Book Description

This eBook is a step-by-step walk-through of the CSS3 mobile pack for Adobe® Fireworks® CS5/5.1. Showcasing the increased potential of Fireworks as a design and prototyping tool for mobile and web development, the CSS3 mobile pack includes two new tools: the CSS3 Property Panel and the jQuery Mobile Theme Skinning tool. The extension is geared toward designers familiar with Fireworks and Dreamweaver who want to transform their vision into designs across various screen sizes, browsers, and mobile devices, all while using the latest web standards.

With real-world applications for each new tool, this book shows designers how to utilize CSS3 properties in a web page design and create and customize a simple jQuery Mobile site in Fireworks.

Covers the two new tools included in the CSS3 Mobile Pack extension:

• CSS3 Property Panel: Convert Fireworks artwork to pure CSS markup. If what you create using vectors and other attributes is supported by CSS3, you can use Fireworks to generate the CSS and copy it to the clipboard, allowing you to paste the code directly into your style sheet, where you can apply it to an HTML element, id, or class.
• jQuery Mobile Theme Skinning: Use to create or modify a theme for a jQuery Mobile website. Then preview and export the new or updated theme, complete with corresponding CSS and Sprites, out to your website.

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Book Description

Companies need more than just web analysts and data-savvy marketers to be successful–they need action heroes!

While most of us never battle evil scientists or defuse nuclear warheads, successful web analysts benefit from the same attributes that fictional action heroes embody. As a web analyst, your main goal is to improve your organization’s online performance. You can become an “action hero” by translating analysis insights into action that generates significant returns for your company. How you approach analysis is critical to your overall success.

In this book, web analytics expert Brent Dykes addresses the unique challenges facing analysts and online marketers working within small and large companies, teaching you how to move beyond reporting and toward analysis to drive action and change. Taking a principle-based rather than a tool-specific approach, Brent introduces you to the Action Hero Framework that breaks down the analysis process into three key stages: Prioritize (what to analyze), Analyze (how to analyze), and Mobilize (how to drive action). And he reinforces these topics with real-world examples and practical tips from seasoned analysts at leading companies.

• Defines the type of environment in which action heroes thrive–not just survive–as well as how to defeat the villains of web analytics that stand in the way
• Arms web professionals with a strategic framework for executing online analysis, as well as an arsenal of analysis techniques Download Now »

Book Description

One of the most exciting and talked about aspects of the HTML5 specification is the introduction of in-browser multimedia.  Websites no longer have to rely on a third-party tool such as Flash or Silverlight to play video and audio. This book is an easy, approachable guide to building native HTML5 multimedia into a website, from the simplest addition to more advanced features. It’s written in a simple, straightforward style that’s not too techy,  yet advanced enough for the more experienced coder who just needs to get up to speed on these powerful new capabilities. The book’s companion website provides all the examples in a working format for easy access and enhanced visualization for the reader.

Topics include:

• Using Audio: How to add audio to web documents using the HTML5 audio element.
• Using Video: How to add video to web documents using the HTML5 video element.
• JavaScript API and Custom Controls: How to use the HTML5 Media JavaScript API to create custom controls for HTML5 audio and video.
• Styling Media Elements with CSS: Shows how HTML5 media elements can be styled with CSS2.1 and CSS3.
•  Using Video with SVG: Shows how SVG and HTML5 video can work together.
• Using Video with Canvas: Introduces the HTML5 canvas element and shows how HTML5 video and canvas can work together.

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Book Description

WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide, 2E uses a visual approach to teach the essential elements of WordPress, one of the world’s most popular publishing platforms. This book gives readers the tools they need to create beautiful, functional WordPress-powered sites with minimal hassle. Using plenty of screenshots and a clear, organized format, authors Jessica Neuman Beck and Matt Beck walk new users through the installation and setup process while providing valuable tips and tricks for more experienced users. With no other resource but this guide, readers can set up a fully-functional and well-designed WordPress site that takes advantage of all the features WordPress has to offer.

This new, fully updated version covers all the key new features of WordPress 3, including an improved welcome screen with enhanced security and usability; internal linking to articles on one’s own blog; support for individual author templates; improved menu interface allowing for changes to be made from inside the WordPress dashboard; and the new, easily customizable Default Theme, Twenty Eleven, with support for child themes and header and background adjustments. It also covers more advanced features, such as improved content management with Custom Post types, which allow WordPress theme developers to create custom content types outside of pages and posts; and integration of the WordPress Multi-User into the WordPress core so that users can create and manage hundreds of blogs.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. First Steps
Chapter 2. Getting Familiar with WordPress Download Now »

Book Description

With Writing for the Web, you’ll learn everything you need to know to create effective Web content using words, pictures, and sound. Follow along as instructor and writer Lynda Felder combines easy-to-follow guidelines with photographs, lists, and tables to illustrate the key concepts behind writing nonlinear, interactive stories; creating succinct and clear copy; and working compelling images, motion graphics, and sound into your content.

Many books offer instruction on how to use software programs to build Web sites, podcasts, and illustrations. But only Writing for the Web explains when and why an author might choose an illustration over a photograph, motion graphics over text, or a slice of Beethoven’s Fifth over the sound of a bubbling brook. Focusing on storytelling techniques that work best for digital media, this book describes the essential skills and tools in a Web author’s toolbox, including a thorough understanding of grammar and style, a critical eye for photography, and an ear for just the right sound byte for a podcast.

This clearly written guide provides a fun and practical approach to Web writing that busy students and writers will be eager to learn and explore.

• Uses concise, straight-to-the-point style to illustrate techniques for writing sharp and focused Web copy, coupled with compelling visuals and sound
• Focuses on writing practices and guidelines, with exercises and prompts developed and tested by the author Download Now »

Book Description

In Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design, author Maggie Macnab takes you on an intimate and eclectic journey examining the unending versatility of nature, showing how to uncover nature’s ingenuity and use it to create beautiful and compelling designed communications.

Written for designers and creative thinkers of all types, this book will guide you through a series of unexpected a-ha! moments that describe relationships among nature, art, science, technology, and design. Through explanation and example, you will learn about natural processes, consisting of everyday patterns and shapes that are often taken for granted, but that can be used effectively in visual messaging. Explore the principles all human beings intuitively use to understand the world and learn to incorporate nature’s patterns and shapes into your work for more meaningful design.

By recognizing and appreciating a broad range of relationships, you can create more aesthetic and effective design, building communications that encompass the universal experience of being part of nature, and that are relevant to a worldwide audience.

• Teaches how to understand and integrate the essential processes of nature’s patterns and shapes in design
• Includes key concepts, learning objectives, definitions, and exercises to help you put what you learn into practice Download Now »