OS X Killer Tips
“Mac OS X Killer Tips (The Ultimate collection of Mac OS X sidebar tips (without the sidebars))” by Scott Kelby
Reviewed by
Linda McNeil
10/05
By Scott Kelby
Company/Producer’s name: New Riders Press, 2006
Contact: www.newriders.com and www.scottkelbybooks.com
367p, $29.99, isbn- 0-321-29054-2
Subject(s): computer tips and tricks
Hardware requirements: A computer with Tiger (OS X) installed
Description of program or book:
This book is a collection of over 400 “killer tips” that fill the book from cover to cover with no techno-babble but lots of full color graphics. Readers are intrigued with these tips because they are cool, fun, and useful. They also give you something neat to show other Mac users.
Chapter 1. Winter Wonderland….Cool Window Tips.
Chapter 2. Show Me the Way…Navigating essentials.
Chapter 3. For Those About to Dock…Docking Miracles Made Easy
Chapter 4. Spotlight on Sam & Dave… Spotlight Search Tips
Chapter 5. Fly Like an Eagle…Mac OS X Tips
Chapter 6 Cool & the Gang…Way Cool Tips
Chapter 7. Cheap Trick…Mac OS X Pranks
Chapter 8. She Drives Me Crazy…How To Stop Annoying Things
Chapter 9. Surfin’ Safari…Tips for Using the Safari Web Browser
Chapter 10. You’ve Got Mail..Tips for Using Mail
Chapter 11. Takin’ Care of Business.. Business Apps That Come with Mac OS X
Chapter 12. It’s My Life..Tips for Using iLife Applications
Chapter 13. Talking Heads.. iChat AV Tips
Strengths:
The strength of this book is the well-formatted and colorful layout. Each two-page spread is nicely formatted with lots of white space and clear crisp graphics.
Weakness & Limitations:
The weakness of this book lies in the Table of Contents. Everything that is included is well done and quite clear. However the text is lost in the center gutter. For the most part the information that you want is hidden and requires shifting the book to finish a statement. If the graphics and text were reversed the graphics would be enticing enough to entice the reader to shift the book if time warrants.
Comments:
It is impossible to summarize the content of this book in a review. But I will say that any reader, of any level will find new intriguing information. In the ”Fly Like an Eagle” chapter I learned about how to keep resized movies looking crisp, burning multiple times to the same cd, burning a folder isn’t burning aliases, etc. In the “Cool & the Gang” chapter I read about turning your photos into a puzzle, getting news on your screen saver, getting international weather, the dashboard super Slo-Mo trick, and from the Yellow Pages to Your Book in One Click.
After facing Scott’s wrath of blindness if you don’t read the entire introduction, this book is great to pick up in any spare moment and browse through some of the chapters for cool tools.
Ratings:
*Excellent
good
*average
weak/acceptable *poor
Ease of installation:
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*
Ease of use:(reading)
*
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Index:
(hot topics could be bold)
Graphics:
*
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*
Overall rating:
*
Appropriate for: __X_Business _X__Education _X__Personal
Reviewer:
Linda McNeil is a Pa. media specialist. She has a master’s degree in Library/Media and Curriculum development. She has administered an electronically networked library that contained state of the art equipment utilizing interactive video, digitized images, on-line searching, computer integration, etc. For the past 30+ years she has reviewed books and audiovisual materials for a TriState YA Reviewing group in Southeast PA. In addition, Linda teaches several online and classroom courses to adults/teachers for the PA Dept. of Education. Linda is also a professional artist (22 lithographs, 120 etchings, graphics, and artist books) and she maintains her own website (www.brushcolor.com)