Rating: 
Summary: Not for the advanced user.
Review: Adobe Illustrator 7, Classroom in a book is a well organized, comprehensive guide to the program. It's great if you are new to the program. However, it doesn't tell you much more than the tutorial that came free with earlier iterations of the program. If your looking for a book on advanced technique, this is not it.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but hard to find accompanying files
Review: I downloaded the e-book version of this title recently, and was very impressed with how easy it was to get started. However, I had to visit the publisher's website to download the Classroom files (you need them in order to do the exercises), and was only able to get the first three lessons. Very frustrating! I emailed and called the publisher to see if the files could be emailed to me (you can submit a form to receive the files on CD, but who knows how long that would take). To date, I have not received a response. Again, I like the book. It is very thorough, it is easy to read and follow, and after completing just the first 3 lessons, I already feel more confident using the program. But be prepared for a headache if you order the e-book!
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but hard to find accompanying files
Review: I downloaded the e-book version of this title recently, and was very impressed with how easy it was to get started. However, I had to visit the publisher's website to download the Classroom files (you need them in order to do the exercises), and was only able to get the first three lessons. Very frustrating! I emailed and called the publisher to see if the files could be emailed to me (you can submit a form to receive the files on CD, but who knows how long that would take). To date, I have not received a response. Again, I like the book. It is very thorough, it is easy to read and follow, and after completing just the first 3 lessons, I already feel more confident using the program. But be prepared for a headache if you order the e-book!
Rating: 
Summary: PageMaker 7.0 Classroom in a Book
Review: I found myself very frustrated using this book. I kept going back as I thought I had missed something. For example, the author claims that all the needed fonts are included on the disk, but they are not, and without them, the examples do not look like they should. It is apparent that the book was not closely edited. REference is made to vertical rules when the action described must be a horizontal ruler! These types of errors make it very difficult for the novice to learn the application. Not that every thing is terrible, but when you spend hours because of omissions or mistakes trying to do what should only take a few minutes, it is frustrating. I do not recommend this book to anyone new to the application because unlike some of the reviewers, I do not know where to find the missing fonts. I also do not know enough about the application to know when I've followed the lessons and have gotten bad the results that it is not because I have made a mistake, but because the instructions were incomplete. So I found myself starting over and over again with the hope of getting it right. Frustrating!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good starter's book
Review: I really like this book. I think that the best way to start to learn a complex piece of software, like Pagemaker, is too get your feet wet using 'real world' exercises. And that is exactly what this book offers you.
It may be true that you do not always know exactly what you are doing when you step through the nice lessons in the book, because not every step is explained in detail, but that is not so important. When you have finished all the lessons, you know very well what Pagemaker has to offer, and you are ready to make your own brochures, letters, booklets, during which you will learn all the details of every Pagemaker feature using the help or a reference book. This book is not (and not meant to be) a reference book, use the Complete Reference or the Visual Quick Start guide instead, but it gets you started in a very good and pleasant way.
It may also be true that some fonts may not be present on the CD-Rom, but everyone who has used a computer once in a while must be able to locate them elsewhere (in Pagemaker's directory for instance!!!).
Last, but absolutely not least, this book shows you some very nice examples of well designed DTP publications, they will inspire you!
If you want to learn Pagemaker, do not hesitate, buy this book, it does what it promises.
Rating:
Summary: Very good starter's book
Review: I really like this book. I think that the best way to start to learn a complex piece of software, like Pagemaker, is too get your feet wet using 'real world' exercises. And that is exactly what this book offers you.
It may be true that you do not always know exactly what you are doing when you step through the nice lessons in the book, because not every step is explained in detail, but that is not so important. When you have finished all the lessons, you know very well what Pagemaker has to offer, and you are ready to make your own brochures, letters, booklets, during which you will learn all the details of every Pagemaker feature using the help or a reference book. This book is not (and not meant to be) a reference book, use the Complete Reference or the Visual Quick Start guide instead, but it gets you started in a very good and pleasant way.
It may also be true that some fonts may not be present on the CD-Rom, but everyone who has used a computer once in a while must be able to locate them elsewhere (in Pagemaker's directory for instance!!!).
Last, but absolutely not least, this book shows you some very nice examples of well designed DTP publications, they will inspire you!
If you want to learn Pagemaker, do not hesitate, buy this book, it does what it promises.
Rating:
Summary: Defective. And nothing you can do about it.
Review: I was impressed with this book at first. The step-by-step instructions to creating each project are easy to follow, yet they don't baby you along, either. Unfortunately, the party was over after finishing only two of the lessons. Problem is, Adobe/Peachpit Press [messed] up and forgot to include a few of the needed fonts on the CD-ROM that comes with the book. Therefore, you can't even do most of the lessons. Good luck getting help from Adobe or Peachpit. You'll come across little information, broken web links, and recorded messages and, in general, be ignored altogether. There are a lot of books out there to help you learn Pagemaker. Don't buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Defective. And nothing you can do about it.
Review: I was impressed with this book at first. The step-by-step instructions to creating each project are easy to follow, yet they don't baby you along, either. Unfortunately, the party was over after finishing only two of the lessons. Problem is, Adobe/Peachpit Press [messed] up and forgot to include a few of the needed fonts on the CD-ROM that comes with the book. Therefore, you can't even do most of the lessons. Good luck getting help from Adobe or Peachpit. You'll come across little information, broken web links, and recorded messages and, in general, be ignored altogether. There are a lot of books out there to help you learn Pagemaker. Don't buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Foundational Photoshop Knowledge
Review: If you want to learn how to use Photoshop 6, buy this book. It is an excellent foundational or first book about Photoshop. The "classroom" format is very useful and easy to follow. However, if you want a book on how to do cool tricks, you will need: "Down & Dirty Tricks" and/or the "Wow" book. Because the books about tricks do not teach the basics, I suggest all of these books. First do the classroom lessons in this book; and then you can more easily follow the instructions in the "trick" books. BTW, I was not paid for this review. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Classroom In A Book - still the best series!
Review: If you're the sort who likes to buy software and then use it without consulting the manual you probably own a Mac. That's fine, because that is precisely what the folks at Apple wanted to produce, a computer that needs no manual!Still, the software that goes on that Mac or on that manual-required-before-you-start Windows=driven PC can get downright ornery. And the accompanying manual is as confusing as some passages in the Bible! If you're one of the rest of us and have bought an Adobe product, I advise you to get the Classroom In A Book tutorial. The book and accompanying cd are terrific for any new pagemaker user. If you work for on on a newspaper, newsletter or magazine you also should get Publication Production Using Pagemaker. The two go great together.
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