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iPod: The Missing Manual

July 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

the book that  should have been in the box

I bought an iPod recently for playing MP3 music files – and I was amazed to discover that it does a lot more than that. The iPod is simply an iPhone without the phone – and this means a lot more than you might imagine. It plays music, sure enough, but it’s also got a wireless card, and that means you can surf the Web, get your emails, watch videos on YouTube, check the weather or the state of your stock market investments – and all this from a device you can comfortably keep in your top pocket.

iPod: The Missing ManualIt has all these features – and yet it doesn’t come with a guidance manual. You can download a PDF from the iTunes site, but reading manuals on screen is no joke – and the chances are that you’ll miss some of the amazing features on this device which is in the process of revolutionising our connections with the online world. In the last year alone, more than 20,000 small applications (Apps) have been written for the iPod and iPhone – and these are so accessible and so cheap, they are driving down the price of software everywhere.

I like the approach of the missing manual series, because they’re written with users’ needs in mind. For instance, the first thing anyone buying an iPod probably wants to know is – how can I get music onto this thing and start listening? And that’s exactly what comes up first in the manual – how to download tracks from iTunes, how to import a CD, and how to organise the music to suit your own needs.

The main learning curve with the iPod is the nested menu system – and that’s fairly clearly explained. Basically, you’ve just got to drill down from one screen to another to find your stuff. But the manual is well illustrated with photos and screenshots, so that you know exactly what you should be looking at.

iPod_touchAnd nothing can go drastically wrong, so you don’t need to worry. It’s no wonder that these devices have become so popular so quickly. Quite apart from the ultra-cool design, you can download games, extras, and software novelties with no trouble at all. Many of them are completely free or amazingly cheap. For instance, the ‘Brushes’ graphic design program used to produce these stunning pictures costs only £2.99. At this price you can afford to give things a try – and it’s no tragedy if you decide not to bother.

The manual covers the iPod Touch, the Classic, the Shuffle, and the Nano, and it also gives you a full guide to iTunes – the site from which Apple hopes you will download most of your music files. They currently sell for around £0.79 per track – but companies such as Amazon are currently undercutting them at £0.49 per track in an effort to capture the market.

There are two other things I like about the Missing Manuals. One is that they are not slavishly uncritical. If there’s a shortcoming with the product, they’ll mention it. And two – they’ll show you how to get round the problem. There are call-out boxes packed with hints, tips, and hidden workarounds. I discovered a really useful feature for anybody using an iPod whilst on the move: you can locate the nearest free WiFi hot spot simply by finding your location on Google Maps, then doing a search on WiFi.

You can also download movies, audio books, games, podcasts, TV programmes. You can even couple up your iPod to your TV and watch videos on a full size screen. That’s why these slender hand-held computers are now regarded as something of a Killer Ap – because they have the capacity to combine all online services into one user-friendly, affordable device.

© Roy Johnson 2010

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David Pogue, iPod: The Missing Manual, Sebastopol: O’Reilly, 2010, pp.304, ISBN: 1449390471


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Filed Under: Computers, Media Tagged With: Communication, Computers, iPod, iPod: The Missing Manual, Media, Technology

Learning Web Design

July 12, 2009 by Roy Johnson

Illustrated and comprehensive introduction to HTML

Jennifer Niederst is a specialist trainer in web design. Her last book, Web Design in a Nutshell, is a best-selling reference guide to the subject. Learning Web Design is her latest – a manual that covers all the basis of HTML design – from a detailed explanation of coding to the principles of good navigation and information design. So what makes this introductory guide any different to the dozens of others that are available?

Learning Web DesignWell, it’s a very handsome production, with every point well illustrated by screenshots and the appropriate code. She also shows how to achieve each major effect using three popular editors – Dreamweaver, GoLive, and FrontPage. But the main strength here is the attractive balance she has struck between tuition and visual presentation.

