Thursday, January 31, 2008

2

Photoshop Elements 4 Just the Steps

About This Book


This book cuts all the fluff out of a computer book and takes you right to steps to produce an effect, task, or job. The book is not linear. However, in some cases you might need to move around a little to understand one concept before moving to another. Each series of steps is defined with headings to simplify your task of searching for a specific item and finding similar tasks related to a particular concept. Be certain to look back at the Table of Contents when you aren’t certain where to find one task or another.

Whenever you want to get something done with this book, simply fol¬low this method:

1. Pick the task. Glance over the Table of Contents to find a cate¬gory you want to explore — something like working with layers, which we cover in Chapter 8.

2. Find it fast. This is easy because the chapters are designed with coverage of similar items within each chapter. Look over the head¬ings listed in the Table of Contents to find a specific task within a given chapter.

3. Get it done. Mimic each step and look at the accompanying fig¬ures to help you thoroughly understand a given task.

Why You Need This Book

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a true bargain. Although you pay far less for Elements than its bigger sibling, Photoshop, you acquire a sophisti¬cated program with many complex tools and methods for producingresults. The user documentation and help guides don’t suffi¬ciently describe all that you can do with the program. What’s more, to find a specific solution, you might need to wade through a lot of text to describe a method you want to use in your workflow.
This book eliminates background descriptions and detailed text explanations and takes you directly to a series of steps to produce precisely what you want to do with a photo. It isn’t a sit down seven-course meal; it’s more like a fast food restau¬rant that satisfies your appetite for knowledge immediately.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into five parts. The following sections introduce each one.

Part I: Acquiring and Organizing Images

The first thing you need to know about working in Photoshop Elements is how to get photos into your computer. This first section describes acquiring photos from a variety of sources including digital cameras, digital scanners, mobile phones, CD/DVD ROMs, and media storage devices. If you have a great number of photos you copy to your hard drive, you’ll want to find out all the organization opportunities provided by Photoshop Elements that we cover in this part.

Part II: Fixing Photos

Just about any photo you acquire from any source requires you to enhance the images for brightness controls, color bal¬ance, removal of dust and scratches, and other anomalies you might find. Look to this part to discover the best way to make image enhancements.Part III: Editing Techniques

Whether it be applying an effect, merging photos, adding some text to a photograph, or a host of other edits you want to apply to your photos, this part covers it all.

Part IV: Outputting Photos

You take a photo with a digital camera, scan a photo on your scanner, or acquire a photo from another source and make edits to the photo. When you finish editing an image, the next logical step is to show the image either on screen or in a print. This part covers preparing images for screen viewing in slide shows, on Web browsers, or with other screen viewers. This part also covers printing your files locally on your own desktop printer or prepping and sending them to a commer¬cial photo lab printer.
Part V: Working with Creations

Photoshop Elements 4 is really two programs in one package: The original photo editor that was simply Photoshop Elements prior to version 3 and the former Adobe Photoshop Album program. Photoshop Album is fully integrated in Photoshop Elements 4, where you find tools and commands to help you create cards, calendars, slide shows, TV videodiscs, and more. This section covers all the marvelous features for assembling a number of different creations.
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1

Photoshop CS2 2005

About This Book


If you’re familiar with the For Dummies series, you surely have noticed already that there’s something, well, different about this book. It looks like a For Dummies book, but it doesn’t. The cover’s color scheme and the cartoons are there, but there’s a lot more color. And the layout is, well, not as boxy as the For Dummies books you’ve seen in the past. Welcome to the new age of For Dummies!

It’s been quite a collaborative effort over these weeks and months, brain¬storming, discussing, negotiating, finding middle ground — all to present you with the best possible format for Photoshop CS2 For Dummies. This is a com¬pletely new book, from the ground up. New author, new text, new images, new layout, new format. New Photoshop, too.

One thing hasn’t changed, though: This book was produced with an eye toward you and your needs. From Day One, the goal has been to put into your hands the book that makes Photoshop understandable and useable. You won’t find a technical explanation of every option for every tool in everysituation, but rather a concise explanation of those parts of Photoshop you’re most likely to need. If you happen to be an astrophysicist studying the origins of the universe, your Photoshop requirements might be substantially more specific than you’ll find here. (Yes, I do know at least two of those folks — and I’m sure they bought this book, too.) But for the overwhelming majority of the people who have access to Adobe Photoshop CS2, this book provides the background you need to work efficiently and competently with Photoshop.

As I wrote this book, I intentionally tried to strike a balance between the types of images with which you are most likely to work and those visually stimulating (yet far less common) images of unusual subjects from far away places. At no point in this book does flavor override foundation. When you need to see a practical example, that’s what I show you. I included a number of images from PhotoSpin.com, my favorite subscription stock art source. But, again, I worked to ensure that each piece of artwork illustrates a tech¬nique and does so in a meaningful, nondistracting way for you, the reader.

You’ll see that I used mostly my Apple computers in producing this book. That’s simply a matter of choice and convenience. Other than the buttons in the corners of the windows, the modifier keys, and a few choices in terminol¬ogy (such as pop-up menu versus drop-down menu), Photoshop works pretty much the same on a Mac as it does in Windows. (Okay, well, one other difference: I find color management on Apple computers to be much simpler and more reliable.) You’ll also see (if you look closely) that I shoot mostly with Canon cameras and use Epson printers. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t shoot with Nikon, Sony, or Fuji, or that you shouldn’t print with HP or Canon. If that’s what you have, if it’s the equipment with which you’re comfortable, if it fulfills your needs, stick with it!

One additional note: If you’re brand new to digital imaging and computers, this probably isn’t the best place to start. I do indeed make certain assump¬tions about your level of computer knowledge (and, to a lesser degree, your knowledge of digital imaging). But if you know your FileOOpen from your FileOClose and can find your lens cap with both hands, read Chapter 1, and you’ll have no problem with Photoshop CS2 For Dummies.

How This Book Is Organized

Photoshop CS2 For Dummies is primarily a reference book. As such, you can check the table of contents or the index for a specific subject, flip to those pages, and get the information you need. You can also start at the beginning and read cover to cover (just to make sure you don’t miss a single tip, tech¬nique, or joke). To give you an indication of the type of information in each chapter, I organized the book into parts. Here’s a quick look at what sort of content you’ll find in each part.

Part I: Breezing through Basic Training

The first set of chapters presents the basic operation of Photoshop, what you need to know to get around in the program, and the core process of getting images into Photoshop and back out again. If you’re new to digital imaging, and particularly unfamiliar with Photoshop, make sure to read Chapter 1 through Chapter 3. If you’ve worked with Photoshop or another image editing program and aren’t quite sure about the concept of resolution or which file formats are best for which purposes, don’t overlook Chapter 2. Chapter 4 is the meat and potatoes of Photoshop: scanning and downloading images from cameras, cropping to fit specific print and frame sizes, and printing or post¬ing your images on the Web. All in one nice, tidy package.

Part II: Easy Enhancements for Digital Images

In Chapters 5 through 9, you discover ideas and techniques for improving the appearance of your images. You read about tonality (the lightness and dark¬ness of the image), color correction (making the image’s color look natural), and making selections to isolate individual parts of your image for correction. Part II also includes a full chapter on the Raw file format for digital cameras — what it is, why it’s important, and how to determine whether it’s right for you. At the end of this part, I include a chapter on the most common problems in digital photos (red-eye, wrinkles, and unwanted objects and people). And, yes, that chapter includes what to do about those problems, too!

Part III: Creating “Art” in Photoshop

The chapters in Part III take a walk on the creative side. Although not every¬one wants to use Photoshop as a digital painting program, everyone should understand how to get around in the complex and daunting Brushes palette. Compositing images (making one picture from two or more), adding text (whether a simple copyright notice or an entire page), using paths, and adding layer styles are all valuable skills for just about all folks who work with Photoshop (even if they don’t consider their work to be art).

