Photoshop for the Web (Paperback)

by Mikkel Aaland (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Photoshop for the Web is the second edition of Mikkel Aaland's excellent instructional text on Adobe's powerful image manipulation program. This time, the book focuses on version 5.5, as well as ImageReady 2, which accompanies it. Aaland's 10 years in new media production, combined with the book's added contributions from different Web designers, results in confident and clear guidance on topics ranging from how to configure Photoshop's preferences specifically for the Web to using ImageReady to create quick rollover buttons.

The opening chapters deal with tuning Photoshop appropriately for Web production (for example, optioning out of image previews for JPEG images) and adjusting photos for the Web (including using the new Web Photo Gallery feature). The middle chapters detail working with GIF and JPEG images. The last section of the book helps resolve specific problems like creating tiled and nontiled background images and navigational icons (for example, beveled buttons and bullet balls with light effects). And there is an excellent chapter on using ImageReady to create GIF animations and rollovers. Black-and-white screen shots and illustrations appear on every page, not to mention 160 color illustrations throughout the text. Appendices discuss the PNG file format and complementary third-party software.

This would be an excellent choice for beginners; a lot of the instruction is very basic. But intermediate-level users and anyone just upgrading to version 5.5 will also find that hopping around within the book can be a fast way to get acquainted with the new features of both applications. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: Instruction on using Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and ImageReady 2 for Web image production, including adjusting preferences appropriately, preparing photos for viewing on the Web, saving images as GIFs or JPEGs, creating background images, working with type as image, creating navigational icons, GIF animations, rollovers importing vector files into Photoshop, and using Photoshop to design Web pages.

Product Description
In this second edition, author Mikkel Aaland updatesPhotoshop for the Web to include important new techniques and workarounds for the latest release of Photoshop--version 5.5. The first edition was loaded with step-by-step examples and real-world solutions from some of the world's hottest Web sites. The second edition adds coverage of Photoshop 5.5's newest features, including a compression tool that ultimately leads to faster download times and higher quality Web graphics. This edition also details features new to version 5.0, including the changeable type tool, color profiling, and the history palette. If that's not enough, Photoshop for the Web, 2nd Edition also covers Adobe's ImageReady 2.0 Web graphics production software, and includes 64 pages of color inserts. Photoshop for the Web, 2nd Edition shows you how to use the latest version of Photoshop to create Web graphics that look great and download blazingly fast.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly; 2 edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565926412
• ISBN-13: 978-1565926417
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,364,561 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars newer better book available, January 12, 2000

By	L Michael Thompson "lmthompson" (Denver Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoshop for the Web (Paperback)

This is the first edition there is a 2nd edition about photoshop 5.5 buy that one not the 1st edition.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly out of date, with the release of Photoshop 5, May 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Photoshop for the Web (Paperback)

This book was required for a class that I am taking, and, frankly, it should not have been. With the introduction of Photoshop 5, much of its special 'work arounds' for web professionals are no longer necessary. For example, adding a drop shadow to an image is now as easy as clicking on Filters > Drop Shadows.

But this book was written when Photoshop 4 was still the newest kid in town, and has nearly two pages of instructions to create a drop shadow effect.

If O'Reilly updates the book for the Photoshop 5 release, I'd recommend buying it. Otherwise, I'd stick with something a bit more current.

Review written 5-20-99

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Photoshop for the Web is not 'just another Photoshop book!', April 1, 2000

By	LM Levy (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Photoshop for the Web is not 'just another Photoshop book of shortcut commands and tool tips. It IS an invaluable collection of insider techniques that the experts use everyday in their combined art and occupation to exploit the usefulness of this truly amazing program. I love how this software has been so widely adopted and used in ways never imagined in its conception. The question rapidly becomes what can't Photoshop do? Mikkel does a great job of showing you this tool's versatility in an easy to follow text.