Her pages are surrounded by indented notes, sidebars, and pull-out boxes offering tips and special workarounds. This form of presentation makes learning lighter and easier. And she’s especially strong on explaining graphics.

I particularly like her approach of explaining details which don’t get mentioned in more official guides. For instance, if you wish to colour a link, the font colour tag must be placed inside the link, otherwise it won’t work.

She also reveals lots of tips, tricks, and workarounds for overcoming some of the frustrating limitations of HTML. I was very glad to pick up a neat trick for creating pop-up windows using a small JavaScript – which answered a current problem on quiz answers I have been designing.

The book ends with a very brief glimpse at advanced techniques using style sheets, and streaming audio and video files. This is one which will appeal to beginners and trainers. Work your way through the tutorials, and you could have a reasonable site up on the Web within a few days.

© Roy Johnson 2002

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Jennifer Niederst, Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, Graphics, and Beyond, Sebastopol (CA): O’Reilly, 2001, pp.388 ISBN: 0596000367


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Filed Under: Web design Tagged With: Computers, CSS, HTML, Learning Web Design, Web design

Learning XML

July 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

overview of XML concepts and applications

Learning XML is for anyone who wants to understand what XML is and how to use it. Erik Ray shows how to employ the appropriate structure and format to demystify the process of creating XML documents. XML is relatively simple (but very rigorous) set of tags which describe the content of documents. The problem is that you still need to learn Cascading Style Sheets in order to control the appearance of text on the page. Ray covers all that, as well as the other important technologies – such as the Document Type Definition. He also shows how style sheets can be used to format documents – though in a rather abstract manner.

Learning XMLOne or two illustrations would have been useful here. He also explains the principles of Transformation, using XSLT, which allow you to convert an XML document from one form into another. He explains very persuasively why XML is superior to HTML for preparing documents for multi-purpose use. There is also an introduction to the use of XLink and XPointer, which can create bi-directional links between data. These are extremely powerful technologies which will make the next steps in XML programming an exciting prospect for those who want to pass beyond the frustrating limitations of HTML.

This is a book which is suitable for readers who already know some HTML, but who want to know what is coming next. And it’s an overview: the finer details of XML language will have to be acquired elsewhere. It is written in a persuasive and authoritative manner. This is somebody who knows what is going on in the latest phase of Web development.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Erik T. Ray, Learning XML, Sebastopol (CA): O’Reilly, 2nd edition 2003, pp.432, ISBN: 0596004206


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Filed Under: HTML-XML-CSS Tagged With: Computers, Learning XML, Technology, XML

Netbooks – The Missing Manual

October 3, 2009 by Roy Johnson

small, portable, light, and cheap

I bought my first netbook just after the first Asus EeePCs were launched. At that time they were in short supply. Now the shops are full of them. You’re spoilt for choice. But what’s the difference between a netbook and a notebook (you might ask)? Well, netbooks are smaller, cheaper, and many of them use open source software such as Linux operating systems and the Open Office suite which does away with the need for (expensive) Microsoft programs.

Netbooks The Missing ManualThey are also designed to be low on power consumption, and they don’t come with floppy or CD drives: you use USB ports instead. They have automatic Internet connection, and assume that you’ll be emailing, downloading software, and maybe even storing your work on the Web.

But one thing’s for certain: they won’t come with any user manual. That’s why this best-selling series from O’Reilly exists – to plug the gap left by equipment manufacturers who can’t keep up with support for their own product development.

Because netbooks have been such a huge success, versions using Windows have rapidly appeared, to cater for people who don’t want to tangle with new software. Fortunately, Jude Biersdorf’s book takes both Windows and Linux versions of netbooks into account. She shows you how to choose a netbook that will deliver what you require, then how to set it up using either of the most popular operating systems.

Even experienced computer users may not be comfortable in dealing with all these novelties all at once. She’s quite right – you’ve got to consider any shortcomings against the big advantages these devices offer. The keyboard might be a bit cramped, but the whole thing weighs just three pounds! Mine fits comfortably in my overcoat pocket.

