or weirder - relations with your co-workers. I'm sure somewhere in Ealy's book is the key to integrating cosmic order with Earthly chaos. |
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