Dynamic HTML Web Magic

Rating:
Summary: Not very useful
Review: The book does have a lot of great examples, but that's it. Just examples. It shows you what the author created, and then how he did it. It is not very practical for creating your own DHTML scripts. If you try to create something that he specifically didn't do, you're lost with this book. Definitely not a reference book. I just glanced through this thing then stuck it in my desk and haven't touched it since. Graphics are pretty cool though..

Rating:
Summary: Excellent examples, good description, no originality
Review: The book has some excellent examples and good descriptions for them, just good, not great. Only thing is of the 300 pages, only a hundred or so are original, see, he repeats each script, instructions inclusive, for each project per section. Only thing is each project is only slightly modified from the next. Every chapter starts exactly the same, first page of explanation is of the DOM, EVERY CHAPTER! He does not understand that you only need to explain it in the first chapter, than repeating it every chapter is unnecesary. Very little content repeated many times over. What is there is good though.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Dynamic HTML
Review: The book is a very practical guid to DHTML. Many of the samples are readily applicable to your development. There is no waste of paper on programing, object models and etc, but just simple and practical examples. It is best for people looking for quick solutions and fun.

Rating:
Summary: I am hooked on DHTML
Review: The reason that I HIGHLY recomend this book is that fact that DHTML development offers a lot of potential, but like me, it is my guess that many of you don't know what that potential is until you see it. Mr. Ruyer's sites and book surely shows that potential off, but as always it is up to you on how you use that development information, either for building a low bandwidth site or for a high bandwidth one, for corporate use or for fun. But understand the reality of ruyers work is not in the eye-catching graphics he created, but in what DHTML technology the graphics are illustrating. This is why I baught his book and why I download his online tutorials and templates, I am trying to expand my understanding of the potential in a free development environment such as DHTML that is supported by the W3 standards association compared to Flash and ChromeEffects which are propietary technologies.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the paper its printed on!
Review: This book does not deal with reality! High end graphics are way too slow for the Internet. Visiting his site on the net if you are a user with eben a 56K modem, will tell you that the author is off track. Sure, if everyone has T1 lines or Cable modems, ADSL then these techniques could be somewhat useful. But by then 2001-2002 (when 70-85% will have this speed) the bar will be much higher and Microsoft's Chrome will be the standard, not Javascript...or even Flash The Java Script that is provided is not clean and caused some odd behavoir. Pass on this one and wait till Dec or Jan 98 when some new and usefull Flash 3 books will be out.

Rating:
Summary: A very innovative approach to DHTML
Review: This book is really not for the beginner. If you have a goodworking knowledge of JavaScript and HTML 4 this publication will open up a whole new approach to web design. The author gives practical examples of the use of animation and layer effects for use with level 4 browsers with code that is both compatible in Netscape and IE. The examples in this book allow programmers to create strong content and visually rich interfaces without the use of plugins that rival Flash and other current technologies. A must for all serious web designers.

Rating:
Summary: Great graphics, but limited content
Review: This book is visually enhanced with lots of full-color screen shots and color that separates the code samples from the text. This book focuses primarily on animation and dynamic menus, while there is more to Dynamic HTML. Much of the animation can be accomplished in Flash, but this is a good alternative to paying for expensive software and relying on the end-user to have the appropriate plug-in. This book is one of the few that I originally found to be cross-browser compatible and is very useful and well-documented for the animations and menus. The visual screen shots make it easy to flip through and find what you are looking for ... as long as it's in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Repetitive
Review: This book presents code for accomplishing 16 tasks using combinations of HTML, style sheets, and JavaScript. All examples and graphics are included on the accompanying CD-ROM (which worked fine on my IBM ThinkPad in Win2000). Yes, the tasks, like flashing text, circular animations, and pop-up menus, are rather cool. But are they really necessary? Will they bring more users to your Webpage? My biggest complaint with the book is that Rouyer repeats 4 out of his 10 or 11 steps for each task verbatim in every single chapter, giving full explanations each time. An additional 3 or 4 steps for each task are basically identical, with only filenames or numbers of calls to files different. This book would be a lot shorter and probably a lot cheaper to produce if these steps weren't repeated so many times. If you like to learn from examples, then this book can give you a lot of ideas. But if it's concepts that you're looking for, it will be up to you to find them on your own with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Repetitive
Review: This book presents code for accomplishing 16 tasks using combinations of HTML, style sheets, and JavaScript. All examples and graphics are included on the accompanying CD-ROM (which worked fine on my IBM ThinkPad in Win2000). Yes, the tasks, like flashing text, circular animations, and pop-up menus, are rather cool. But are they really necessary? Will they bring more users to your Webpage? My biggest complaint with the book is that Rouyer repeats 4 out of his 10 or 11 steps for each task verbatim in every single chapter, giving full explanations each time. An additional 3 or 4 steps for each task are basically identical, with only filenames or numbers of calls to files different. This book would be a lot shorter and probably a lot cheaper to produce if these steps weren't repeated so many times. If you like to learn from examples, then this book can give you a lot of ideas. But if it's concepts that you're looking for, it will be up to you to find them on your own with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Two words for this book...
Review: This book really s****! All it was about was making stupid models with Macromedia products and making huge graphics that take forever to download and only work with 1-2 browsers. Waste of money.