If you’re new to Linux (she uses the popular Ubuntu version) there are full instructions on finding your way around. It’s very simple, because everything is based on big, clickable icons. The fact is that, even though open source software is completely free, it looks very much like Windows and Apple Mac when viewed on screen. All these interfaces are eventually starting to look the same.

She then deals with connecting peripherals. Your netbook won’t even have a mouse – so there are full instructions, and tips for downloading the latest drivers and software.

That’s where netbooks are really good : they update themselves all the time, and two clicks takes you to the latest version of whatever you want.

There’s a section on connecting to the Internet. You might not even need this. Mine recognised my home broadband as soon as I switched it on, and it’s never been a problem since.

But just in case you’re a first time user, she shows you how to set up an email account, how to make it secure, and how to navigate the web using a browser – Firefox and Google Chrome are recommended.

When it comes to standard use of computer software, most users will require a word-processor, spreadsheet, PowerPoint-type presentation – and so on – which are collectively called an office suite. She shows you how to deal with the stripped down version of the Microsoft Office Suite – which costs between $100and $150. I don’t know why she bothered, because she then goes on to deal with Open Office and Google Docs – both of which are free. You can even store your information on line with Google, which is a cost-free form of back-up.

[Why are all these services free? Because storage space price is plummeting, and these companies want you as a potential customer on their books.]

If you haven’t already got one, she shows you how to set up an email address and make full use of your browser to download extra tools – with the emphasis very much on free I was glad to note.

She also covers all the instant messaging software options and the social networking services, free phone calls, and picture-sharing. In fact there’s a whole section on how to edit and enhance your pictures – plus the same thing for MP3 and other sound files.

There’s also plenty on security, maintenance, upgrading, troubleshooting, and a really handy selection of online resources. So if your’re planning to buy or use a netbook, or if you want a user-manual to keep handy – this one will do the trick very nicely.

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© Roy Johnson 2009


J.D.Biersdorfer, Netbooks: the missing manual. Sebastopol (CA) O’Reilly, 2009, pp.320, ISBN 0596802234


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Filed Under: Computers Tagged With: Computers, Netbooks, OSS, Technology, The Missing Manual

Optimizing Windows

June 18, 2009 by Roy Johnson

advice on improving power, performance, and efficiency

This guidance manual is far more comprehensive than its title suggests. Although the main focus is Windows, it deals with optimizing all operating systems, plus offering tips on speeding up the boot process, freeing up memory, disk partitioning, and generally squeezing the best performance out of your system. David Farquhar’s approach is reassuring and friendly, and he provides commonsense reasons for each of the changes he recommends.

Optimizing Windows He starts with simple suggestions for freeing up disk space by deleting temporary files, obsolete programs, desktop icons, and all those fonts you never actually use. He’s keen on disk defragmentation, and points out that when Windows says it’s not necessary, that’s because its definition of 0% or 1% are so wide. He also recommends disk partitioning, and for each improvement he explains how to use a resident Windows tools utility if there’s one available, a commercial utility if it’s not, or a share/freeware program for which he gives the URL.

For instance, he describes a clean-up and optimization procedure using three of the utility programs he recommends – Norton Utilities, Fix It 99, and Nuts and Bolts 98. Then the same for a couple of uninstallers.

He also covers upgrading from Win95 to Win98, though so rigorous is his search for maximizing performance that much of his advice is focussed on what not to accept during customized setup. He ends with advice on hardware upgrades – memory, hard drives, video cards, even motherboards.

You can ignore the gaming and multimedia in the title. This is for anyone who wants to make sure their computer is running as well as it should. And it’s not just for optimizing and tweaking: it will teach you about the Windows operating system, as well as the underlying architecture of the PC.

