Another book that is not worth the paper it is printed on.

I wish I hadn't opened the CD encasing so I could return it and get my money back. Unfortunately, it was required for an AfterEffects class last term and I had no choice. By the end of the class even the instructor gave up on the book. This term the instructor went back to the Classroom in a Book even though it's for AE 5.0, and rightfully so.

The examples are impossible to follow, the support files are incomplete. It's just a pain to learn from.

This book is not very good if you are a brand new user to After Effects. I found myself continuously going to the help button to find the item the book told me to use. I thought about selling it back as a used book, but I didn't want to be responsible for someone else wasting their money. Do not buy this book unless you already know the basics in After Effects. There are some good tips, but that was not why I bought this; I had never used After Effects and thought this was a step by step tutorial.

With the fast pace of the internet, this book, published in 1997, is woefully outdated. I accidentally purchased it thinking I was getting the October 1999 version of the series.

This book is an excellent overview for the end user. This book explains the general concepts of Internet and World Wide Web and yet the area they cover was very broad but not in depth. If you are confused with all general concepts but do not have interest to go very deep into the topics, this is definitely the book for you. Good visual presentation always great for understanding the subject. I have been using this book when explaining the Internet to non-I.T people, they love it.

This book was great because I am new to the 'internet world'. The visual format of the book allowed easy interpretation of all of the information. I highly recommend all of these books - I have purchased 5 more of these books from IDG and marangraphics and am now becoming more comfortable with computers and the internet. I highly recommend their books on microsoft applications, such as access, excel, and html. The great thing is that their is no flipping back between pages - all of the info is right there before your eyes!

You've heard that blogging is so simple (by design) that you don't even need a book...well this is that book.

This is an excellent and thorough resource for folks just getting started with weblogs. Some reviewers have commented that the authors take blogging a little too seriously -- but I don't think so. For me, there was added value in the author's inclusion of true blogging stories, from the impact bloggers had on communicating the events of 9/11, to the fictional blog account of a young woman dying of cancer (which was published as non-fiction and later exposed as a fraud -- the author's re-telling of this story is just right, underscoring the impact a blog can have on its readership, without being too preachy). There's no denying that blogs are among the hottest things happening on the web these days -- why not take them seriously?

That said, don't mistake "serious" for boring. The text is very reader-friendly, and the all important "how-to" sections, which cover not only blog creation, but an in-depth look at some of the most popular blog tools, are extremely helpful.

If you buy only one book about blogging, you can't go wrong with this one. I bought it in addition to Biz Stone's "Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content." Of the two, I like Stone's book a little better, which is why I give this one only 4 stars. My preference is based solely on the fact that Stone's book is a bit more concise and amusing. Still, for comparisons of the various blog tools, this book can't be beat. This is quite a compliment, considering that the authors are some of the key folks behind, or associated with, the Blogger.com technology. Their even-handed analysis of the other major tools is thus all the more credible and helpful.

The review from A reader from Champaign, IL USA is obviously someone who knows a lot about Blogs or blogging already. If you have heard about blogs in the popular media, or have happened upon other people's blogs, this book is a great way to get started doing your own.

Admittedly, the authors might take this blogging stuff a bit too seriously. But they explained how the tools work, how to get started, and how to get beyond the basics. I was able to create a new blog, get it hosted, and added a comment system. I plan to tackle templates next.

If you are looking for a short, easy, hands-on read for the nuts and bolts of blogging, this one does the trick.

This book will get you into most of the bells and whistles that HTML can offer as well as a little Java. I originally thought that this was the same author and was surprised (and disappointed) that the focus had shifted from authoring in Notepad to using FrontPage. Still, he accomodates both users and I was able to learn how to build frames in pure HTML using this book. He also covers tables more in depth than in the first book, in addition to animated gifs, sound, and forms. As I learned more about HTML, I ended up investing in a copy of FrontPage and this book became much more important than the first. The HTML editors like FrontPage are simply too powerful to ignore and this book is more along the right track in showing a mix of manual and editor methods.

This book contains a series of essays on Paracas art on the following subjects:

-Paracas an ancient cultural tradition on the south coast Peru.
-Paracas: Discovery & Controversy
-A technical & Iconographic analysis of Carhua Painted textiles
-Stucture, Image & Abstraction: Paracas Necropolis headbands as system templates
-Paracas necropolis bundle 89: A description
-Physical & Chemical Analysis of Paracas Fibers
-Ecology & Society in embroidered images from the Paracas Necroplis

-Social & Political leadership in the Lower Ica Valley: Ocucaje Phases 8 & 9
-The Paracas problem: Archaelogical perspectives.

As you can see from the above contents list this book is aimed at specialists - and the language is dense in academic and thick with reference terms. The illustrations are meagre and all in Black and white.

While there is a lot of information in this book, as a person doing research in areas relating to some of these subjects I have found this book hard going. I'm sure to find some useful things but only after much digging and decoding of jargon.

