October 2004

The prospect of learning or expanding your knowledge of Photoshop can be intimidating, regardless of your level of computer expertise. Luckily, Deke McClelland's Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One book and multimedia CD combo is there to help.

One-on-One is a complete course in Photoshop in the broadest sense of the word. It not only covers nearly all the aspects of the program that print and electronic publishers will need to know, McClelland makes sure you have everything you need to make the best use of his book. Every sample picture you'll be working with is contained on the CD. You'll even be able to (temporarily) install the author's preference files and favorite shortcuts to make following his examples easier. The disc also holds two hours of video tied to the lessons in the book.

In terms of information, the book is quite dense, covering a lot of ground in just over 460 pages. However, McClelland's writing is succinct and easy to follow, supported by an abundance of illustrations and screen shots. It's written and organized in a way that makes sense for a beginner, but will allow an advanced user jump in at a later chapter to master a new technique or just pick up some valuable tips.

At $39.95 for the book/CD combo, One-on-One rates a "best buy" commendation and is one of those rare finds that should appeal to users on just about any level.

Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One by Deke McClelland. $39.95, Deke Press/O'Reilly; www.oreilly.com

Book Review: Ted Landau's Mac OS X Help Line
Words by Ric Getter

A lot of Mac owners are quite content with the thin and colorful little user's pamphlet that comes with OS X. The rest of us have this insatiable curiosity about what is actually going on under the hood. If our job involves keeping other people's Macs running, that knowledge can be priceless.

Ted "MacFixit" Landau's Mac OS X Help Line takes the concept of in-depth coverage to new heights (so to speak). The book is an extraordinarily well-written and well-organized compendium of practical knowledge from the author and the best Mac troubleshooting site on the Web. Landau understands that, to solve a problem, you often need to attack it from a variety of directions. This requires both knowledge of the system and the tools that are available to work with it. For example, the thirty pages of coverage on the Get Info window isn't there to just pump up the word count. It includes comprehensive discussions of permissions, groups and the essentials of extensions. Wherever it will help, Ted provides useful references to Apple's and other vendors' online support documents.

Help Line's well organized and concisely written pages will provide you with everything you need to take care of all the OS X machines in your life. The one thing that you may find wanting is help carrying around the xx lb., 1,100+ page tome.

Mac OS X Help Line (Panther Edition) by Ted Landau. Peachpit Press (www.peachpit.com); $39.99