Computing Recent Picks

September 2009

The underlined title links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Adobe CS3 web workflows : building web sites with Adobe Creative Suite 3, by Joseph W. Lowery.
"Maximize your potential as a web designer with Adobe CS3 Web Workflows: Building Websites with Adobe Creative Suite 3, a guide to all the tools in Adobe CS3 and how to use them together to create dynamic web pages. Understand the workflow from one product to another and learn how to use the essential techniques in each program so that you can complete your work skillfully and efficiently. Discover ways you can maximize your productivity with workflows like Photoshop to Dreamweaver, Fireworks to Dreamweaver, Flash to Dreamweaver and Photoshop to Fireworks to Bridge to Dreamweaver." (Amazon)

Introducing character animation with Blender, by Tony Mullen.
"Let this in-depth professional book be your guide to Blender, the powerful open-source 3D modeling and animation software that will bring your ideas to life. Using clear step-by-step instruction and pages of real-world examples from talented Blender users, expert animator Tony Mullen walks you through the complexities of modeling and animating, with a special focus on characters. From Blender basics to creating facial expressions and emotion to rendering, you'll jump right into the process and learn valuable techniques that will transform your movies." (Amazon)

All a twitter : a personal and professional guide to social networking with Twitter, by Tee Morris.
"Twitter! Everyone’s talking about it. Its memberbership grew over 700% in just one year! Now, learn how to make the most of Twitter - in your personal life, your business, everywhere! All a Twitter delivers quick, smart answers to the questions everyone's asking about Twitter: What's it about? What's it good for? Is it worth your time? How do you get started? Where can you find great Twitter feeds to follow? How can you build a worldwide audience for your own Tweets? You name it, Tee Morris answers it - and shows you exactly how to do it, step-by-step, in plain English. No experience? Looking for something new to do with your Tweets? No problem: this is the Twitter book for everyone!" (Amazon)

MacBook portable genius, Brad Miser.
"You don't have to be a genius to use a MacBook. But if you want to get the very most out of yours, put this savvy Portable Genius guide to work. Want to connect your MacBook to other Macs? Use Expose to its fullest potential? Troubleshoot? You'll find cool and useful Genius tips, insider secrets, full-color screenshots, and pages of easy-to-access shortcuts and tools that will save you loads of time and make your MacBook IQ soar." (Amazon)

Photoshop CS4 channels & masks : one-on-one, by Deke McClelland.
"Coming to terms with alpha channels (or masks) is the most sure-fire way to boost the quality of your work in Photoshop. But masking isn't easy-in fact, the elusive alpha channel has been described as the least understood feature in Photoshop's enormous arsenal.
Now, you can master masking with Deke McClelland's unique and effective learning system. Through step-by-step text lessons, DVD-video demonstrations, and real-world projects, you'll learn how to select and composite highlights, shadows, clouds, fabric, feathers, glass, flame, lightning, eyes, all varieties of hair, and then some. Deke's expert advice and guidance is like working with a personal coach." (Amazon)

Using Drupal, by Angela Byron ... [et al.].
"Choosing and configuring modules to build dynamic websites" (Book jacket)

Twitter for dummies, by Laura Fitton, Michael E. Gruen, and Leslie Poston.

HTML, XHTML, and CSS : your visual blueprint for designing effective web pages, by Rob Huddleston.

Mac OS X Leopard edition : the missing manual, by David Pogue.

MySQL, (4th ed) by Paul DuBois.

Pro PHP : patterns, frameworks, testing and more, Kevin McArthur.

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