Software Books - Page 11

Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design

Jenifer Tidwell

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Software Design, Testing & Engineering -> Object-Oriented Design

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Designing a good interface isn't easy. Users demand software that is well-behaved, good-looking, and easy to use. Your clients or managers demand originality and a short time to market. Your UI technology -- web applications, desktop software, even mobile devices -- may give you the tools you need, but little guidance on how to use them well.

UI designers over the years have refined the art of interface design, evolving many best practices and reusable ideas. If you learn these, and understand why the best user interfaces work so well, you too can design engaging and usable interfaces with less guesswork and more confidence.

"Designing Interfaces" captures those best practices as design patterns -- solutions to common design problems, tailored to the situation at hand. Each pattern contains practical advice that you can put to use immediately, plus a variety of examples illustrated in full color. You'll get recommendations, design alternatives, and warnings on when not to use them.

Each chapter's introduction describes key design concepts that are often misunderstood, such as affordances, visual hierarchy, navigational distance, and the use of color. These give you a deeper understanding of why the patterns work, and how to apply them with more insight.

A book can't design an interface for you -- no foolproof design process is given here -- but "Designing Interfaces" does give you concrete ideas that you can mix and recombine as you see fit. Experienced designers can use it as a sourcebook of ideas. Novice designers will find a roadmap to the world of interface and interaction design, with enough guidance to start using these patterns immediately.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching (The Complete Idiot's Guide)

Jack W. Peters

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Handheld & Mobile Devices

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Geocaching 101 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Geocaching 101

Arrggh, I'm tired of dragging my butt out of bed at 5:30AM, rushing to a thankless job, and punching a time clock. I want to sleep in, have exotic fruit for breakfast and wash it all down with rum. After lounging in my hammock, I'll head out with my crew, capture a ship, and finish in time to enjoy one of those cool, tropical drinks with the little umbrella. What other job can you hang around a boat all day with guns and booze, and make tons of money? I mean, other than war profiteering, or politics. I want to be a modern day pirate.

There are those who scour the globe today in search of treasure, using only a compass as their guide, in a hunt where X no longer marks the spot, but it seems they prefer the term Geocacher. Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt in which participants search for hidden caches using coordinates and a GPS device. The caches can range from small to large, and the treasure found inside isn't in the form of doubloons or pieces of eight, but small trinkets like baseball cards, Matchbox cars, or prizes like gift certificates, event tickets, or even cash.

Geocaching combines "geo" for geography and "cache," a term used for both hidden provisions and in a more modern sense, data stored on a computer. Combine them and you have one of the newest and hottest outdoor activities around. Hey, how do you legally tap into an outdoor game that has a government budget of more than half a billion dollars? No, what your uncle is doing with that cable box and a coat hanger to get WrestleMania(tm) isn't legal.

The goal of geocaching is to locate hidden treasure from latitude/longitude coordinates found on websites such as Geocaching.com or handed out in passbooks at geocaching events like the one upcoming in Wellsboro on May 16th, 17th, and18th. While most caches are a hidden watertight box, this event sponsored by the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce* is set up with "Virtual Caches." It's the destination, not the booty, that's of interest, bringing you to historic sites, beautiful vistas, and a wonderful view of nature. Nothing is traded except photos and the experience. Each of the caches can be driven to, with some requiring only a brief walk.

I talked to Charlie Messina, the driving force behind Wellsboro's new event. Charlie began geocaching in 2003 as part of a Boy Scout camp program. He developed and ran orienteering events** and felt that geocaching would allow a new program to be added with minimal expense. "The program was a huge success, and added a new level of enjoyment as we searched for hidden caches and found great outdoor locations we would never have found. In basic terms geocaching is a high-tech hide & seek. Anyone with a GPS unit and a basic understanding of how to use it can enjoy an outdoors adventure. It is great fun for the entire family"

If you've recently received a GPS unit, and you've been wondering what to do with it, check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching by Jack W. Peters. The book is comprehensive. It covers what geocaching is (sport, hobby, excuse to go outdoors and play with electronics), what you need to have, what you need to bring, and techniques for geocaching. It covers a good bit more than the basics with tips on how to get more accurate measurements from your GPS unit, search techniques like the cloverleaf and triangulation, and how to speak the lingo.

