Charles River Media

Advanced professional Web design; techniques & templates (CSS & XHTML). (CD-ROM included)

In this book/CD-ROM package for advanced web site designers, Eccher, owner of a web design company, shows how to bridge the gap between XHTML table-based design to full CSS-based design. Techniques are illustrated with b&w screen shots and color examples. The CD-ROM contains about 140 customizable designs, including 20 CSS-driven templates, 80 XHTML table-based templates, 10 e-newsletter templates, 10 signature templates, and 20 Photoshop designs that can be coded. The CD-ROM also includes color examples from the book, working files for each of the book's four case studies, EZmenu JavaScript menus, and a trial version of Adobe Photoshop for the PC. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Creating content management systems in Java. (CD-ROM included)

Written for Web and software developers, this guide explains how to develop an open source content management system (CMS) from scratch using XML as the storage mechanism. It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the Java programming language. Although helpful, prior experience with XML, XSLT, CSS, or XHTML is not required. Contained on the CD-ROM are free open-source software applications necessary for developing the CMS, as well as a number of source code examples. Ferguson teaches at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fundamentals of power electronics with MATLAB. (CD-ROM included)

Shaffer (electrical engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical U.) demonstrates the use of MATLAB for circuit computations, simulations, waveform plots, and spectrum analysis in power electronics, preferring the program to the more commonly used PSpice because of its numerical and graphical talents and its pedagogical qualities. Shaffer's approach to power electronics is also different from standard texts in that periodic waveforms of circuits are modeled as angular functions rather than as time functions, which he finds more mathematically elegant. Eight chapters cover principles of electrical power, diode rectifier circuits, phase-controlled rectifier circuits, DC-DC converters, boost and buck/boost converters, dynamic modeling and simulation of DC-DC converters, DC-AC inverters, and thermal management. The CD-ROM contains MATLAB script files for examples and exercises requiring numerical computations, as well as the function files used as tools in each chapter. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Game design; a practical approach. (CD-ROM included)

In this book/CD-ROM package, Schuytema, a professional game developer and an educational technology specialist for the University of Illinois, introduces the craft of game design for new and practicing designers, and serious gamers who want to create their own designs. The author teaches game design from concept to delivery through the creation of a sample game using a simple scripting language called Lua and a DX9 game shell. Techniques covered are applicable across the PC and game console platforms. Game design industry veterans reveal their secrets in sidebars throughout the book, and techniques are illustrated with b&w screen shots. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the demo game, a 2D game engine, Lua scripts, and other tools. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Global outsourcing with Microsoft Visual studio 2005 team system.

Containing built-in support for issue tracking, quality control, status reporting, and the like, Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System (VSTS) is ideally suited for managing outsourced business projects. This guide for project managers, developer s, and other IT professionals presents best practice guidelines that are based upon the experience of leading practitioners in the outsourcing industry. The CD-ROM contains working code for extending VSTS 2005. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Hacking Web services. (CD-ROM included)

Incorporating new concepts and tools, the author focuses on the evolving technology — for which there is a lucrative market — for Web services so that security professionals can stay a step ahead of hackers. With case studies, demos, and tips, he covers all aspects of Web services technologies, their frameworks, assessment approaches, attack vectors, and Open Source products. Appendices include resources for penetration testing, quick references, Websites for security advisories, and a security checklist. The CD-ROM includes demo files, sample scripts, tools, and the text images in color. Shah, the co-author of Web Hacking Attacks and Defense (Addison-Wesley), heads a company providing services relating to system security. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Macromedia Flash Professional 8 game graphics. (CD-ROM included)

In this book/CD-ROM package, Firebaugh, a game designer, uses real- world game examples to teach the development process for creating Flash game art and preparing it for a smooth transition to game source files. He covers both vector and raster graphics and explains how they can be used to improve game performance. B&w illustrations and screenshots are included. The CD-ROM contains files and images needed to complete projects in the book, plus a trial version of Flash Professional 8. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Programming an RTS game with Direct3d. (CD-ROM included)

Real-Time Strategy computer games, according to author Granberg (a three- dimensional game programmer for Digital Chocolate, Finland), are distinguished by such general elements as "multiple teams, different unit types, base building, fog-of- war, resource gathering, and different terrain types." In this instructional guide, he takes readers through the building of a simple example RTS computer game from the ground up in order to introduce the components of the process, including defining the rules and restrictions, terrain generation, skinned meshes, pathfinding, creating three-dimensional models, visual effects, sounds, networking, and more. There is a heavy emphasis on code, much of which is found in example applications on the accompanying CD-ROM. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

ShaderX4; advanced rendering techniques. (CD-ROM included)

Comprehensive enough to serve novices through masters, this makes the most of the capabilities of this newest version of what was already a prime support for state-of-the-art pixel shade techniques. Nearly four dozen articles spell out methods, including geometry manipulation (batching using light buffers, simulating cloth, using discrete wavelet transform, animating morph targets with DirectXMorph, doing real-time character animation and using AntiTextures), rendering techniques, interlaced rendering, triangle mesh tangent space calculation, hardware-based ambient occlusion, minimally invasive detail rendering, color bleeding, fog volumes, reflections and glossy environments, interactive indirect illumination), image space (texture compression, motion blurring, simulating video recording), shadows, 3D engine design, going beyond pixels and triangles, environmental effects and tools and tips on the SuperShader, radiosity, indicator materials, dynamic branching, debugging and improving performance. The examples in print and on the CD-ROM are inspiring. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Visual design fundamentals; a digital approach, 2d ed. (CD-ROM included)

Aimed at beginning to intermediate students of art and design, this textbook teaches the fundamentals of classic two-dimensional visual design and demonstrates how these principles may be applied digitally. A series of tutorials uses Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to explore various creative options. The volume features full-color illustrations throughout. The Windows- and Macintosh-compatible CD- ROM contains all of the files needed to complete the projects in the book. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Web usability handbook, 2d ed.

This revised handbook on usability includes new sections and has omitted others from the previous edition. Pearrow (MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) also takes a more serious tone as he discusses the definition of usability, human- factors psychology, and the process of user-centered design. He describes usability aware design, accessibility, understanding users and goals, metrics, heuristic evaluation, testing, other tools and techniques, and transforming data into change. The book is aimed at usability professionals and web designers. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Windows to Linux business desktop migration. (CD-ROM included)

Hinkle guides business users of all levels through the process of changing their desktop operating systems from a Windows environment to one that is Linux-based. In addition to discussing strategies for implementing Linux, he tells readers how to avoid potential pitfalls associated with a migration. The CD-ROM contains the Knoppix GNU/Linux distribution, as well as a number of productivity applications (such as OpenOffice) that allow users to experiment with the Linux desktop without first installing it on their PCs. Hinkle is editor-in-chief of LinuxWorld Magazine. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)