Part IV: Power Photoshop

The two chapters in Part IV are more specialized than the rest of the book. If you don’t work in a production environment (even cropping to the same dimensions regularly can count as production), you might not need to use Actions in Photoshop. But there’s far more to Chapter 16 than just Actions and scripting! It also shows you how you can create an onscreen presentation that anyone can view, automatically generate a single page with small thumb¬nail images of all your photos, and save paper by printing multiple images on a single sheet. Chapter 17 is a Web-only chapter. If you don’t create graphics for the Web, you probably don’t need to read it. However, if you skip it, you might never see how to create cool little animated movies.

Part V: The Part of Tens

The final part of this book, The Part of Tens, was both the easiest and most difficult section to prepare. It was easy because, well, the chapters are short. It was incredibly tough because it’s so hard to narrow any Photoshop-related list to just ten items. Photoshop is such a beautifully complex and deep pro¬gram that I had a very hard time (as you’ll read) restricting myself to just ten favorite tips and tricks, just ten bits of hardware and software to make your work in Photoshop easier, and just ten reasons to own a digital camera. But I did it (more or less — beware of hidden tips and tricks)!
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2

O'Reilly - HTML & XHTML The Definitive Guide


Preface

Learning Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) is like learning any new language, computer or human. Most students first immerse themselves in examples. Studying others is a natural way to learn, making learning easy and fun. Our advice to anyone wanting to learn HTML and XHTML is to get out there on the Web with a suitable browser and see for yourself what looks good, what's effective, and what works for you. Examine others' documents and ponder the possibilities. Mimicry is how many of the current webmasters have learned the language.

Imitation can take you only so far, though. Examples can be both good and bad. Learning by example helps you talk the talk, but not walk the walk. To become truly conversant, you must learn how to use the language appropriately in many different situations. You could learn all that by example, if you live long enough.

Remember, too, that computer-based languages are more explicit than human languages. You have to get the language syntax correct or it won't work. Then there is the problem of "standards." Committees of academics and industry experts define the proper syntax and usage of a computer language like HTML. The problem is that browser manufacturers like Netscape Communications Corporation (an America Online company) and Microsoft Corporation choose which parts of the standard they will use and which parts they will ignore. They even make up their own parts, which may eventually become standards.

Standards change, too. HTML is undergoing a conversion into XHTML, making it an application of the Extensible Markup Language (XML). HTML and XHTML are so similar that we often refer to them as a single language, but there are key differences, which we discuss later in this Preface.

To be safe, the way to become fluent in HTML and XHTML is through a comprehensive, up-to-date language reference that covers the language syntax, semantics, and variations in detail to help you distinguish between good and bad usage.

There's one more step leading to fluency in a language. To become a true master of the language, you need to develop your own style. That means knowing not only what is appropriate, but what is effective. Layout matters. A lot. So does the order of presentation within a document, between documents, and between document collections.

Our goal in writing this book is to help you become fluent in HTML and XHTML, fully versed in their syntax, semantics, and elements of style. We take the natural learning approach, using examples (good ones, of course). We cover in detail every element of the currently accepted standard versions of the languages (HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0) as well as all of the current extensions supported by the popular browsers, explaining how each element works and how it interacts with all of the other elements.

And, with all due respect to Strunk and White, throughout the book we give you suggestions for style and composition to help you decide how best to use HTML and XHTML to accomplish a variety of tasks, from simple online documentation to complex marketing and sales presentations. We show you what works and what doesn't, what makes sense to those who view your pages, and what might be confusing.

In short, this book is a complete guide to creating documents using HTML and XHTML, starting with basic syntax and semantics, and finishing with broad style guidelines to help you create beautiful, informative, accessible documents that you'll be proud to deliver to your readers.

Our Audience

We wrote this book for anyone interested in learning and using the language of the Web, from the most casual user to the full-time design professional. We don't expect you to have any experience in HTML or XHTML before picking up this book. In fact, we don't even expect that you've ever browsed the Web, although we'd be very surprised if you haven't. Being connected to the Internet is not strictly necessary to use this book, but if you're not connected, this book becomes like a travel guide for the homebound.

The only things we ask you to have are a computer, a text editor that can create simple ASCII text files, and copies of the latest leading web browsers -- preferably Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Because HTML and XHTML documents are stored in a universally accepted format -- ASCII text -- and because the languages are completely independent of any specific computer, we won't even make an assumption about the kind of computer you're using. However, browsers do vary by platform and operating system, which means that your HTML or XHTML documents can look quite different depending on the computer and browser version. We explain how the various browsers use certain language features, paying particular attention to how they are different.

If you are new to HTML, the Web, or hypertext documentation in general, you should start by reading Chapter 1. In it, we describe how all these technologies come together to create webs of interrelated documents.

If you are already familiar with the Web, but not with HTML or XHTML specifically, start by reading Chapter 2. This chapter is a brief overview of the most important features of the language and serves as a roadmap to how we approach the language in the remainder of the book.

Subsequent chapters deal with specific language features in a roughly top-down approach to HTML and XHTML. Read them in order for a complete tour through the language, or jump around to find the exact feature you're interested in.
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1

HTML, XHTML, & CSS Bible, 3rd Ed

Introduction


The World Wide Web has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Most Internet historians recognize Gopher as the precursor to the Web. Gopher was a revolutionary search tool that allowed the user to search hierarchical archives of textual documents. It enabled Internet users to easily search, retrieve, and share information.

Today’s World Wide Web is capable of delivering information via any number of medium—text, audio, video. The content can be dynamic and even interactive.

However, the Web is not a panacea. The standards that make up the HTTP protocol are implemented in different ways by different browsers. What works on one platform may not work the same, if at all, on the next. Newly Web-enabled devices— PDAs, cell phones, appliances, and so on—are still searching for a suitable form of HTML to standardize on.

This turmoil makes a book like this difficult to write. Although standards exist, they have been implemented in different ways and somewhat haphazardly. In addition, there are more technologies at work on the Web than can be easily counted. One book cannot hope to cover them all.

This book attempts to cover a broad subset of available technologies and techniques, centering on the HTML 4.01 standard, along with a mix of newer, upcoming standards such as XML and XHTML.
Who Should Read This Book?

This book is geared toward a wide audience. Those readers who are just getting started with HTML and Web content will benefit the most as this book provides a decent learning foundation as well as ample reference material for later perusal. Experienced users will find the chapters covering new standards and technologies to be the most useful, and will also appreciate having a comprehensive reference for consultation.

Although the Web is technical in nature, we have done our best to boil down the technology into simple and straightforward terms. Whether you are a computer scientist or a computer neophyte, you should be able to understand, adopt, and deploy the technologies discussed herein.
Book Organization, Conventions, and Features

The Wiley “Bible” series of books uses several different methods to present information to help you get the most out of it. The book is organized according to the following conventions.
Organization

This book is organized into logical parts. Each part contains related chapters that cover complementary subjects.

Part I, Understanding (X)HTML, is your introduction to the HTML protocol.

Part II, HTML and XHTML Authoring Fundamentals, continues coverage on the basics of the HTML protocol and familiarizes you with the basic HTML elements.

Part III, Controlling Presentation with CSS, covers Cascading Style Sheets—covering how CSS works and introducing its various elements.

Part IV, Advanced Web Authoring, delves into more advanced topics such as scripting, Dynamic HTML, and XML.

Part V, Testing, Publishing, and Maintaining Your Site, covers more details about the tools and methodology for creating and publishing your content to the Web.

Part VI, Principles of Professional Web Design and Development, covers more philosophical topics about developing structured, accessible content and how to protect your content online.

Part VII, Appendixes, provides reference material on HTML tags, CSS conventions, and language codes.

Conventions and features

There are many different organizational and typographical features throughout this book designed to help you get the most from the information.

Tips, Notes, and Cautions

Whenever the authors want to bring something important to your attention, the information will appear in a Tip, Note, or Caution. These elements are formatted like this:

Caution This information is important and is set off in a separate paragraph with a special icon. Cautions provide information about things to watch out for, whether these things are simply inconvenient or potentially hazardous to your data or systems.Tips generally are used to provide information that can make your work easier— special shortcuts or methods for doing something easier than the norm.