If you are looking for adventure, a fun family activity, or just another way to appreciate and explore Tioga County, grab your GPS, a compass, some trail mix, and remember not to spend too much time staring into the receiver's screen. You'll miss the beauty of the natural surroundings, and you might crash and spill your tropical drink...

*Information on the Geocaching event is available on the chamber's website www.wellsboropa.com . Registration is only $3 and takes place on the Green.

**Orienteering is a competitive form of land navigation. The object of orienteering is to locate control points by using a map and compass to navigate through the woods.
Kevin Coolidge works at From My Shelf Books on Main St. in Wellsboro. Check it out at www.wellsborobookstore.com

Editorial Review:

There are treasures to be found...

They're hidden in city and state parks, outside of nearby buildings, alongside hiking trails and exercise routes, and even in local neighborhoods. This is geocaching, an adventure-based game involving intentionally hidden treasures, i.e. caches, and a standard handheld global positioning system (GPS) unit. The idea behind geocaching is for people to set up caches all over the world, and to then share the GPS coordinates of the caches via the Internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches, and once found, a cache usually provides its visitor with a wide variety of rewards available for the taking. Authored by a renowned expert on GPS usage and the editors of Geocaching.com, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching is a comprehensive yet easy to understand guide for getting started and having fun with geocaching.

InDesign CS4 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Galen Gruman

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Editorial Review:

InDesign is the preferred graphic design software, and InDesign CS4 is loaded with cool new desktop publishing features. InDesign CS4 For Dummies shows you how to use every one!

Whether you’re an experienced designer or just want to create a cool newsletter for the school soccer team, you’ll benefit from Galen Gruman’s guidance. This desktop publishing expert shows you how to navigate InDesign menus, dialog boxes, panels, and panes; streamline your work with templates; prepare your creations for printing or online publication, and more.

• Explore the new tools, work with the application frame, and set preferences for the way you work
• Learn to open and save documents and export content
• Get familiar with the Pages panel, apply Master Pages, and work with Layers
• Make the most of color with color libraries, multi-ink colors, spot versus process color, and gradients
• Create layout guidelines and use color swatches for consistency
• Streamline text formatting by using styles and treat text as a graphic element
• Design for the Web with hyperlinks, multimedia elements, and Flash files
• See how InDesign CS4 works seamlessly with other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite
• Discover why good design is part science and part art and learn to manipulate, organize, and align design objects
• Take advantage of tips for cropping and positioning graphics
• Prepare for printing or other output with enhanced preflighting tools

InDesign CS4 For Dummies also offers great advice for designing pages that do their job perfectly. Start creating today!

Access 2007: The Missing Manual

Matthew MacDonald

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> Database Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> SQL -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> SQL -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Compared to industrial-strength database products such as Microsoft's SQL Server, Access is a breeze to use. It runs on PCs rather than servers and is ideal for small- to mid-sized businesses and households. But Access is still intimidating to learn. It doesn't help that each new version crammed in yet another set of features; so many, in fact, that even the pros don't know where to find them all. Access 2007 breaks this pattern with some of the most dramatic changes users have seen since Office 95. Most obvious is the thoroughly redesigned user interface, with its tabbed toolbar (or "Ribbon") that makes features easy to locate and use. The features list also includes several long-awaited changes. One thing that hasn't improved is Microsoft's documentation. To learn the ins and outs of all the features in Access 2007, Microsoft merely offers online help.

Access 2007: The Missing Manual was written from the ground up for this redesigned application. You will learn how to design complete databases, maintain them, search for valuable nuggets of information, and build attractive forms for quick-and-easy data entry. You'll even delve into the black art of Access programming (including macros and Visual Basic), and pick up valuable tricks and techniques to automate common tasks -- even if you've never touched a line of code before. You will also learn all about the new prebuilt databases you can customize to fit your needs, and how the new complex data feature will simplify your life. With plenty of downloadable examples, this objective and witty book will turn an Access neophyte into a true master.

