5 comments about Linux Cookbook.

1. I wanted to become more experienced with UNIX so I had the Ubuntu distribution installed in my computer. I spent six months having a hard time getting simple things done until I came accross this book.
   
   It is organized in such a way that it is easy to get to do what you want/need and, what's better, the explanations provided give you insights on how UNIX works. After a while, you will find yourself doing new stuff on your own.
   
   If you want to get into UNIX but knows little about it my advice for you is: get this book and jump into LINUX - it is worth it!



2. ... which comes in real handy considering how often I reference it.
   
   Chapter 10 (Patching, Customizing, and Upgrading Kernels) and Chapter 12 (Managing the Bootloader and Multi-Booting) helped me recompile my kernel for the first time. Not only are the instructions clear, but the author also made sure to explain each step so I knew why I was typing a certain command. There's even a section on how to create an initrd image for SCSI drive users, which I had a hard time finding on the web.
   
   This book does an excellent job covering all the basics, and it's worth spending the time to read it from beginning to end. I certainly see myself getting a lot of mileage from it.



3. A well-organised and clearly written collection of useful commands and solutions to help one along with the often exasperating arcana of Linux. Covers all flavours and is a 'must have' book.



4. Because this is a "cookbook," it gives you recipies -- step-by-step instructions for performing specific tasks.
   
   This makes Linux Cookbook EXTREMELY useful when it has a recipie you need, and it often gives you a good starting point when you need to do something that isn't specifically covered.
   
   For example, let's say you need to setup a mail server, which you've never done before. As long as you're willing to use the mail tools she describes (which are perfectly good tools), then this book is the fastest way to get the job done. She also shows you how to make sure the server will be secure.
   
   I'm glad I have this book on my shelf, I recommend it, and I refer to it whenever I need to do something new in Linux. The problem is, you can't have a step-by-step recipie for everything. When this book hits the mark, it's the best book you can have, but you cannot rely on this as your only Linux book.



5. Excellent Linux book! Gives step by step answers to common Linux problems in a "Problem - solution" style way. I'm a tad disappointed in the SAMBA section, but that really is a topic deserving of a book of its own.

5 comments about Textpattern Solutions: PHP-Based Content Management Made Easy (Solutions).

1. Despite using Textpattern (TXP) since I started my own website I knew there was still a lot for me to learn and also a few things that could be improved with the way I setup my site. Needless to say when I got wind of this book there was no doubt in my mind that it would help me to be a better TXP user.
   
   The book is well-written and takes you through every aspect of TXP. Everything and I mean everything about TXP is covered in this book. You'll learn the ins and outs of installation, navigating and accomplishing various tasks in the administrative interface, go through the process of building a complete site covering articles, forms and pages, and even learn how to build you're own plugins. There are also 3 case studies that help to further demonstrate just how flexible TXP can be. What more could you ask for?
   
   This book was a great read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is new to TXP, thinking about using it or who currently uses it and would like to learn more about this wonderful CMS.



2. I have been reading the e-book version and I am very dissapointed with this book. I needed a simple CMS for a 3 page site, and wanted an alternative to Jooma! which seemed overkill for this.
   After doing some research I decided to use Texpattern due to its simple core, with this book as a guide. What can I say? The book is so poorly written that I am seriously considering to just use Joomla!
   The authors use a sample site approach to illustrate how to use Textpattern. This usually is a great approach to learning, except they do an aweful job of it. The illustrations are never on the same page as the explanations. And instead of a clear and concise step by step approach (install this file here, modify it there...), authors dwell into lengthy passages including jokes and useless analogies, that by the time you wake up, you realized you missed some vital step which always seem to get lost in this verbosity. Usually actual instruction is merely mentioned or not clearly indicated.
   In comparison, Building Websites with Joomla, is a much better text that makes Joomla! (a far more complex CMS than Texpattern) easy to understand.
   If anything, "Textpattern Solutions" has made a potentially easy CMS become a nuisance to learn. You will be better off reading the online documentation.



3. Textpattern solutions is a great resource for those looking to learn how to use this excellent Open Source CMS. The example site (Buzzbomb) is not quite as linear as I would have hoped and doesn't quite function like you would expect a tutorial to, but I was able to follow along with a little help from the TXP forums. Regardless, the book serves as a great launching pad to get into the nuts and bolts of the cms and begin creating your own sites using TXP. It is also the only book out there on the subject, so the choice is either to use this book, or to muddle through the online resources (which you will need anyway). The book certainly cuts down the learning curve (which isn't that steep, really) and gives you the tools you need to start using the cms with more confidence.



4. I'd have liked to give this book more stars, because I do love Textpattern, but I just didn't get enough out of it. I don't consider myself an expert, but I've been using Textpattern for a couple of years. I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but mostly what I got was a validation that Yes, I'm doing this-or-that correctly or the most efficient way. I didn't gain a lot of new knowledge or tricks, except for the (small) section on plugins.
   So this book might be good for Textpattern beginners, but even then most of the information presented is in the very complete Textpattern wiki, or elsewhere online.
   So I'm glad this book was published, to promote Textpattern, but for me it was a slight disappointment.