Notes provide additional, ancillary information that is helpful, but somewhat outside the current discussion.

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2

HTML in 1o Simple Steps

Introduction - From The Authors

Welcome to HTML in 10 Simple Steps or Less. Our mission in writing this book is to provide a quick and accessible way for you to learn Hypertext Markup Language — the lingua franca of the World Wide Web. We hope this book provides a resource that beginning and intermediate HTML coders can use to improve their Web development skills. It is also our hope that it fills multiple roles as both a teach-ing tool and a reference once you expand your skills.

What This Book Is

Each part in this book pertains to a different aspect of HTML and Web production, and we devote each task within the parts to building a specific piece of Web page content. We’ve laid out these tasks in 10 steps or less so they’re easy to internalize and become part of your personal skill set.

Who We Are and What We Know

Robert Fuller has an extensive background in Web development and design. He served as senior devel-oper for Travelocity’s Site59.com and takes his experience into the classroom — both live and online — every day. He believes that in order for new Web developers truly to flourish, they must gain a solid understanding of the Web’s underlying language, HTML.

He has authored, coauthored, and contributed to several books about HTML, Web design, graphic soft-ware applications, and general computing. His online courses are currently available in college curricula throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Laurie Ulrich has used, written about, and helped others use computers since the early 1980s. She ran two large training centers for computer resellers in Philadelphia and New York, and she served as an IT manager specializing in the proprietary software needs of midsize distributors. In 1992 she founded Limehat & Company, Inc., a firm providing Web hosting, design, and Webmaster services to growing businesses and nonprofit organizations. She has taught more than 10,000 students to make more effective and creative use of their computers and software.
Laurie has also authored, coauthored, and contributed to more than 25 nationally published books on desktop applications, graphics and illustration, and Web design.

How to Use This Book

We think of this book as a multipurpose tool — perhaps the Swiss Army knife of HTML coding. Not only can you employ it as a guide to creating individual pieces of Web page content, but you can also use this book as a valuable teaching tool. By working through the book’s tasks in sequence, you will learn the basics of Web page development — from constructing tags (the core components of Hypertext Markup Language) to publishing complete sites to a Web server.


In addition to the material found in this book, the publisher maintains a companion Web site where you’ll find information that doesn’t lend itself to a task-oriented approach. We point you to the Web site (www.wiley.com/compbooks/10simplestepsorless) at various points throughout the book to give you detailed information about particular concepts, help you learn about other Web-based resources, and provide samples of some of the content you create.
What You Need to Get Started

As long as you have a computer, the list of requirements is quite short. To create Web page content you need only two things: a program for writing code (a text editor) and another program for viewing the fin-ished product (a Web browser).

Text Editors
In nearly every case, a computer’s operating system (OS) comes with a text editor. For example, Microsoft Windows provides its users with the program called Notepad. It is a very simple, bare-bones application that allows you to write simple text files — which is all that an HTML document is. Mac OS 9 (and earlier versions) contains a native text editor, called SimpleText. Apple refers to it as “the utility-knife of software.” This simple application is designed for simple tasks. Mac OS X provides a new pro-gram, called TextEdit, that replaces SimpleText. Both of these applications are more than sufficient for writing HTML documents. Having written a vast quantity of HTML over the years, however, we’re sure you’ll ultimately want to work with a text editor that offers more functionality than these limited-range word processors do. Like anything else, you want the right tool for the job.

More robust programs offer advantages that make learning HTML easy. Just as a full-featured word processor makes it easy to write letters, term papers, and books — compared with using Notepad or SimpleText — an HTML code editor makes it easy to generate code properly and build robust Web pages. For example, most HTML editors feature syntax-checking and code-coloring. Because they understand the code you write, these programs assign colors to different functional parts of the code so that you can easily spot errors (mostly caused by typos) and fix them.

Each major operating system — Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX/Linux — offers a number of HTML editors that cost anywhere from nothing to over $100. (But as we said earlier, you get what you pay for.) We review here some of the more popular editors available on each platform. Later on in the book, we discuss these products and others in greater detail.

TextPad from Helios Software Solutions (Windows)

TextPad is shareware, which means you can download it for free and generally use it indefinitely. However, if you intend to use the program for an extended period, and derive much productive use from it, you should register and pay for the program — if at least to get technical support and notifications of upgrades or improvements (bug fixes). TextPad currently runs about US $26.
The creators of TextPad feel there shouldn’t be a steep learning curve when picking up a new application. Your familiarity with other Windows programs should be sufficient experience. TextPad therefore pro-vides the kinds of tools you expect from other applications, including keyboard shortcuts, spell-checking (in 10 languages), the ability to open and edit multiple files simultaneously, drag and drop, undo and redo, and the ability to create macros. TextPad also provides many code-specific tools, such as syntax-checking, code-coloring, and libraries for storing reusable code snippets.
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Monday, January 28, 2008

1

Hacking Google Maps

Introduction


Do you know where you are?
Do you know where you are going?
Could you find the nearest restaurant to your current location?
When you looked at your latest holiday photos, could you remember where you were?
It is just these sorts of questions that drove me to write this book. I’m interested in the answers to all of these questions, and particularly in ways in which I can represent information about my world, and the world we live in, in a way that relates that data to its location.

During the course of writing this book I visited New York (U.S.), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Sorrento (Italy), in addition to many different places within a few miles of my home. In each case, Google Maps and Google Earth could be used to record information about where I had been, to look up information about where I was going, or simply to help me understand the area I was visiting. All of these situations, and more, are documented and described within this book.

Who This Book Is For

This book is aimed at both amateur and professional programmers who want to make use of either Google Maps or Google Earth in their own applications. To get the best out of this book, you should have some basic programming experience and ideally be familiar with HTML and JavaScript. It would also be beneficial to have experience with scripting languages (particularly Perl) and SQL databases, such as MySQL.

Managers and other interested parties might also find sections of the book useful, because it can help them understand how the applications work and also provide background knowledge on what Google Maps and Google Earth are capable of.

How This Book Is Organized

The book is divided into four basic parts:
Part I covers the basics of the Google Maps interface, the fundamentals of the Google Maps API, and how to organize and translate existing information into a format that can successfully be used within Google Maps and Google Earth applications. The section should get you up to speed on the core techniques and abilities you need to work with the rest of the book.Part II shows you what the Google Maps system is capable of doing. In this section you’ll find information on some excellent sample applications and how to create your own Google Maps applications by extending the functionality of the core Google examples.

Part III is crammed full of examples of Google Maps applications, starting with basic markers and overlays, moving through dynamically driven examples and on to methods of highlighting key points and elements for archaeologists and Realtors. The section finishes up with an exam¬ple of a route description application. All of the examples demonstrated can be viewed online.

Part IV covers the Google Earth application. Google Earth is a standalone application, rather than a web site solution like Google Maps, and offers a completely new set of methods for describing information.

What You Need to Use This Book

For the Google Maps examples in this book, you need access to a publicly available web site where you can add and update pages, because the Google Maps API must be able to verify your pages during use. Hosting these pages on your own machine is unlikely to work. Full details of requirements, including those for accessing the Google Maps API are provided in Chapter 3.

Google Maps applications are written using JavaScript and HTML, so you should be familiar with these to be able to understand and adapt the examples. Many of the examples use a Perl script for providing data, and although these operations could also be written in PHP or Python, examples of these are not provided. Finally, some examples use a MySQL database to store information. A similar database solution, such as MySQL, Derby, PostgreSQL, or others will be required to duplicate some of the samples. All of the examples should work within the major platforms (Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac OS X).

All of the examples in this book make use of the version 1 sequence of the Google Maps API. The API is under constant development and new versions might be released after the publica¬tion of this book that supersede the version used in the examples. The availability of the new version will not affect the operation of the examples, which are designed to work with the v1 sequence.
The Google Earth application is available for computers running Windows and Mac OS X. However, new versions and editions for existing and new platforms could be released at any time.
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1

Hacking GPS

Contents


Chapter 1: GPS Secrets.

