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Don't Click on the Blue E
That said, it is not without flaws. I hate most of the first chapter and see it as a waste of space. 35 pages mainly of history (some of the Net, and some of browsers) is almost self-indulgent. Certainly almost all buyers would not miss the information if it was reduced to two or three pages in the introduction or first chapter. There is some useful reasoning to justify the shift from Internet Explorer to Firefox at the end, but the rest needs a good going over with the red pencil.
I also found that for a book titled Don't Click on the Blue E, there was not enough information of the "in IE you did it this way, and in Firefox you do it this way" type. The book is a good entry-level guide to Firefox but I would have hoped for more guidance for people switching from IE to Firefox.
I'm getting a little ahead of myself. First, it has to be said that O'Reilly have done away with their usual cover and given us a bright orange cover with a graphic of a fox about to bite a familiar icon composed of a blue 'e.' I like it, this is definitely an O'Reilly book targeted outside their usual technically savvy market and deserves a different cover style.
The book feels light, despite the 250 pages, and is split into only five chapters and two appendices. As you can imagine, each chapter is a huge chunk of information, but the light writing style combined with a look that is heavy on illustrations and sidebars make it an easy read. Once again, this is a departure from O'Reilly's usual style but well suited to the likely reader. I also thought that they had used a lower grade paper than usual, probably to keep the retail cost down. As this is not a reference book to be kept for years, I didn't see this as a flaw.
I've already mentioned the first chapter; the second is devoted to installing and configuring Firefox. This is full of useful information and good illustrations to explain how to set up the browser in detail. The third chapter is how to use and manage it, covering topics such as the toolbars, the search box and adding engines, the menus, tabbed browsing and pop up blocking. The fourth deals with the add ons - plugins, themes and extensions. The final chapter is a bit of a grab bag. Titled "Advanced Firefox," it covers such topics as Live Bookmarks and searching in pages. Each chapter has a well-researched and useful "Where to Learn More" section pointing to web sites with tools and information.
This is probably not a book for the average Slashdot reader. You may like to buy a copy so you can lend it to Uncle Bob or Aunt Susan after you spend another wasted afternoon cleaning the viruses and spyware out of their PC, but I doubt you'll want a copy for yourself. Taken as a whole this is a well-written, thorough book for the absolute beginner with one or two minor flaws. Despite the book's flaws I still find myself recommending it. If you would like a better look yourself, O'Reilly have their usual page of contents and two excerpts from the book.
I would recommend this book over Firefox and Thunderbird Garage for more serious readers. Garage has an occasional quirky tone that might annoy some -- for others it might be a benefit to learning. It also has a little more detail in some areas. Of course if you want a book that covers both applications, then Garage is the only book I've found. Don't Click on the Blue e is a good volume for a beginner who doesn't need the coverage of both Firefox and Thunderbird of the "Garage" book and would like a little more detail.
You can purchase Don't Click on the Blue e from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Well even though (most) slashdot readers are beyond this book, we all have family members and friends that could use a little direction. think of this post like one of those "advice to parents" articles in your local newspaper. ;)
Out of curiosity... what do you do in the off chance that a user complains that the internet isn't working right... like a website requiring ActiveX or claiming that their browser is not compatible?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
I simply tell people the site is poorly programmed and (if it requires ActiveX) has no consideration for your security.
Look, Firefox has about 8%-9% of the browswer market now. In *any other business*, if you said you would deliberately design a store that would prevent 8%-9% of your potential customers from coming in, you would be fired on the spot for negligence.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Better not click on any other browser icon either. If you need a book to show you how to use a browser then you are going to fall victim to spyware, malware, and other wares just as easily as the IE user would because you are now the security hole.
'Same speed C but faster'
No, its easy.
Step 1, put in Linux install disk...
Book reviews != recommendations. A harsh review can be just as useful as a glowing one, if it helps you make a purchasing decision.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
I think it's because most people aren't aware of the alternative and this book was written to get them set up with the new (to them) browser.
There is an extra cost associated with standards compliance, as opposed to "MS standards compliance". That cost varies wildly depending on the site, of course, but it's non-trivial for most businesses (even if it's simply because most "web developers" are from the MS school and those that know how to build to standards are more rare). If you went to your boss and told him you spent twice your budget to allow 8-9% of your customer base to access your site a tiny bit more conveniently you'd be the one fired on the spot. Remember, the people who have no access to IE at all is much, much smaller than than the people who simply prefer to use Firefox. Most people who use Firefox, when confronted with a site that doesn't work, simply shrug and maybe get mildly annoyed (though they expect it) and open IE. There's even a Firefox extension for that purpose.
Standards compliance is a good thing, but the business case doesn't always justify it. I've been there.
Every time I read one of these "I'm protecting the user by not telling them" posts I can't help but think you're doing a disservice to them, your business and the mozilla team.
My ISP, for example, makes sure on their pages that they prefer Firefox and encourage you to download it. Don't you think that's the more honest way to do things?
If I were a customer and found out you "tricked" me, as it were, you'd lose a customer.
Does it tell me ANYTHING I can't find by going to the help menu?
I hate technical books that tell me less information than was initially provided in the "help" section.
in firefox (i just looked) there is even "for IE users" seperate section.
I know what you mean. After all, affiliate links bias the recommender. They just want you to click through and buy the book so that they can make some money. I'm gonna make sure ALL of the purchase price goes to someone who doesn't CARE if they make any money on it, like .... Barnes and Noble?
In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
Trust me, it's not easy to write a non-techie book. You may think there's no market for those kinds of books, but the fact that millions of copies of the "For Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's" series have been sold would indicate otherwise. You can't blame O'Reilly for jumping into the consumer market, it's a much larger pie than the techie market.
I am surprised to see a non-techie book reviewed here, though. Definitely not the intended audience! But then again, every techie I know has a non-techie spouse/friend/parent, so it's good to have books to recommend to them when you get tired of answering questions :-)
EricI do not want to go all flamebait here, but if it does not cost more to you, why not buy trough this link? :-)
After all, that's just a free contribution to Slashdot, a web that 1) does not require subscription, 2) where the ads are not intrusive and 3) you enjoy reading / posting.
Maybe they have costs to cover
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Absolutely. No author I know likes bad reviews, but a reviewer that explains why they didn't like a book -- because they thought it was about X or it didn't talk enough about Y or it spent too much time on Z -- is providing useful information. Even a bad review can lead to a sale. It's the non-constructive reviews that blather on but really say nothing more than "this book sucks" that are (in my mind) unhelpful.
Look at the reviews on Amazon for Head First Java, which is definitely not your standard book. Generally great reviews, but occasionally someone doesn't like it. That's fine if they provide some details. I love this one:
At least we know the book writers had the right audience in mind. On the other hand, this review is a bit odd:
OK... (backing away slowly...)
EricOh, you misspelled business ("busness"), basically ("basicly"), confusing ("confuseing"), intimidating ("intimdating") and their ("thier"), but your grammar was fine. Directing you to a dictionary might have been more appropriate.