Photographing Children Photo Workshop: Develop Your Digital Photography Talent (Photo Workshop)

Ginny Felch

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The best photography book I've read so far... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I rarely take the time to write a review for something I buy. But this book has really touched me and enlightened me. It is so well written and organized. I am a mom of six and love taking pictures of my kids. I'm trying to learn more to be able to take really good pictures. This book was so straight-forward. The pictures are REAL - not the strange art-studio type pictures that seem so popular now. I really appreciate that the information is shown for each picture. It's really helped me "see" what differences aperture and shutter speed make. The exercises at the end of each chapter have pushed me to really think about what I'm taking pictures of and stretch my thinking a little more outside the box. I can't wait to complete some of the assignments and upload them to the website. I've bought 6 or 7 photography books on amazon and none compare to this one- its just the best and well worth the money. What I want to know is - does Ginny offer workshops? I would LOVE to attend one if she does!

Editorial Review:

While digital technology has made acceptable photos easy to achieve, this book is about taking exceptional photos that preserve the essence of childhood.Youll learn to trust your instincts and your own unique vision and discover how to create beautiful photographs in a variety of lighting situations, all while sharpening your observation skills and learning how to involve your subjects. Plus, insightful tips on understanding what equipment is right for you will help you get great results when working with any age group.

Learning Perl (A Nutshell handbook)

Randal L. Schwartz

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Total reviews: 292 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Learning Perl is designed for those who seek a rapid working knowledge of Perl. A public domain language, Perl has established itself as the premier UNIX scripting language--replacing facilities such as the shell, sed and awk. It is currently taking root in non-UNIX markets as well.

Perl is a high-level, multi-purpose language. It is used in diverse system administration tasks, while also playing an endless variety of roles in other areas. These range from data reduction and report generation to distributed computing and assorted auxiliary roles in software development. Perl has even encroached upon the territory of C and other programming languages.

Perl allows the programmer to combine in one script functions that previously had to be divided between the shell, sed, awk, various other UNIX utilities, and C programs. With this breadth of capability, Perl is an extraordinarily powerful and flexible language.

Learning Perl, written by a leading Perl instructor, provides a systematic, step-by-step, tutorial approach to learning the language. There are numerous short code examples punctuating a relaxed, informal, and precise tour of all the main features of the language. In addition, each chapter contains exercise problems, together with their solutions. Anyone who works through the book will be capable of programming with a broad and productive range of Perl features. For a comprehensive and detailed guide to advanced programming with Perl, read O'Reilly's companion book, Programming Perl.

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-620): Configuring Windows Vista(TM) Client (Self Paced Training Kit 70-620)

I. McLean, Orin Thomas

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Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Book Description

Announcing an all-new Self-Paced Training Kit designed to help maximize your performance on 70-620, the required exam for the new Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Windows Vista Client certification. This 2-in-1 kit includes the official Microsoft® study guide, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. It comes packed with the tools and features that exam candidates want most--including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and customizable testing options. It also provides real-world scenarios, case study examples, and troubleshooting labs for skills and expertise that you can apply to the job.

Work at your own pace through the lessons and lab exercises. Focusing on configuring a Windows Vista client, this official study guide covers topics such as installing the client software, migrating from previous versions of the Microsoft Windows® client, and configuring systems settings, security features, network connectivity, communications and media applications, and mobile devices.

Then assess yourself by using 425 practice and review questions on the CD, which features multiple customizable testing options designed to meet your specific needs. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives or chapters. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers--including pointers back to the book for further study.

Programming in Objective-C (Developer's Library)

Stephen Kochan

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> C -> Objects

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Do yourself a favour 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

I got this almost by accident in a bundle of books I picked up on eBay and it is the single best written 'how to learn a language' book I have ever encountered.

Clear, concise and just so well written. Quite complex issues are handled with great skill and deftness.

I have pre-ordered the 2nd edition just to give Kochan the credit he deserves and didn't get from my second-hand purchase.