© Roy Johnson 2000

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David L. Farquhar, Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics, and Multimedia, Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly, 2000, pp.278 ISBN: 1565926773


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Filed Under: Computers Tagged With: Computers, Optimization, Optimizing Windows, Technology, Windows

PC Hacks

May 21, 2009 by Roy Johnson

100 Industrial-strength Tips and Tools

This is a technical guide on how to configure, customise, and upgrade your PC: how to crank up the speed at which your CPU runs; how to make your memory run a bit faster and optimise your memory usage; how to configure and partition hard disks; and how to protect yourself by making backups and safeguard your system against viruses and spyware.

PC HacksIt starts off at the ground floor of the computer system with the motherboard and the basic BIOS setup program, then works its way up through memory, hard disk, and peripherals. Each of the hacks is given a rating, so you can choose if you want to tackle the suggestions at beginner’s, intermediate, or expert level. Author Jim Aspinwall even lists the tools you will need for each procedure. If any of the hacks are going to be risky, he gives plenty of warning and tells you how to recover.

Actually, one of the most important tips he gives is the very first – which is that you should back up your system and your data regularly:

Backups, system restore points, software and hardware installation disks, and printouts of hard-to-remember or obscure details are very handy to keep safe but close at hand should you need them.

There are also lots of clearer-than-usual photographs showing the parts of the innards on which you’ll be working. There’s a whole chapter devoted to squeezing more speed out of your system. I was surprised to see that in some cases (with a Pentium II for instance) it’s possible to achieve 550% increases.

It’s unlikely that most people will want to start tampering with recently purchased systems, but anybody who has been using computers for more than a few years is probably in possession of more than one machine. [Come to think of it, I’ve got three desktops, two laptops, and two Palm Pilots – one dead.] Quite a lot of his advice has its eye on the fact that you might want to use that old 486 as a backup to your current system.

His language is fairly uncompromisingly technical. This gives you a flavour:

If you need Gigabit Ethernet (1000BaseT), you should use a motherboard that has it built in. If you install a 1000BaseT PCI card, it will likely saturate the PCI bus, leaving no bandwidth for other PCI cards. Onboard 1000BaseT uses a separate bus to talk to the CPU and memory.

Even if, like me, you’re a bit shy of replacing the heat sink on a CPU or partitioning your hard drive, there’s still plenty of useful information here. I learned quite a lot about memory management and file allocation systems – which is how information is arranged and stored on your hard drive. This is in addition to really useful general tips, such as his suggestion that you install the drivers for new devices before installing the hardware.

For those who are really ambitious, he shows how to run two different operating systems on the same machine. So if you want to make steps into the open source software movement (OSS) you can have a version of Linux (which is free) running alongside Windows XP.

This is yet another in the successful series of O’Reilley’s Hacks titles. They are written by experts, well designed, and terrific value for money.

© Roy Johnson 2004

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Jim Aspinwall, PC Hacks, Sebastopol CA, 2004, pp.285, ISBN 0596007485


Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Computers, Personal computers, Technology

PDF Hacks

July 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

100 industrial-strength tips and tools

Many people think that PDF files are a proprietary Adobe Acrobat format, but in fact they are now a standard for other applications as well. Ghostscript and Open Office are open source (that is, free) programs in which you can create and modify PDFs, and even in Microsoft Word there is an option to save your work in PDF format. It’s also commonly thought that PDF files are simply for printing off onto paper – because that’s what they were first designed for. This book is designed to show you all the other possible ways of working with PDFs. Sid Steward also tells you about lots of other helpful associated tools and products. These include customising PDF viewers to make reading files more comfortable; speeding up Acrobat by controlling its many plug-ins; and shrinking down huge PDFs into much smaller files.

PDF HacksHe also shows you how to create your own PDF files using a variety of different software programs; how to give your PDF files advanced navigation and interactive features; and how to integrate PDF files with existing web sites. He reveals lots of Acrobat’s hidden features, and shows you how to control and even improve them – though this is not stuff for the faint-hearted. Some of the hacks he describes require quite a bit of technical expertise, but he’s certainly very thorough – describing what’s required for all recent program versions and across different operating systems.

