June 2001

Using Adobe Illustrator 9: Special Edition, by Peter Bauer, InformIT, $39.99.

Although this book covers all the functions in Illustrator 9, it's especially effective in making the more complex functions like transparency, blends, blending modes, sublayers and gradient meshes much more understandable and easy to master. Its treatment of color is comprehensive and it pays particular attention to Illustrator 9's new Web engine by showing you how to use its features to design Web sites and create effective (small and fast) Web graphics. With its easy to understand style and many graphics, his is an enormously powerful reference tool as well as a learning guide to Illustrator 9.

Visual QuickStart Series, Peachpit Press

JavaScript, Mac OS X, Dreamweaver 5, Premiere 6, Search Engines

All of these books in this splendid series will easily replace any of the minimal or confusing manuals that come with these powerful applications. With more graphics than words, you'll be up and running in no time. Literally no time. Comprehensive, inexpensive, and well-organized, all of these books make excellent and useful application companions.

Real World Photoshop 6 by David Blatner and Bruce Fraser, $49.99, Peachpit Press

If you're using Photoshop 6 to earn a living, this comprehensive and well thought-out book clearly explains the arcane concepts in this powerful new upgrade. With its emphasis on production techniques, including color management, its step-by-step instructions for implementing them, and a thorough understanding of how conventional methods translate into today's digital production, this book will make its readers/users more productive and in the end, their time more profitable.

Web Design Essentials, 2nd Edition by Maria Guidice and Anita Dennis. $40, Adobe Press

Learn Web design techniques from the experts who teach you how to produce complex animations, slice images for HTML tables, create animated GIFs and DHTML animations and design JavaScript rollovers, among so many other things. And all of this in gorgeous color with attention to all the color issues. Every book in this series has made a contribution to the function and design of information and this book continues in that tradition.