So, if you are after a book with beautiful pictures of Paracas textiles - avoid this like the plague. If you are after archaeological research by people who have worked in the field and have finally been able to publish what they have found then this book is probably for you. I'd classify this as a reference work, not a general use book, especially for people new to the area this book would be difficult to use.

This is the worst possible book you can buy if you want to learn ColdFusion. They introduce unexplained, confusing code, throwing in comments that seemed to have "suddenly occured" to them as they were writing something else. It's impossible to start at a low level and build up your knowledge. It is instant confusion. I'm a fan of Dummies Books - most are valuable. This one is awful. I hate it.

This dummies book is one of the worst I've seen. Compared to other CF resources this is my least valuable one. Even if you are a beginner the examples are mediocre. Not to mention several valuable tags like CFHTTP and CFFTP are not even listed in the book. The organization of the book is also confusing as it is put into the "dummies" format. Instead of trying to write a "funny" resource they should have focused a little more on the contents.

I picked up this book because I'd heard and read so much about ColdFusion and I wanted to see it in action, in a useful format. This book provided just what I needed. The examples were concises and helpful. All in all, I found ColdFusion (the language) easy, but configuring the server to be a bit more daunting. I can see how a Dummies book for ColdFusion is a bit of a stretch (as another reviewer mentioned), but this book makes a good crack at making a complicated subject easy.

Unlike most Dummies books, this one is free of most of the annoying "dummies humor," which was a welcome relief.

I would definitely recommend this to others who want an introduction to ColdFusion.

I thought the book was very poorly written. First , it was disorganized and very difficult to understand, second, it did a very poor job of explaining anything. The author explained doing the to do list to death, but forgot to ever explain how to do a web page with front page. Later in the book he went to great length to explain the comands to use with certain things, without ever letting you know what those things did, and what it was he was talking about. After I read it and learned nothing, I loaned it to a friend who is very up on computers, and wanted to learn Front Page. He gave it back a few hours later and said he couldn't understand what the author was talking about.

The book reads well, and does teach well, but I was very disappointed with the contents of the CDrom that came with it since it had only a few pictures in it and trivial templates. Not cool templates. I went to their web site and found an empty shell created by running the FrontPage wizard and then letting it die there. If it wasn't that the tips & tricks section of the book was so worth $30 dollars to me I would say the book was a false front, but I also see value in it as a reference. Hot & cold review I know, but still it comes out an 8

Do *not* buy this book. It is not well edited and contains numerous typos in the HTML and CSS syntax. It is now 2001 and this book was published in 1997, so it's very out of date. The browser compatibility charts only go up to Netscape 4 and Internet Explorer 4. There is no coverage of Opera at all. (The age of the book is not the author's fault, but if you are looking for a good reference, try Hakon Wium Lie and Bert Bos' book, or Eric Meyer's.)

This book represents one of the poorest editing jobs I've ever seen. The number of typos, images that don't match content, and outright errors make this book a pain to read. While there is useful info throughout, the poor editing quality is distracting.

This book is not worth it. There are a host of typos and other mistakes in it. Worse, at times there are mistakes in the authors' understanding of HTML rules (which makes me worry about their grasp of CSS).

The book also claims to be supported by a web site with "online tutorials about CSS, HTML, and up-to-the-minute information about these Web technologies." The site, however, has only one page (containing unrelated information about browsers) with one link -- to itself. I emailed the author to ask and was told he was behind and hasn't finished any of it yet. That was months ago.

This book does have some marginal value in that it lists things like common fonts available across several platforms, and it touches on advanced design issues. However, you will be far better off purchasing one of the other guides to CSS. Don't waste your money on this one.

Chapter 9 .. That's where they ask the question "What is an Active Server Page?", a question you presumably asked BEFORE reading chapters 1-8.

The truly sad part is that the book can't even competently answer the question. Maybe I should write a book about the mating habits of giant squid and call it "ASP Secrets Revealed!" ... At least you would get to read about giant squid doing the dirty.

I've been in IT for 15 years and every 5 years or so I move to a different technology. Recently I moved into e-Commerce. To get to speed quickly I need to find books and classes that progress through the technology in increasingly more complex levels. This book helped me understand the concept of Microsoft's Internet technology. It allowed me to progress from what is referred to as a newbie to someone who could hold somewhat intelegent conversations with experienced eCommerce developers. It's unfortunate that they decided to call the book Active Server Pages: Black Book as this seems to imply that it will provide you with all you need to know about ASP. It doesn't. If you're looking for a book that gives you detail then you'll want to purchase WROX Active Server Pages 2.0. I bought both books and I'm glad I did. The Black Book allowed me to ease into the WROX book. Keep in mind though that the ASP:Black Book is a one time read while the WROX book will become my main source for reference.

A fine book if you want the practical side of writing an Active web page. Lots of practical examples. True it isn't just about ASP, but it is about using ASP to develop a whole Web site. Best of 3 books I have on the subject.