PDF files now come in three flavours – which he describes as dumb (electronic paper) clever (a loose sense of the original structure), and smart (full sense of structure) – with of course an increasing file size for each degree of smartness. He strongly recommends using style sheets to keep your master document as smart as possible. Style is separated from content: then you can generate the document in different forms.

Suddenly after a lot on scripting and other technical stuff, there’s information on what many people will want to use PDFs for – printing and publishing their own work. This is a gold mine of good advice, with listings of free resources thick on the page.

He even goes into the detail of how to convert PDF files for reading in Palm-type handheld devices (using a tool called Plucker); how to embed special fonts without causing file bloat; and there’s quite a lot on indexing and running searches on PDF files, as well as making the results available from within an HTML page.

He ends by showing you how to add interactive forms to PDFs, how to download and use all the free software programs for doing all these tasks, and even, if you feel up to it, how to get under the bonnet to re-program the Acrobat software.

This book was something of an eye-opener for me. Like many people, I had no idea you could do so much with the PDF format. The little-known tips and tricks in this book are ideal for anyone who works with PDF on a regular basis, including web developers, pre-press users, forms creators, and those who generate PDF for distribution

© Roy Johnson 2004

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Sid Steward, PDF Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools, Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly, 2004, pp.278, ISBN 0596006551


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Filed Under: Computers Tagged With: Computers, File formats, PDF, PDF Hacks, Technology

Peter Norton’s Inside the PC

June 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

encyclopaedic practical guide to the working of computers

Have you ever started to wonder how your computer actually works? We’ve all been using them for some time now, and it’s possible to get along without knowing what goes on under the bonnet (just as we drive cars without becoming motor mechanics). But when the man who cleans my windows revealed that he had built his own, I thought it was time to open the tower case and see what was inside. I did just that, closed it again quickly, and bought this book instead. John Goodman is the real author here: (Peter Norton is now a sort of trademark name).

Peter Norton's Inside the PC He starts with an explanation of bits, bytes, and binary coding to establish the basis on which it all works. Then he gets down fairly quickly to an explanation of what’s inside your PC – from motherboard, disks, and memory to the CPU how it works, plus why it’s called a 386, 486, or a Pentium. The most important feature of this approach is that you’re given an explanation of how these features have evolved, and what’s likely to be the next step.

For this reason, there are plenty of good tips for people thinking of upgrading their equipment. He writes using a very conversational style, the advantages of which are ease and approachability, and the disadvantages padding and occasional redundancies. The result is slow reading, but a very detailed treatment of every topic. This is intermediate to advanced stuff, and the opposite of the “Dummies” approach – deep, slow, and thorough, rather than quick and shallow.

There’s a lot on disks – floppy, hard, zip, and CD-ROM – and he explains such detailed but vital matters as file allocation tables (FATs) and the differences between static and dynamic memory (SRAM and DRAM). He even covers keyboards, mice, monitors, and printers, which make this a useful resource if you want to understand how these peripherals talk to each other.

But the section I found most interesting was that on operating systems, because this gives him the chance to explain the continuing importance of our old friend DOS (“Windows is simply DOS in a dress”). This leads naturally into a discussion of OS futures and his guess that Win95 will be around for some time yet, Win98 is a mixed blessing, and Windows NT is a ‘safe choice’ but ‘finicky’. He even explains how to run more than one OS on a single machine. He finishes with a consideration of speech recognition software, multimedia, and 3D modeling, laptops, modems, then sign off with a quick tour of issues raised by the connection of PCs to the Net. As you would expect from a serious work of reference, there’s also a huge index.

