Customer Reviews

Mastering Photoshop 5 for the Web

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Having used books to learn a few programs, I feel the best way to learn is through tutorials, things you do as you read along. This book, however, often gave examples I couldn't really follow along with because I don't have the graphics or other tools he's using or he didn't explain how to construct them myself. Too many of the keyboard commands for Windows are incorrect. I found myself just trying any keyboard combination I could think of to figure out what the author meant to write. He also tends to explain the most complicated, roundabout way to access things in Photoshop. I often found an easier way myself or by looking in another book. Many of the links are incorrect (though probably updated in the new book). The last two chapters are useless and read as though tacked on in a hurry. Don't expect to learn how to get something on the web from this book. It only teaches the very basics of Photoshop. Alas, it's dry as stale toast.

I do not recommend this book to anyone who has ever used Photoshop or designed a web site before. If you don't know anything about Photoshop or web design, than this book might be for you. However, if you want to learn Photoshop I would buy a different book. This book is very basic, so if you know anything about Photoshop than the first half of the book is a waste. I consider myself an intermediate user of Photoshop and I didn't learn a single thing from this book.

The book is a great journey from point a to point z. It differs from the usual stale portrayls that generally encompass these type of books -- listen to the sounds of Ben Stein reciting the dictionary. Its ground breaking because its actually interesting and informative. Techno-weenies may be upset by it. But for the rest of the world trying to set up a truly great site or improve their pre-existing one, this book is a god-send.

This would be a good book for someone who has NEVER created a web page and never worked with photoshop. However for anyone who has it would be a waste of time. The first 14 chapters (400 pages) could be called photoshop 101. There is one chapter dedicated to web graphics and one for basic HTML. This book is rated at an intermediate/advanced level but SHOULD BE LABELED FOR BEGINNERS. I consider myself intermediate and learned nothing from this book

But it's good for someone who doesn't have a Photoshop and HTML book yet and doesn't want to buy two separate books.

Contrary to what the title of the book says, this is not "how to use Photoshop to make web-related images". Instead, it is a Photoshop book showing you other people's websites, telling you what the Photoshop tools do, and an HTML book. This might be a good thing if you didn't have the Photoshop manual (and why not? :^) ) or an HTML book. But in my case, I did already, and this was a rehash that I didn't need.

I recall two parts of the book that I was interested in. The first is at the beginning when the author takes you through the steps for creating a scenic picture in Photoshop (using paintbrushes, so basically he showed us a fancy version of MS Paintbrush). You could consider this to be a web image (because you can put it on a web page, yea) but in my opinion, this is not what the title of the book implies.

The second item I was interested in is that the book showed some sample scripts for various dynamic HTML techniques, including the "pop-up" menu list using layers technology.

As for the other DHTML and HTML examples and book chapters, well, they are already covered in my other exhaustive 400+ page book on HTML and previous Photoshop books which I have already.

I bought this book in 99 and it didn't teach any real skill in using photoshop except it let me know where is the menu command and where is the tool box. I am reading Adobe photoshop 5.5 Classroom in book right now and found it is fantastic! Really want to learn how to use Photoshop? Buy Adobe photoshop 5.5 classroom in the book instead of this junk book.

This book would be ideal for beginners to Photoshop and HTML. It has absolutely nothing to offer more advanced users.

There is no reason to buy this book for the Photoshop section. The program manual covers the same topics in better detail.

As for HTML - there are better books.

This was an insult as well as a waste of time and money.

So...you have your new upgrade of PhotoShop; PhotoShop 5. You are learning about HTML and web page design, and you want to use your new PhotoShop most effectively for your web graphics. You might be feeling brave and adventurous with thoughts of diving into CSS or DHTML. And maybe you even want to brush up on your basic PhotoShop skills, too. This book is for you! Because creating graphics for the web is very different then for print, I consider this book a new way to look at PhotoShop 5. A "web-way" to look at it, if you will. Readers will learn important techniques and features of PhotoShop 5 that will most benefit them for web graphics design, such as how to use actions to apply desired effects on batches of graphics for a consistant appearance on a web page. The author also stresses the importance of learning to use other, lesser used (in my personal case, anyway!) features of PhotoShop, such as the Paintbrush and Path tool, and he stresses how important they are for use in web page graphic design. I would NOT consider this book to be a "manual to learn all about PhotoShop 5." I don't believe the author inteneded it to be. And that's what's great about it. It doesn't try to cover everything. It has a specific focus. PhotoShop 5 for the web. While there are, in my opinion, a couple of unneccessary chapters in the book, such as "The World Wide Web" (If you don't know what the web is by NOW...!) But even here, the author covers some things that might be unknown to some readers. I feel that one of the best features of the book is the inspiration given with profiles of some of the best web designers in the country. After reading about these guys and seeing their work, you get a little "push" to really want to master the medium! All in all, a good book that serves it's intended purpose.

It's only waste of time. Buy Adobe Photoshop 5.5 classroom in the book instead if you really want to learn how to master photoshop!!