Hidden Secrets
Garmin Secret Screens
Hard Resets
Soft Resets
Warm Resets
Full GPS Resets
Diagnostic Screens
Autolocating
Magellan Secret Screens
Magellan Meridian Series
After a Hard or Soft Reset
Chapter 2: Building GPS Data Cables and Power Cords
Cables Demystified
The Data Cable
Power Cords
Combo Cables
Combining Cable Types
Multi-GPS Cables
Multi-Data Cables
Multi-Data/Power Cables
Multi-Data/Power/GPS Cables
Making Your Own Data Cables
Materials You Will Need
Don’t Want to Buy a Connector?
Making Power Cords
Power Cord Assembly
Testing

Precautions 3
2GPS/iPAQ_Connections
Cradle Modification
Testing the Connection
Making Multi Cables.
Summary.

Chapter 3: Power Hacks
GPS Power Needs.
Lithium Batteries
Rechargeable (NiMH) Batteries
Battery Do’s and Don’ts
Power Hacks
Carrying Your Own 12-Volt Power Supply
Battery Packs
A Different Kind of Battery Pack
Alternative Power Supplies
Summary.
Chapter 4: Antenna Hacks
The GPS Antenna
Quad-Helix Orientation
Patch Antenna Orientation.
Best Performance Summary
External Antennas
Antenna Placement
Other Things to Avoid
Reradiating Antennas
Personal Reradiating Antenna
Communal Reradiating Antenna
Reradiating Antenna Considerations
Setting Up a Reradiating Antenna in a Car
Testing the System
Making the System Permanent
Carrying a GPS Signal via Cable
How Much Signal Do You Need?
Cable Losses
Connector Losses
Using a Signal Repeater.
Building Your Own Mega GPS Antenna
Materials
Building the Antenna
Summary.

Chapter 5: Protecting Your GPS
Screen Damage
Screen Protectors
More Screen Armoring
Commercial Protection for GPS and PDAs
Mounting GPS
Car Mounting
Making a Personalized Case
Summary

Chapter 6: Hacking the Firmware.
Firmware
Updating Warnings.
Updating the Firmware.
Hacking GPS Firmware
Bypassing the Garmin eTrex Vista Startup Screen.
Bypassing the Garmin eTrex Legend Startup Screen
Bypassing the Garmin eTrex Venture Startup Screen.
MeMap Personalization.
Manual Firmware Editing.
Magellan GPS Firmware Modifications..
Recovering from a Failed Firmware Load.
Garmin.
Magellan
Summary

Chapter 7: Making Connections
The PC — GPS Relationship
Connection Types
Which Connection Is Best?
Troubleshooting Problems.
PC Connection Trouble
General PDA Connection Trouble.
Software-Specific Issues
Erratic Mouse Pointer after Connecting a GPS
Windows XP Problem: Microsoft Ball Point.
Microsoft MapPoint Troubleshooting.
USB-to-Serial Converters.
Summary
Chapter 8: GPS Data.
GPS Data Collection
Position, Velocity, Time.
Waypoints.
Working with the Data.
EasyGPS.
G7toWin
Creative Uses of GPS Data
Sharing Waypoints.
Adding GPS Information to Digital Photos.
Lightning Detector and Plotter.
Wardriving.
GPS in Programming.
Summary..
Chapter 9: Examining the Data.
NMEA.
NMEA Sentences.
NMEA Sentence Structure
A Closer Look at NMEA Sentences.
Examining NMEA Sentences.
NMEA Checksum.
SiRF..
Using NMEA Sentences.
GPS NMEA LOG.
GPS Diagnostic
RECSIM III
Using NMEA.
GpsGate
Recording Actual NMEA Sentences with GpsGate
Recording Simulated NMEA Using GpsGate
Data Playback..
Why Bother with NMEA?
Ensuring That Your GPS Works
Avoiding Data Corruption
Summary.
Chapter 10: More Data Tricks.
Screenshots

5

Hacking Gmail

Introduction


Welcome to Hacking Gmail. Thanks for buying this book. If you haven’t bought it, you should. It’s very good, and once you buy it you can stop loitering around the bookstore stacks. Go on: Buy it, sit down, have a coffee. See? Comfier isn’t it? Ah. Hacking Gmail. It’s a manly hobby, and this book will tell you how. Sorry? What’s Gmail, you ask? Well, let me tell you . ..

What’s Gmail?

March 31, 2004. A watershed in human history. Google’s web-based e-mail ser¬vice, still now at the time of this writing in Beta, and available only to people invited by other existing users, was launched. Offering a gigabyte of storage, an incredibly advanced JavaScript interface, and a series of user interface innovations, Gmail was an instant hit among those who could get access to the system. Today, more than a year later, Gmail is proving to be one of the flagship applications on the web—a truly rich application within the browser, combined with the server-based power of the world’s leading search engine.

Hacking Gmail?

Of course, all that power just begs to be abused. Power corrupts, as they say, and hackers are nothing but a corrupt bunch: Almost as soon as Gmail was launched, hackers were looking at ways to use those capabilities for other purposes. They investigated the incredibly rich interface, and saw how much of the process¬ing is done on the user’s own machine; they burrowed into the communication between the browser and the server; and they developed a series of interfaces for scripting languages to allow you to control Gmail from your own programs.

This book shows what they did, how to do it yourself, and what to do after you’ve mastered the techniques. Meanwhile, you’ll also learn all about Ajax, the terribly fashionable JavaScript technique that Gmail brought into the mainstream. Two topics for the price of one!

What’s in This Book?

There are three parts to this book, each lovingly crafted to bring you, young Jedi, to the peak of Gmailing excellence. They are:
Part I: Starting to Use Gmail

Where you learn to use Gmail like a professional. A professional Gmail user, no less. A really skilled professional Gmail user. With a degree in Gmail. A Gmail ninja. A Gmail ninja with a black belt in Gmail from the secret Gmail training school on Mount Gmail. You might actually be part Gmail. Perhaps you’ve named your first born child after Gmail. You live in the Google Headquarters. You are Larry Page. You get the idea.

Part II: Getting Inside Gmail

Where you find out how Gmail works, and how you can use modern scripting languages to control it.

Part III: Conquering Gmail

Where you put these new skills to the test, wrangling Gmail into fiendishly clever uses, totally unlike those Google intended.

Whom Is This Book For?

You. Of course it is. If you picked up a book called Hacking Gmail, you’re very likely to want it. If you’re a programmer looking to use Gmail in wacky ways, this book is for you. If you’re a power user looking to hack together scripts to do dan¬gerously efficient things with your mail, this book is for you. If you’re the parent, best friend, or lover of someone who answers to that description, this book is for them, and you should buy two copies. Really. It’s great. And the shiny cover looks cool, no? I tell you, metallic covers are all the thing.

Hacking Carefully

It must be said here in plain English, and elsewhere by a battalion of scary lawyer folk, that I take no responsibility whatsoever for anything anyone does after reading this book. If you lose data; get folded, spindled, or mutilated; or have your Gmail account suspended, it is not my fault. The fine folks at Google, it has to be said, have played no part in the writing of this book, and most likely do not approve of the contents within. They may have me killed. Either way, I take no responsibility for anything. You’re on your own, kiddo. As am I.
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1

Hacking Firefox


Using This Book and What You Will Find Here

To use this book, all you need to do is have a basic understanding of how Firefox works, how to install it, and how to find files on your computer. As you read, you will begin to unravel the marvels of coding for Firefox using the basics of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript and then later diving into XML User Interface Language (XUL) and the Cross Platform Component Object Model (XPCOM). The final goal is being able to create extensions that will allow you to customize Firefox to your heart’s content.

This book starts by giving you a brief overview of how to hack manually, how to hack with extensions, and then a quick glance at what you will need to do to back up critical files so that you can practice safe hacking.

Then it breaks down each of the individual components of Firefox from interface to rendering to privacy and walks you through hacking and modifying key files to apply tons of possible interface and functionality changes. It also includes a great list of proven extensions with which you can modify core features of Firefox, as well as the look and feel of the interface.

