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Title: Fireworks MX Magic by Lisa Lopuck ISBN: 0-7357-1140-2 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 12 June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: 15 Projects - Excellent for becoming an Intermediate User.
Comment: This expensive book on Fireworks MX has a little over 200 pages covering 15 projects. It is assumed that you are a beginner wanting to move to the next level. The projects address important problems you will encounter on a daily basis and explain solutions in a simple step by step fashion.
To give a preview of what to expect when you work through this book - you will learn how to create flashy buttons, understand the concepts behind large-scale link management, building the ultimate navigational bar, creating perfect pop-up menus, etc. There are a few advanced topics like using Fireworks extensions and collaborative workflow. All in all, this is an excellent book deriving its value from the project based approach (one project per chapter) written and reviewed by experts in the industry.
The entire book is in black and white so the only color you will see is the little yellowish orange on the cover. The book doesn't sit like a normal book on a bookshelf because of its unique dimensions (8x10 instead of 10x8). I personally didn't care too much for this format but it isn't bothersome either. The project files are on the accompanying CD-ROM. The book uses a two column format throughout whereby the text is aligned with the associated images. This provides faster understanding of the topic being discussed.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapters on how to build a very cool navigational bar and how to design a dynamic interface using rollovers etc. The chapter on flashy buttons was fun also. Beginners will not be confused by the writing style which is very direct and simple. I didn't find anything magical about this book as hinted in the title but it is a very practical book and useful to almost any Fireworks designer.
Considering the tremendous background that the authors possess, they could have provided more tips and covered another 10-15 projects for the price of the book. But other than that, this is an excellent book on the path to becoming an Intermediate user if you don't mind the price. Enjoy!
Rating: 2
Summary: Not completely useless but certainly not very good.
Comment: These "Magic" books are very hit and miss and this one does more missing than hitting. While there are a few good sections, this book is more of a portfolio for a few selected graphic designers than a useful instructional guide.
Fireworks Magic is divided into sections which deal with certain tasks, or techniques. In many of the "Magic" books this works because the techniques are useful, timesaving, or at least provide motivation and inspiration to create. That is not the case here. The problem with this particualr book is two fold:
The techniques illustrated are, in many cases, elementary in comparison to the book's focus. If you do not know how to blend a background together (a web technique used sparingly in modern design anyway) or proper exporting formats (jpg vs. gif), why would you spend hundreds of dollars on Fireworks which is almost exclusively a web design tool? This book has almost no instructional value so even if you were a designer and your firm was switching over to fireworks (something we did several years ago) this in no way reflects the type of book your boss would put on your desk to bring you up to speed. In other words, if you were reading this book, you probably already have fireworks experience but they want to show you how to blend a background or export a .gif? Not very well thought out.
Secondly, the work presented in this book is, with a couple of exceptions, poor. If one of my designers presented something similar to the work shown in most sections of this book, we would be having a serious talk about their need for retraining. In fact, there are many techniques used in this book which I truly question.
In the very least, this book could have been a source of design inspiration. It the best case it could have been both a inspirational design book and have some good instructional content. In reality it has neither. With the exception of two sections, this book is a proverbial show and tell for mediocre designers.
Rating: 5
Summary: Straight to the guts
Comment: If your looking for the basics on getting started there are many others that will do the job. This book step right into the heart of Fireworks and bends and stretches the tool we know as Fireworks.
Excellent projects and if you don't have a need for the project, there are so many great tips and tricks buried in these books, that alone is worth the price.
Excellent desk book to keep around.
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Title: Dreamweaver MX Magic by Brad Halstead, Josh Cavalier, Linda Rathgeber, David Nicholls, Joyce J. Evans, Donna Casey, Jason Cranford Teague, Zac Van Note, Alwyn Joy, Matthew David ISBN: 0735711798 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 14 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition) by Matthew David, Mark Baltzegar, Veronique Brossier, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert M. Hall, Andreas Heim, Jason Krogh, 2Advanced Studios ISBN: 0735711607 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 11 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Dreamweaver MX Templates by Brad Halstead, Murray Summers ISBN: 0735713197 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 17 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Killer Tips by Joseph Lowery, Angela C. Buraglia ISBN: 0735713022 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 10 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Flash MX Audio Magic by Brad Kozak, Manuel Clement, Eric E. Dolecki, Craig Swann ISBN: 0735711941 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 07 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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