So – he starts from the almost mathematical origins of ‘what makes a computer more than a calculator’ and takes you through every part of a PC, explaining how its parts work and relate to each other. I’m still not sure that I understand every detail of BIOS systems and interrupt vector tables, but now that I feel a lot more confident, I’m going to have another look inside the box.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Peter Norton and John Goodman, Peter Norton’s ‘Inside the PC’, (eighth edition) Indiana: Sams, 1998, pp.721, ISBN 0672315327


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Release 2.1

June 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

social, moral, and political issues raised by the Internet

Esther Dyson is renowned for her digital savvy and is much syndicated as a sybil of cyberculture. She aims to bring us all out of the dark ages into the Brave New World of the digital age. This compilation is the hardback version of her electronic mailing list – Release 1.0. It’s a populist text aimed at the ‘beginner’ and the small businessman, which addresses general topics such as communities, work, education, Net governance, intellectual property rights, and privacy. Her purpose is to reveal how information technology is affecting all aspects of our lives.

esther dysonHer approach is to pose questions – ‘What is the right size for a [Net] community?’ or ‘What kinds of investment can one make in a community?’ This appears to be a communicative and intelligent approach to discussing problems of the Net, but when you begin to think about it these are actually non-questions. What’s more they are followed by non-answers, and these in turn are followed by non-predictions. For instance, “Those who succeed will be those who are good at getting their new designs or themselves noticed”. When was this ever not the case, one wonders?

She poses too much of her argument as speculation and questions about what might be the case, what could be – not what is the case.

On the subject of employment she speaks of people working in ‘co-operative teams’ and paints an almost ridiculously rosy picture of commercial life – completely ignoring the nasty and competitive side of work, even though she’s part of it. At one point she gives something of the game away by casually mentioning that part of her brief is to advise companies on ‘which people to fire’.

It’s the same when it comes to education. She sets up Utopian notions of teachers emailing parents to discuss students’ progress – but then pulls them down again with finger-wagging paragraphs of caution. The result is dampening and very, very conservative. She warns us: ‘Kids can find one another, talk about their parents – or drugs or sex – in a medium inaccessible to many parents and teachers’. She assumes that this is a Bad Thing and ignores the fact that they could do this just by talking to each other, either on the telephone or even in the playground. On this score, she’s the Norman Rockwell of the Net:

Your English teacher does more than force you to read and discuss novels. He encourages you to think; you’re eager to win his approval and so you work a little harder, think a little longer…you kind of like him…and he’s … well, he’s a role model.

On Net governance she’s a little more objective, and less dewy-eyed, if rather descriptive. There’s not much here that most Net enthusiasts won’t already know. She deals interestingly with Spam – but it’s difficult to repress a sneaky suspicion that she doesn’t know much about the technicalities involved. In technical terms for instance, she doesn’t make any clear distinctions between email, the Web, newsgroups, mailing lists, and FTP – it’s all called ‘the Net’. Her generalizations look shallow compared with the impressive close-reading skills that are common amongst analysts of message headers in on-line groups.

A chapter on privacy deals with the right of consumers to protect themselves against cookies. She argues that consumers should have choice and be able to trade information about themselves with agencies who reveal up front what they will do with the information. On these issues she takes a reasonable and libertarian position, and the answer to all these issues that she offers is sensible: maximum transparency.

As we draw nearer to the world of business in the section on copyright she seems to be on firmer ground – but still doesn’t supply the sort of detailed evidence which would demonstrate intellectual rigour and make her suggestions more convincing. Unfortunately, it’s not long before the Net disappears more or less altogether and we’re in the world of advertising and PR consultancy where she obviously feels at home.

This compilation of market-speak reaches its nadir in a section on the organisation of conferences where people pay steep fees for the privilege of rubbing shoulders with self-elected experts. This might be where she makes her money, but it has very little to do with ‘living in the digital age’, and she seems unaware of the contradiction between assembling people at conference centres and preaching the advantages of digital technology.