In addition, this book covers the grassroots efforts that Mozilla and Firefox have become known for among developers—the ability to use the highly extendable Mozilla programming language and interface to modify any aspect of the browser by creating extensions, and also how you can change the appearance of the browser by creating themes.
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1

Video Blogging

How This Book Is Organized


I divided this book into parts, which I organized by topic. The parts point out the most important aspects of videoblogging. If you’re looking for information on a specific videoblogging topic, check the index or skim the headings in the table of contents and flip to the indicated page.

By design, this book enables you to get as much (or as little) information as you need at any particular moment. Need to know something fast to set up an RSS feed? Read the section of Chapter 13 that applies. Videoblogging For Dummies is intended as a reference that you can reach for again and again whenever some new question about videoblogging comes up.

Part I: Zen and the Art of Videoblogs

This part gives an overview of videoblogging. It’s part introduction, and part quick-and-dirty get-you-started fun. Here’s where you find information on watching videoblogs, getting your computer set up for videoblogging, and creating your first, basic videoblog post.

Part II: Step Away from the Camera

Okay, this part doesn’t really get away from the camera, but it does focus on the parts of videoblogging where you don’t necessarily want the camera present. For example, getting feedback on your videoblog, branding a look and feel, overcoming stage fright, and planning a videoblog entry — as well as scripting it — are all in this part.

Part III: Lights, Camera, Vlog!

This part talks about more advanced filmmaking techniques, including composition, lighting, sound, and file formats and compression. If you’re an experienced videographer, you’ll find the file formats section interesting, but if you’re new to storytelling through a lens, then you’ll want to read Chapter 9 on composing shots and using the camerawork to tell your story.

Part IV: Going Public

In this part, you get the preflight briefing about putting your videoblog on the Internet, publicizing it, managing the permissions, and keeping an eye on your traffic and bandwidth expenses.

Part V: The Part of Tens

I’ve remained true to For Dummies style by including a Part of Tens. The chapters in this part can help you quickly find ten or so vlogs to watch, personal vlogging ideas, and business videoblogging ideas. The Part of Tens is a resource you can turn to again and again.
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1

Dreamweaver 8 - All in one Desk Reference

About This Book


This is a reference book, which means you can jump around from chapter to chapter reading whatever section you want as the need arises. Don’t feel locked into the idea of reading the book from cover to cover. In fact, think of each minibook as its own little reference zone where each zone is split into chapters about performing specific tasks in Dreamweaver 8.

Everything you find in this book is written so you don’t have to wade through complicated technical help files or have to commit anything to memory. Tokeep things simple, you’ll find detailed, step-by-step, easy-to-follow instruc¬tions. When more technical information is needed to clarify a particular process, it’s often set apart from the main text in sidebars or noted in the margins with a Technical Stuff icon.

The bottom line is that we want to make you comfortable with Dreamweaver 8 and hope that you’ll continue to use this book frequently and consider it the main resource of your Web-design library.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help with new terms and concepts, the following typographical rules or conventions are used in this book:
♦ New terms: New terms are set apart with italics. For example:
Dreamweaver 8 comes with the commonly used JavaScripts, which it refers to as behaviors, ready to insert into your pages from the Behaviors panel.
♦ Code samples: We include short code samples in monospaced text within the paragraph, like this: . We set longer code samples apart from the text, like this:

For the times when we want to draw your attention to particular parts of code samples, we indicate the important parts in bold, as in this example:
.
♦ Reader entry: Anything you need to type is in boldface.
♦ Cross-platform: Whenever PCs and Macs have different shortcuts, we include both the Windows equivalent (right-click) and the Mac equiva¬lent (Control+click).
♦ Web addresses: Web addresses are set apart in monofont, such as
www.macromedia.com.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You don’t have to read any part of this book that doesn’t interest you. For example, if you never intend to use Fireworks, skip that chapter! And if you see a technical sidebar that covers more technical information than you care to know, pass it by. The main thing is that you know what is available and only read what is useful to you.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into nine minibooks, each of which is further divided into relevant chapters organized by topic. Each minibook relates to the most important concepts in Dreamweaver.

Book I: Getting Started

Begin your trip into the world of Web design with a look around the Dreamweaver workspace and a review of site design. Then find out how to create and manage sites in Dreamweaver — an important step that enables you to take full advantage of Dreamweaver’s automated features.

Book II: Mastering the Basics

Book II shows you everything you need to know to create new documents; add and format text on a page; insert graphics and create rollover buttons; convert text and graphics into clickable links to other Web pages; add movies, sound, and other media files to your pages; add tables for organizing content; and build fantastic forms for collecting data from visitors.

Book III: Working Like the Pros

Book III walks you through the process of styling your pages with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), building sites using Dreamweaver templates, and using Library items. You also find out about using server-side includes, creating and using code snippets, and recording and saving custom commands with the History panel. The final chapter in this minibook contains information on using Dreamweaver with Fireworks for roundtrip image optimization.
Book IV: Energizing Your Site

When you’re ready to add more zing and pizzazz to your pages, turn to Book IV. Here you find out how to work with layers instead of tables, create oppor¬tunities for visitor interactivity by adding JavaScript behaviors to objects onyour pages, and design pages built with frames. The final chapter in this minibook shows you all about the benefits of XHTML and how to configure Dreamweaver to write XHTML-compliant code.
Book V: Publishing Your Site

Book V shows you how to run Dreamweaver’s reports and use other tools to test and fix any errors before you publish your site. You also find out how to select and set up a remote connection to your host server and transfer files to the remote site.

Book VI: Working Collaboratively

Macromedia’s Contribute 3 is a software program that allows nondesigners to edit and update content on live Web pages through a special interface — all without needing to know any HTML or Dreamweaver. Book VI contains information on setting up, connecting to, and managing a Contribute site.

Book VII: Building Web Applications

This minibook discusses how to select and add Web and application servers along with how to configure, edit, and delete database connections. When working with databases, troubleshooting problems is important, so we also discuss resolving permission problems, database connection issues, and error messages.

Book VIII: Making Pages Dynamic

In this minibook, you find out how to define data sources and make them available for use in your dynamic pages. We also show you how to add simple dynamic data to your Web pages, as well as create HTML tables for your recordsets, navigate through your recordsets, and dynamically control them. In addition, you discover how to test the functionality of your dynamic site by using Dreamweaver’s Live Data view. This minibook also includes a chapter on working with ColdFusion components, adding Web services to your site, and putting custom server behaviors to work.

Book IX: Developing Applications Rapidly

Book IX shows you how to build master and detail pages, search and results pages, and record insert, update, and delete pages. We also get into more complicated territory, such as calling ASP command objects, working with JSP prepared statements, and using stored procedures. Finally, you find out how to restrict site access.

1

Adobe Creative Suite 2 All-in-One Desk Reference


About This Book

The Adobe Creative Suite 2 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is written in a thorough and fun way to show you the basics on how to use each of the programs included in the suite. You find out how to use each program indi¬vidually and also how to work with the programs together, letting you extend your projects even further. You find out just how easy it is to use the programs through simple and easy-to-follow steps so that you can discover the power of the Adobe software. You’ll be up and running in no time!

Here are some of the things you can do with this book:

♦ Create page layouts using text, drawings, and images in InDesign.
♦ Make illustrations using drawing tools with Illustrator.
♦ Manipulate photographs using filters and drawing or color correction tools with Photoshop.
♦ Create PDF documents using Adobe Acrobat or other programs.
♦ Create Web pages and put them online with GoLive.
You discover the basics of how to create all these different kinds of things throughout the chapters in this book in fun, hands-on examples and clear explanations, getting you up to speed quickly!