If you have a Mac and think you want to understand programming (even if you aren't going to really write any programs) get this.

Whatever OS you have go get Kochan's book on C Programming which is nearly as good. Unfortunately C is simply more obtuse so even Kochan's great writing can't make it much easier than he does because it just is closer to the metal with all the power and complexity that that means.

Anyway it's a great book and if you want some of the best coverage of Object Orientated Programming you'll read anywhere it's easily worth the price (especially at the insanely cheap Amazon price).

Editorial Review:

Objective-C has become the standard programming language for application development under Mac OS X. It is a powerful yet simple object-oriented programming language that is based on the C programming language. Objective -C is widely available across many operating systems that support the gcc compiler, including Linux, Unix, and Windows systems.

Programming in Objective-C provides the beginner programmer with a complete introduction to the Objective-C language. Unlike other books on Objective-C, it does not assume previous experience with either C or object-oriented programming languages. By using many complete examples and taking a step-by-step approach, the book teaches the reader how to write Objective-C programs on any system that supports the Objective-C language, as well as how to use the Foundation framework to develop portable programs that will run on any system supporting Objective-C.

Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook, 2nd Ed.

Michael Linenberger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The system actually works! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

It took me about 3 hours of reading the philosphy behind the system (this is important - don't skip it) and another 2 hours of setting up and tweaking Outlook. The first day or two afterwards were strange as I tried to get accustomed to the system, but now, after a few weeks, I couldn't live without it. It's not all about email management (that's a minor concern for me, although having a perfectly empty inbox is wonderful for your stress level) - it's really a great tool for managing the dozens of tasks that pop in and out of your head all day long along with the medium and long-term projects that have been staring at you from your task list for the last year or so.

Before this book, I really, really, really tried to like and use GTD, but I could never internalize the methodolgy and use it effectively. In contrast, TWC/Manage-your-NOW just makes sense to me.

Bottom line - it's a good book with a good system - definitely worth your time to try it.

Editorial Review:

Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook is a book for the over-extended office worker whose workday feels out of control. It shows how to regain command of an over-committed workday and an overflowing, unmanaged e-mail in box. It does this by teaching the author's system of time, task, and e-mail management, and it shows how to implement the system in Microsoft Outlook.

Running QuickBooks in Nonprofits: The Only Comprehensive Guide for Nonprofits Using QuickBooks

Kathy Ivens

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> Business -> Accounting -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> Business -> Quickbooks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very helpful book for those new to nonprofit bookkeeping or Quickbooks or both 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I wish I had found this book when I first transitioned from the private sector to running a non-profit organization! Coming from a media background, I was familiar with budgets, etc., but I always had a bookkeeper for the actual accounting, so I found myself having to learn fast on my feet; add to that the need to learn how non-profits differ from for profit business and I felt completely behind the eight ball at times. After the first year, I had a functional handle on it, but things were still not where they should be and the annual financial review proved that there was more to learn.

Enter *Running Quickbooks in Nonprofits*; this book taught me more in one reading than a year of muddling through it and bothering the accountant with "free" questions until he was blue in the face. Not only did I finally get a good handle on the basics of accounting for a non-profit, but I was able to finally utilize the full power of Quickbooks within its inherent non-profit limitations - even the version of Quickbooks for non-profits isn't well adapted for the purpose as it was not built from the ground up for the unique accounting needs of non-profits. With this book, you will learn how to adapt Quickbooks for you non-profit organization and make it work for you, not against you.

What makes *Running Quickbooks in Nonprofits* easy to read and understand and why it delivers is because the author is an accountant working with non-profit clients, so she can deliver real world advice that makes sense to those in the non-profit world.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

Editorial Review:

Providing information on using QuickBooks to track financial data in nonprofit organizations, this book covers all versions of QuickBooks. Management of donors, grants, and pledges, and topics such as allocating expenses to programs, handling donor restrictions, and generating the reports needed for donors and tax returns are covered in detail. In addition to easy-to-follow instructions and tons of tips and workarounds, information on using QuickBooks for fundraising is provided.