She comes up with completely unconvincing arguments about ‘the need to be there’ at these events and even descends to enthusing about the marketing opportunities for spin-off T-shirts! Just imagine – all those keynote speeches could be zipped into a 50K text file and made available the day they were written. Instead, people traipse half way across a continent, dragging their atoms to a conference centre for two or three day’s expense-account junketing. But this is what keeps her in business.

There’s rather a lot of first person address which at times comes close to egomania: “Central and Eastern Europe needed me” and “a group of ‘big thinkers’ (including me)”. But for somebody who seems to be well connected in the commercial world and who drops hints about her investments, there is remarkably little here about hard finance. Her arguments are vague political wish-fulfilments peppered with occasional anecdotes [I met a man once who said…] and all the time, the really exhilarating developments on the Net go unexamined.

If you think this is a harsh judgement, remember that this is a woman who has founded a business empire and is syndicated world-wide as a futurist and guru of the digital world: and for someone offering advice on the bleeding edge of technological developments, it is a little disconcerting to see occasional practical examples pop up, only to be left behind, unexamined.

There is a reasonable index, only very rare references to sources, no bibliography, and a short list of URLs is not annotated in any way. All this suggest that she is not in the habit of scrutinising her claims carefully – and keep in mind that she makes her living by selling advice to other people. She might have an impressive track record as an investment analyst, but on the strength of this, I don’t think I would take her technological advice on which brand of floppy disk to buy.

© Roy Johnson 2000

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Esther Dyson, Release 2.1: A design for living in the digital age, London: Viking, 1997, pp.307, ISBN: 0670876003


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Filed Under: e-Commerce, Techno-history Tagged With: Computers, e-Commerce, Release 2.1, Technology

Speed Up Your Site

July 1, 2009 by Roy Johnson

tips and techniques for improving download times

According to Andrew King, the best way to get people to your site and keep them there is to provide speed, feedback, clear navigation, and fun. His new book Speed up your Site is essentially a series of guidance notes and techniques for shaving every ounce of excess fat from your web pages. This means trimming everything which is not necessary, shortening every bit of code, and compressing the pages wherever possible. It’s intermediate level technically, but anybody with a web page or two could learn something from what he offers – and his instructions are clearly written and well illustrated.

Speed Up Your SiteHe starts out with a chapter of evidence to support the notion that “without feedback, the length of time that users will wait for web pages to load is from 8 to 12 seconds” – though in days where people are increasingly on broadband, these figures seem a bit high to me. One of the novel concepts he introduces is the idea of ‘flow’ – a state of being when we are at one with the activity at hand. What this means in Web terms is that we will go back to those sites where we get rapid feedback.

It becomes really interesting when he embarks on HTML optimisation. Since most people have sites written in HTML, this advice is very useful in showing you how to minimise code and shrink pages.

Every byte counts – Think fast and small

Next he shows how to update pages from HTML to XHTML as well as how to deal with style sheets. He shows how to minimise file sizes as well as how to make the most of the latest CSS-2 conventions, such as replacing JavaScript with CSS-2 rollovers, and how to compress the instructions in the code.

For those who want to tackle really advanced techniques, he shows how JavaScripts can be compressed for speed and even scrambled (obfuscated) for security. He even shows his principles at work in a series of site make-overs.

The latter parts of the book deal with how to optimize graphics and minimize the size of multimedia files, and there’s a very good chapter on different forms of file compression.

For those like me who are a bit intimidated by the more advanced strategies, he also has lots of advice on improving your chances with the search engines by choosing meta-tags and keywords that count.

This is an excellent book for intermediate to advanced users – people who already have a web site, but who want to make it more efficient. Be prepared for a lot of work – but he shows you clearly what to do.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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Andrew B. King, Speed up your Site: Web Site Optimisation, Indianapolis (IN): New Riders, 2003, pp.496, ISBN: 0735713243


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Filed Under: e-Commerce, Web design Tagged With: Computers, e-Commerce, Optimization, Speed Up Your Site, Web design

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