Conventions Used in This Book

We use a few different conventions in this book. Conventions refer to particu¬lar formatting that is applied to some of the text you find in the chapters that follow.
Adobe Creative Suite 2 is available for both Windows and the Macintosh. We cover both platforms in this book. Where the keys you need to press or the menu choice you need to make differs between Windows and the Mac, we let you know by including instructions for both platforms. For example:

♦ Press the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key.
♦ Choose EditOPreferencesOGeneral (Windows) or InDesignOPreferencesO General (Mac).
The programs in Adobe Creative Suite 2 often require you to press and hold down a key (or keys) on the keyboard and then click or drag with the mouse. For brevity’s sake, we shorten this action by naming the key you need to hold down and adding click or drag, as follows:
♦ Shift+click to select multiple files.
♦ Move the object by Ctrl+dragging (Windows) or 86+dragging (Mac).
The formatting conventions used in this book are listed here:
♦ Bold: We use bold to indicate when you should type something, or to highlight an action in a step list. For example, the action required to open a dialog box would appear in bold in a step list.
♦ Code font: We use this computerese font to show you Web addresses (URLs), e-mail addresses, or bits of HTML code. For example, you would type a URL into a browser window to access a Web page such as www.
google.com.

♦ Italics: We use italics to highlight a new term, which is then defined. For example, filters might be a new term to you. The word itself is italicized and is followed by a definition to explain what the word means.

What You Don’t Have to Read

This book is such a large text, you might wonder if you have to read it from cover to cover. You don’t have to read every page of this book to discover how to use the Adobe Creative Suite. Luckily, you can choose the bits and pieces that mean the most to you and will help you finish a project you might be working on. Perhaps you’re interested in creating a technical draw¬ing and putting it online. You can choose to read a couple chapters in Book III on Illustrator, and then skip ahead to Book VI on GoLive, and just read the relevant chapters or sections on each subject. Later, you might want to place some associated PDF documents online, so then you can read a few chapters in Book V on Acrobat or Book II on exporting InDesign documents.

You don’t have to read everything on each page, either. You can treat many of the icons in this book as bonus material. Icons supplement the material in each chapter with additional information that might interest or help you with your work. The Technical Stuff icons are great if you want to find out a bit more about technical aspects of using the program or your computer, but don’t feel that you need to read these icons if technicalities don’t interest you.
How This Book Is Organized

The Adobe Creative Suite 2 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is split into six quick-reference guides or minibooks. You don’t have to read these mini-books sequentially, and you don’t even have to read all the sections in any particular chapter. You can use the Table of Contents and the index to find the information you need and quickly get your answer. In this section, we briefly describe what you find in each minibook.

Book I: Adobe Creative Suite 2 Basics

Book I shows you how to use the features in Adobe Creative Suite 2 that are similar across all the programs described in this book. You discover the menus, palettes, and tools that are similar or work the same way in most of the Adobe Creative Suite’s programs. You also find out how to import, export, and use common commands in each program. If you’re wondering about what shortcuts and common tools you can use in the programs to speed up your workflow, then this part has tips and tricks you’ll probably find quite useful. The similarities in all of the programs are helpful because they make using the programs that much easier.
Book II: InDesign CS2

Book II describes how to use InDesign CS2 to create simple page layouts using text, images, and drawings. Hands-on steps show you how to use the drawing tools in InDesign to create simple illustrations, and also use other menus and tools to add text and pictures. Importing stories and illustrations into InDesign is an important part of the process, so you find out how this is done effectively as well. Book II shows you how easy it is to create effective page layouts using this powerful and professional design program.

Book III: Illustrator CS2

Book III starts with the fundamentals of Adobe Illustrator CS2 to put you on your way to creating useful and interesting illustrations. Check out this mini-book to discover how to take advantage of features that have been around for many versions of Illustrator, such as the Pen tool, as well as new and exciting features, such as vector tracing. See how to take advantage of the Appearance palette and save time by creating graphics styles, templates, and symbols. Pick up hard-to-find keyboard shortcuts that can help reduce the time spent mousing around for menu items and tools.

Book IV: Photoshop CS2

Book IV on Photoshop CS2 is aimed to help you achieve good imagery, start¬ing with basics that even advanced users may have missed along the way. In this minibook, you find out how to color correct images like a pro and use tools to keep images at the right resolution and size, no matter whether the image is intended for print or the Web.

This minibook also shows you how to integrate new features in Photoshop, such as an improved Browse window, layer management, and a dynamic Histogram, into your workflow. By the time you’re finished with this mini-book, you’ll feel like you can perform magic on just about any image.

Book V: Acrobat 7.0

Adobe Acrobat 7.0 is a powerful viewing and editing application that allows you to share documents with colleagues, clients, and production personnel, such as printers and Web page designers. Book V shows you how you can save time and money previously spent on couriers and overnight shipping by taking advantage of annotation capabilities. Discover features that even advanced users may have missed along the way, and see how you can feel comfortable about using PDF as a file format of choice.

Book VI: GoLive CS2

Book VI shows you how creating a Web site in GoLive CS2 can be easy and fun. Take advantage of the tools and features in GoLive to make and maintain a very clean and useable site. After the fundamentals are covered, discover how to take advantage of improved CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) capabili¬ties, as well as exciting rollover and action features that add interactivity to your site. In the past, these functions would require lots of hand-coding and tape on the glasses, but now you can be a designer and create interactivity easily in GoLive, no hand-coding or pocket protectors required.
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1

Blog Design Solutions

INTRODUCTION


Greetings and welcome to Blog Design Solutions. Given that you’re thumbing through this book, it’s probably fair to guess that either you want to set up a blog of your very own, or you already have one and want to make it stand out and look a bit, well, less boring.

Let’s face it: Unless you code your own blog from scratch (which, incidentally, is exactly what Chapter 7 of this book shows you how to do), you will have used a third-party blog engine of some kind to whip up your blog site. This has major advantages in that you don’t have to be a web-development expert to get a blog running, and it is a huge timesaver, but this is a double-edged sword: thousands of other people will have done exactly the same thing as you, so your blog will be far from individual in appearance, even if your postings have Oscar Wilde proportions of literary excellence.

But there’s a man who can help you. Eight men, in fact. And they wrote this book with one overriding goal in mind: to help you produce a blog that will stand out above the rest and attract more visitors to it, giving your hard-wrought prose the exposure it deserves. It doesn’t matter what level of technical know-how you have achieved; you’ll find something in here to improve your blog—whether it’s setting one up in the first place and giving it a bit of added sparkle, or taking your current blog and giving it an overhaul with some advanced CSS and template magic.
So how do we do it?

We start off our teachings slowly. In Chapter 1, Phil Sherry gives you a introduction to blogs and how they fit into today’s web community—how things work, what’s hot, and what’s not. In Chapter 2, we start to get a bit more technical, but don’t panic! A little thought now will save a lot of frustration later. Here, David Powers takes you gently through setting up your local machine to develop and test your blog and your remote server to host your final creation. Whether you are using Windows or Mac, you’re in good hands.

Chapters 3 to 6 explore four of today’s most popular blogging engines: Andy Budd looks at Movable Type in Chapter 3; Simon Collison looks at ExpressionEngine in Chapter 4; Chris J. Davis and Michael Heilemann look at WordPress in Chapter 5; and John Oxton looks at Textpattern in Chapter 6. In each chapter, the authors take you through installing the defaultblog on your system, and how to configure and customize it in a basic fashion. Then they run riot, showing you how to turn the default design into a mind-blowing custom blog by using a variety of CSS, Photoshop, templating, and other techniques!

But the ride isn’t over yet. As a special bonus, we commissioned Rich Rutter to write a chapter (Chapter 7) on building your own blog from scratch, using PHP and MySQL, for the ultimate level of customization.

What do you need?

As hinted earlier, this book is written to be fully compatible with both Windows PCs and Macs. Because all the blog engines discussed are built with PHP/Perl and MySQL (open-source software, which runs on basically any platform), you should also be able to get most of the examples to run on Linux/Unix-based systems if so inclined (although we don’t specif¬ically cover these systems).

