This book is not what I expected. I expected a book showing you how to do things in Photohshop and/or Illustrator and how prepare them for a web page: that kind of stuff. This isn't that kind of book. As the title states, the book does emphasize ImageReady 3 and GoLive 5, but it won't teach you how to draw in ImageReady or how to create a web site in GoLive. It's not that kind of book either.

And for a book with 343 pages, it squanders almost a third of the book talking about basic web and design concepts. I shouldn't say squander because the information is good, just so unexpected. But, then the book's true colors start to show when the author starts talking about working with web safe colors. For you see, this book is an intellectual approach to using Photoshop to get your photos and graphics onto the web in the best possible way. It's not a "how" book, rather it's a "why" book. Not only does Michael discuss the "why" of the web safe colors, but after reading this section you will understand where you can avoid using the web safe colors and (dare I say it) understand why. After all, how can you turn away from a book that says "In real life, however, this color table is not used very often because it means saving your image in the worst possible color mode just to be sure it will look good on 256-color displays."

There is a chapter on Photoshop Techniques that will guide you through a myriad of Photoshop attributes. I will not labor on them here, but suffice it to say there is an explanation of such techniques as using the layers palette, transparency, using Illustrator, removing dust and scratches and noise, etc.,

However, the sections of this book that really had me transfixed were the sections on GIF and JPEG. Why? Have you have ever done a "Save for the Web..." and wondered what the differences were between "web," "adaptive," "perceptual," and "selective?" Have you wondered what the real significance was when using them and why you'd want to use one over another? Not only does this book explain the nuances between these choices, but also explains in what circumstance you would want to use one over the other. In addition, the author provides detailed graphs showing the significance of saving one version over the other on various graphic types. You can then not only see the results on the image, but on the resulting size of the image's file.

Did you know that the JPEG decoder in Photoshop is different from those in either Internet Explorer OR Netscape Navigator? To really see what an image will look like, it's best to examine it in both programs (not to mention both platforms).

Most people are aware that using blurring can improve compression. Unfortunately, the appearance of a Gaussian Blur can be detrimental to the image's quality. A Smart Blur, however, can decrease the size of the image and not damage the sharpness of the image.

There are two chapters devoted to ImageReady, mostly focusing on how to perform slices, rollovers, and animated GIFs. Likewise, there is a chapter on GoLive covering a wide amount of techniques, few of which deal with graphics. Rather, there is information on backgrounds with tables and grids and aligning Foregrounds with the backgrounds, working with text, CSS, external CSS, Dynamic fonts, and stationary and components. Fortunately, there is also information on optimizing the workflow between GoLive and Photoshop.

It is seldom I read a book for review from cover to cover. Mostly I focus on specific topics and/or areas I know about and don't know about to see what I can learn and/or verify that I'm correct (or they're not). I read this book cover to cover and have gone back to review various sections.

Considering what's in this book, it's surprising what isn't. For example, I would have liked to have seen more information on how to draw in both Photoshop and ImageReady. I would have also liked to have seen more of the differences between ImageReady and Photoshop--why I want to do one operation in one over the other. The author’s explanations of the subtle options within the GIF and JPEG windows were so exceptional, I wish he could have expanded these explanations to many other of the options in Photoshop. ("If you slide this level to here, what is that changing and why?") I believe too much space was taken with the philosophical aspects of web design. Please be aware that I would not recommend that this subject be removed.

This is a unique book with some wonderful information. The author has done an extensive amount of work to present a full case for his discussions on the nuances of using Photoshop for preparing graphics for the web. This book has given me the rare opportunity to develop my understanding of the subject material, not just how to do various operations.

If you really want to know how graphics work on the web, what all the features and options are in Photoshop and what they do and how they effect your image, I cannot recommend this book enough. This is not the last book you will need for Photoshop: if you want to know "how" to do the various techniques, find another book. "Adobe Photoshop® 6.0, Web Design" is for the "why."

Buy This Book

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