5. Extremely easy to follow and well written. My only problem was a lot of the times the illustrations or images weren't on the same page as their textual reference. Not a big deal, but I lost my place a lot while flipping back and forth through pages.
   
   This book is really aimed at beginners. Luckily for me, I was one. Since I purchased this book a few months ago, I've made three sites using Textpattern and they've all been a hit with my clients. The admin interface is superbly easy to use and I love the clean XHTML.
   
   So, in conclusion, buy this book if you're wanting a beginner's guide to Textpattern, but do not buy if you already know your way around as a lot of this content may be redundant for you.

5 comments about Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS (Wrox Programmer to Programmer).

1. This will absolutely be the last Wrox book I bought. The annoying, condescending author's photo on the cover aside, this book is extremely verbose, to the point of distracting the reader from really learning anything. For example, it seems on every other page the author feels compelled to tell you that XHTML is just the successor of HTML (he must of thought of the typical reader as totally dumb) and he has a God-given talent of saying so in far more words than necessary each time. Another example: when he gives you some sample code, he would do it step-by-step, and each step would repeat teh same code that was already printed before! What's more, in teh "how it works" recap section, he would then re-print the entire code segment! This book weighs in at over 600 pages, but the contents could easily have fit on half that. Talking about killing trees.
   
   The content quality itself is also quite lacking. The book is neither a tutorial nor a reference, but seems stuck trying to be both. For example, when a HTML element is introduced, say , the author gives you a little overview and then just lists the attributes one-by-one. Some examples are given, but these are often on a diffrent page from the definitions so you have to turn the page back and forth. Extremely annoying. The chapter on CSS is very confusing, and the two chapters on Javascript won't teach you anything. I don't know how anyone could have rated this five stars; maybe they are the author's friends and family.
   
   In short, I totally regret my purchase. I should have gone with a O'Reilly book. I blame it on Amazon: when I wanted an HTML book Amazon didn't have any O'Reilly HTML books in stock!



2. I had an interest in web development years ago when I invested some time going through free html tutorials online. I also spent some money on a couple of books on html as well as JavaScript, but never finished what I started. About a month ago I purchased this book to get my feet wet again, and I have to say that this book served its purpose.
   
   The title does say "Beginning Web Programming..." and the material definitely fit the title. Having finished reading the XHTML and the CSS portion of this book I feel very comfortable in writing XHTML documents. It also served as a handy, although heavy, reference during my practice coding sessions.
   
   The CSS portion of this book took up two chapters. It served as a great introduction to CSS and it left me with enough know how to write simple stylesheets. As I tried to write more complicated stylesheet like defining rules for layouts using
   , I found myself struggling and decided to purchase a more advanced book on CSS.
   
   There are two chapters devoted to JavaScript on this book. From reading the titles of those two chapters I am under the impression that it will give you enough knowledge to download pre-written JavaScripts online and be able to effectively implement it on a webpage. I complete skipped these chapters as I had purchased a separate book on this subject.
   
   All in all, this is a good book for beginners who want to gain the fundamental knowledge about building a website. If you want to become a professional this book serves as a good starting point, as it will equip you with the fundamentals and lead you to your next step in your studies to become a professional Web Developer.



3. I have only dabbled in programming before, mainly in C#. I am well-pleased with this book.
   
   PRO: 1. This book was a solid introduction to HTML and XHTML. What impressed me most is that the author gives you the fundamentals of the HTML language, and also teaches you modern Web methods using CSS.
   2. Follows a logical order, putting you into practice from the first chapter.
   3. Good primer for [...]and general web development for the new programmer. In fact, if you are interested in XML, I would study this book first, and then move on to XML. By the end of the book, you will have mastered many concepts of XML, and will have learned HTML in the process.
   
   CON: It could have used a better scheme of highlighting points, bulleting, etc. But the dedicated reader will overcome this small failure.



4. I have gone from being frustrated with this title to disliking it intensely. I would suggest alternate materials such as the O'Reilly publication, "HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide."
   
   First, "BWP w/HTML, XHTML, and CSS" is dated. Its publication date is 2004. This text often complains that features "are not supported by browsers" that have since been updated. There are more current materials published within the last year. (And on the subject of browsers, I have not found a single mention of Mozilla, Safari, or Opera in this book).
   
   Second, the author's presentation is often difficult to follow. Concedely it is a difficult subject to organize when there are "live" tags, "deprecated" tags, the ongoing effort to separate stylistic elements into CSS, and different browswers' idiosyncracies with which to deal. Duckett, however, is next to hopeless in separating these subjects.
   
   Most critical is the fact that this book is a very unhappy blend between an introductory tutorial and a reference "bible." Duckett will introduce a basic concept -- say, "tables" and will then load up on all of the attributes that the element might take. Learning the key ideas gets lost in the process. The book often leads off into asides and references to more advanced topics that will easily lose the initiate. It is no coincidence that several of the reviews here use the word "intermediate" in connection with this text.
   
   The author does not seem to understand the principle that individuals learn by working from the "known" step-by-step to the "unknown." Instead, he seems to rely upon the idea that "if I throw everything at them in a random fashion, they'll figure out a good amount of it."
   
   As an example of its "random walk" approach, Chapter 4 first provides a sound introduction into the use of colors and making references to images. The closing section of the chapter, however, branches off into a discussion of the