Everything you need to use this book can be downloaded from the Web; the locations of all software you need to set up your development environment are listed in Chapter 2, and the locations of the blog engines themselves are detailed in Chapters 3-6 in the relevant places. Finally, all the source files for the custom sites developed by the authors throughout the course of Chapters 3-7 are available from the friends of ED website, www.friendsofed.com. Just search for the book using the books option on the main navigation menu, and all will become clear.
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Friday, January 25, 2008

2

55 Ways To Have Fun With Google (2006)


Contents

1. Egogoogling: Susan Is
2. The Google Snake Game
3. Memecodes: Survival of the Fittest Web Pages
4. The Google Irritation Game, and the Google Image Quiz
5. Googling Proverbs
6. Browsing Images of a Site
7. A Brief History of Googlesport
8. What is Google, and what do people consider fun about it?
9. How Much Time Google Saves Us
10. Google Cookin’ a Lemon Chicken
11. Douglas Adams and the Google Calculator
12. Oops, I Googled Again
13. The Disappearing Google Logo, a Magic Trick
14. Fun With Google Maps, the Wiki Way
15. Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack
16. Google Q&A
17. Celebrate Google Non-Weddings, and More
18. Design Your SketchUp Dream House
19. Kevin Bacon and the Google Network
20. The Google Alphabet
21. Google Search Tips
22. Googlepark
23. Googleshare
24. The Shortest Google Search (and the One Returning the Most Results)
25. Google Rotated and Mini Google
26. The Google Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Google?.82
27. Recreate Google From Memory
28. The Strange World of Google News
29. Aliens Attack Google!
30. Top Ten Signs You Are Addicted to Google
31. Dig a Hole Through Earth
32. Googlebombing
33. Google Ads Gone Wrong
34. Life in the Age of Google
35. Google Hacking
36. Googlepolls: Ask the Crowd
37. Googlefights
38. What If Google Was Evil? Plus: Five Inventions of the Google Future
39. The Google Adventure Game
40. Egobot, Voice of the Web
41. Fun Google Gadgets
42. Forty-Two, or: A Science-Fiction Interlude
43. The Google Book of World Records
44. Spelling Errors Galore
45. Google Groups, Time Machine
46. Growing a Google Word
47. Most Popular Words, and PopSents
48. Create Google Poetry, Prose, and Collages
49. Funny Google Videos
50. The Realplayer Fish, or: Telling a Story in Synonyms
51. Google Parodies
52. The Google Images Prediction Trick
53. Fun With Google Translations
54. The Giant Google Painting
55. Googledromes

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1

250 Web design Secrets

Introduction


Web design has come a long way in just over a decade. The concerns facing anyone working on Web sites are so complex and changing so rapidly that it’s downright overwhelming. From a consumer perspective, Web designs and redesigns can be very expensive. The goal of this book is to provide you with all the top-flight infor¬mation you need to know to get up to speed with the best practices and standards being used by today’s practical but progressive Web sites such as ESPN and Wired News. We all need help to improve workflow, develop rich designs that can be accessed by numerous browsers and alternative devices such as cell phones and PDAs, create sites that meet legal concerns regarding content and accessibility, managing sites for the long term, and improve the financial bottom line by signif¬icantly reducing bandwidth and increasing revenue.

Most likely you are a person who is working on public or private Web sites and is somewhat experienced with HTML and Web graphic design and are interested in ramping up to the next level of expertise. If you’re like me, you want to make your life easier by streamlining the design process and management, and increasing awareness and promotion of the sites you design and develop. Your primary job might not even be that of a Web designer—perhaps you are a scientist, librarian, documentation specialist, promotions specialist, educator, or serving in the armed forces. The people working on Web sites at this point in history come from a very wide range of backgrounds and professions, and we come from all parts of the globe. Some readers will be avid hobbyists, too, using the Web as a means for self-expression via Weblogs, social networks, and special interest groups.

250 HTML and Web Design Secrets looks into the detailed work required to create successful Web sites and provides extremely up-to-date approaches to dealing with an array of challenges that the creation of Web sites presents. Technologies and top¬ics covered include tools, project management, information architecture, usability, content development and management, HTML, XHTML, and CSS, graphics and multimedia for the Web, accessibility, best uses of dynamic content and rich me¬dia, keeping content fresh, improving site ranking and promotions, and managing redesigns.

Using This Book

Focusing on theory, standards, and rigid practices is, in a word, dry. 250 HTML and Web Design Secrets takes a fresh and fun approach, providing insider techniques that will help designers get the information they need.

Instead of teaching individual languages or technologies, the lessons here are broken down into specific “secrets” that will help you immediately improve your current sites; help you build new sites that are visually exciting, extremely portable, and cross-platform compatible; help you manage redesigns; and take your sites from the past into a successful future. Another unique quality of the “Secrets” format of this book is that while it’s written to be read from start to finish, it can also be used as a quick reference when you’re facing a specific problem.

The book consists of 15 chapters broken into three parts: “Tools, Planning, and Content;” “HTML, XHTML, CSS and Accessibility;” and “Designing Sites for Long-Term Success.” There are also three appendices to help you get more re¬sources for Web site service provision, application, and database technologies, and references of a wide range of helpful Web sites, articles, books, and organiza¬tions that can help you constantly challenge and improve your skills beyond the scope of this book.
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1

PHP & MySQL Everyday Apps

About This Book


This book is a practical introduction to dynamic Web applications. It provides the code and information needed to build several of the most popular appli¬cations on the Web. The applications in this book allow you to

* Restrict your Web site or part of your Web site to authorized users
* Sell products on your Web site
* Provide a place where users can communicate with each other online
* Allow users to publish and edit their documents on a Web site
* Manage mailing lists

You can use these applications as is, modify them for use on your Web site, or build your own application by using techniques that I show you in these applications.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts, with two chapters in each part. Chapters 3 through 8 present applications. An additional bonus application chapter is included on the CD. Each application chapter includes the following information:

* Discussion of issues
* Structure of the database
* Code listings
* Explanation of the code

Each application chapter presents both procedural code and object-oriented code for the application.

The additional chapters provide information that’s useful when building applications (for example, I demystify security considerations).

Part I: Introducing Application Development

Chapter 1 in this part provides the information needed to use the applications in this book. It discusses PHP and MySQL versions, installing and modifying applications, and procedural versus object-oriented programming. In Chapter 2, you find out how to write secure code.

Part II: Building a User Authentication Application

This part provides information and code to build a user login application. I present two types of applications: user authentication using HTTP authenti¬cation (Chapter 3) and a user login application that allows users to register their own accounts, as well as log in to a secure Web site (Chapter 4).

Part III: Building Online Sales Applications

This part provides information and code for online sales applications. In Chapter 5, you find out how to write code for an application that provides an online catalog. Chapter 6 covers writing an application that allows customers to buy products from the catalog.

Part IV: Building Other Useful Applications

In Part IV, I present two other applications that you may find useful. In Chapter 7, I describe how to build a content management system (CMS). I describe how to build a Web forum in Chapter 8.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This part provides a useful list of important things to keep in mind when build¬ing an application (Chapter 9). I also provide a list of Web sites offering useful resources, such as code libraries, tutorials, articles, and so on (Chapter 10).

Part VI: Appendixes

This part provides instructions for object-oriented programming. Appendix A provides an introduction to the object-oriented programming features of PHP for people who know PHP, but are unfamiliar with the concepts and termi¬nology of object-oriented programming. Appendix B describes the syntax of PHP object-oriented features for those who are familiar with object-orientedprogramming in another language. Appendix C provides information on PHP functions used to interact with MySQL. It provides tables for converting from mysql functions to mysqli functions and/or mysqli objects. Appendix D describes in detail what you can find on the CD accompanying this book.
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1

Java All-in-One Desk Reference

About This Book


Java All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is intended to be a reference for all the great things (and maybe a few not-so-great things) that you may need to know when you’re writing Java programs. You can, of course, buy a huge 1,200-page book on each of the programming topics covered in this book. But then, who would carry them home from the bookstore for you? And where would you find the shelf space to store them? In this book, you get the information you need all conveniently packaged for you in between one set of covers.

This book doesn’t pretend to be a comprehensive reference for every detail on these topics. Instead, it shows you how to get up and running fast so that you have more time to do the things you really want to do. Designed using the easy-to-follow For Dummies format, this book helps you get the informa¬tion you need without laboring to find it.

Java All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is a big book made up of several smaller books — minibooks, if you will. Each of these minibooks covers the basics of one key element of programming, such as installing Java and com¬piling and running programs, or using basic Java statements, or using Swing to write GUI applications.

Whenever one big thing is made up of several smaller things, confusion is always a possibility. That’s why this book is designed to have multiple access points to help you find what you want. At the beginning of the book is a detailed table of contents that covers the entire book. Then, each mini-book begins with a minitable of contents that shows you at a miniglance what chapters are included in that minibook. Useful running heads appear at the top of each page to point out the topic discussed on that page. And handy thumbtabs run down the side of the pages to help you quickly find each minibook. Finally, a comprehensive index lets you find information any¬where in the entire book.

This isn’t the kind of book you pick up and read from start to finish, as if it were a cheap novel. If I ever see you reading it at the beach, I’ll kick sand in your face. This book is more like a reference, the kind of book you can pick up, turn to just about any page, and start reading. You don’t have to memo¬rize anything in this book. It’s a “need-to-know” book: You pick it up when you need to know something. Need a reminder on the constructors for the ArrayList class? Pick up the book. Can’t remember the goofy syntax for anonymous inner classes? Pick up the book. After you find what you need, put the book down and get on with your life.

How to Use This Book

This book works like a reference. Start with the topic you want to find out about. Look for it in the table of contents or in the index to get going. The table of contents is detailed enough that you can find most of the topics you’re looking for. If not, turn to the index, where you can find even more detail.

Of course, the book is loaded with information, so if you want to take a brief excursion into your topic, you’re more than welcome. If you want to know the big picture on inheritance, read the whole chapter on inheritance. But if you just want to know the rules for calling the superclass constructor, just read the section on inheritance and constructors.

Whenever I describe console output from a program or information that you see on-screen, I present it as follows:

A message from not-another-Hello-World program
If the program involves an interaction with the user, you see the text entered by the user in bold type.
How This Book Is Organized

Each of the nine minibooks contained in Java All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies can stand alone. Here is a brief description of what you find in each minibook.

Book I: Java Basics

This minibook contains the information you need to get started with Java. After a brief introduction to what Java is and why it’s so popular, you down¬load Java and install it on your computer and use its command-line tools. Then, you use two popular development tools — TextPad and Eclipse — to create Java programs.

Book II: Programming Basics

This minibook covers all the basic details of programming with the Java lan¬guage. I start with such basics as data types, variables, and statements, and then move on to expressions, conditional statements, looping statements, and methods. I end with a discussion of how to handle exceptions. You really need to know everything that’s in this minibook to do any serious programming, so you’ll probably spend a lot of time here if you’re new to programming.

Book III: Object-Oriented Programming

This minibook goes deep into the details of object-oriented programming with Java. You create your own classes, as well as work with inheritance and polymorphism. You also get the scoop on abstract classes, interfaces, pack¬ages, inner classes, and even anonymous inner classes.
Book IV: Strings, Arrays, and Collections

This minibook focuses on working with strings, arrays, and collections. You find out all about Java’s strange immutable strings as well as the StringBuilder and StringBuffer classes. You also create and work with arrays, and their collection counterparts including array lists and linked lists. Along the way, you find out about a cool new object-oriented programming feature called generics, which is designed to simplify the han¬dling of arrays and collections.

Book V: Programming Techniques

In this minibook, you discover a variety of interesting and often useful pro¬gramming techniques. For example, I include a chapter on working with threads so you can create programs that do more than one thing at a time. There’s a chapter on using regular expressions that shows you how to do some amazing string handling. And there’s a chapter on a programming tech¬nique called recursion that every programmer needs to feel comfortable with.

Book VI: Swing

Swing is the part of Java that lets you create graphical user interfaces. In this minibook, you find out all about Swing: how to create windows with controls like buttons, text fields, check boxes, drop-down lists, and so on; how to write programs that respond when the user clicks a button or types text; and how to control the layout of complicated forms.

Book VII: Web Programming

In this minibook, you use various Java features for creating Web applications. First, you turn Swing applications into applets that run in a user’s browser. Then, you create full-blown Web applications using servlets and JSP.

Book VIII: File and Database Programming

The chapters in this minibook show you how to work with data stored on disk, whether it’s in files, in a database, or in an XML file. You find chapters on working with files and directories, reading and writing data from streams, using Java’s database interface (JDBC) to access databases, and using Java’s XML features to read and write XML data.

Book IX: Fun and Games

This last minibook gets into some of the more interesting and fun aspects of Java programming. Specifically, you play with fonts and colors, draw pic¬tures, work with images and media, and even create animations and write simple game programs.

This book’s Web site

This book has an accompanying Web site (www.dummies.com/go/ javaaiofd) that includes even more goodies. If you’re the kind of person who’s always looking for a way to save time typing, the Web page includes all the code listings that are used in this book. And for those of you who are yearning for even more Java information, be sure to check out the three bonus chapters on the Web site: “Using the BigDecimal Class,” “Twiddling Your Bits,” and “Using Menus.”
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iLife '04 All-in-One Desk Reference

About This Book


We designed this book as a reference. You can find the information you need when you need it easily — this book even has thumbtabs to locate subjects quickly. We organize the information in a linear fashion into seven minibooks. You can read each minibook from beginning to end to find out how to use the software from scratch. You can also dive in anywhere and begin reading, because you find all the info you need to know for each task in each section or step list.

We don’t cover every detail of every function of the software, and we inten¬tionally leave out some detail so that we don’t spook you with technospeak when it’s not necessary. (Really, engineers can sometimes provide too many obscure choices that no one ever uses.) For this book, we wrote brief but comprehensive descriptions and included lots of cool tips on how to be pro¬ductive with iLife.

How This Book Is Organized

We organized this tome into seven minibooks. The first five minibooks repre¬sent the five parts of iLife (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand); the sixth minibook covers the iPod, and the last minibook delves into extra iLife information.

Book I: iTunes

This minibook begins with the revolution in digital music and what iTunes does. You find out how to play music CDs like a professional DJ, buy music online from the Apple Music Store, rip CDs and import music from many sources, and organize your music library. The minibook covers everything you need to know about sound quality and hard drive space trade-offs, as well as how to get the best sound from your computer or CDs you burn yourself.

Book II: iPhoto

This minibook provides all you need to know about using digital cameras and organizing your photos to produce prints, photo albums, and even professional-looking photo books. It shows you how to improve and retouch digital photos, create slideshows, and share photos online and by e-mail.

Book III: iMovie

This minibook introduces digital video and tells you everything you need to know about using digital camcorders with your Mac to create videos of all kinds, even professional videos. This minibook shows you how to manage video clips, create movies with photos and clips, and even edit soundtracks and special effects. It also covers sharing movies online and saving movies in professional formats.

Book IV: iDVD

This minibook describes how to bring all your digital assets together to create exciting DVDs that can play in DVD players as well as computers. You find out how to create interactive menus and buttons and special effects, such as video backgrounds. Burn DVDs like the pros and back up all your precious digital assets — photos, music, movies, slideshows — at their high¬est quality.

Book V: GarageBand

This minibook describes how to create your own music by building songs with prerecorded loops, recording a performance using your Mac as a syn¬thesizer that can simulate musical instruments, and recording performances with real musical instruments (such as guitars) or live singing with vocal microphones. You find out how to create and edit separate tracks, mix the tracks with volume and panning controls to create stereo sound, employ sound effects and simulated amplifiers, and export the finished song to iTunes.

Book VI: iPod

This minibook tells how to take your entire music library with you on the road with an iPod. You also discover how to use the iPod to look up contacts (addresses and phone numbers) and your calendar and to-do lists, as well as how to use the iPod as a portable hard drive.

Book VII: iLife Extras

This minibook talks about integrating the various components of iLife and includes some helpful third-party stuff.
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