Bad Boy Ballmer: The Man Who Rules Microsoft

Book Description

The life of Steve Ballmer is an incredible story of tremendous ambition, genius, arrogance, and charisma, an up-by-the-bootstraps saga of how the child of immigrants growing up in suburban Michigan became the only American billionaire to acquire his wealth working for someone else. Bad Boy Ballmer also reveals a man so arrogant that after the Department of Justice filed its antitrust suit against Microsoft, Ballmer stood onstage in San Jose and proclaimed "to hell with Janet Reno," a man so intense and aggressive that he once ripped his vocal cords by yelling too loudly.

In this revealing biography -- based on in-depth study and interviews with Microsoft insiders -- Fredric Alan Maxwell provides the complete, controversial narrative of one of the technology industry's most influential, talked-about figures: Steven Anthony Ballmer, the awkward Detroit Country Day School valedictorian who rose to become Microsoft's president, and in the past two years, its CEO. Together with Bill Gates, Ballmer leads the company he and Gates took from less than 30 employees to some 50,000, and annual revenues from $12 million to more than $20 billion and rising. A balanced portrait, this book reveals the good boy Ballmer -- the dedicated son who once took three months off to care for his ailing parents, and the bad boy Ballmer -- the ruthless businessman who at the same time devised and led a scorched earth policy against other software developers, a policy that earned him the nickname "The Em-balmer."

Bad Boy Ballmer is also the definitive story of the Bill Gates/Steve Ballmer relationship, from their 1974 meeting at a Harvard dorm to the present. Providing fresh insights into the longstanding bond between this odd couple, who describe their relationship as a marriage, the book will show how Ballmer and Gates work together to form Microsoft's ego and id. Or, as former competitor, Novell's Ray Noorda calls them, "the Pearly Gates and the Emballmer: one promises you heaven, the other prepares you for the grave." One half of the new economy's most powerful partnership, Ballmer's greatest accomplishment, Bad Boy Ballmer shows, may be putting up with Gates for over two decades.

Eye-opening and thorough, Bad Boy Ballmer is a shocking look at one of the masterminds of the technological age.

Customer Reviews:

The goods on Ballmer and Microsoft.......2005-11-14

When I read about the author's problems with his Steve Jobs biography, I picked up a copy of this to see if he was legit. He is. I read the book straight through, and think I got a wide picture of both Microsoft and Steve Ballmer. I find that I like Ballmer, even after reading about all his miscues. I'm giving this to a few tech friends as office gifts.

Dissapointing.......2004-12-07

This book is a complete disappointment. The author has an interesting subject but provides little authentic insight on Steve Ballmer and instead fills the pages with irrelevant material and personal observations. As an example, in one chapter he lists the voting statistics for the 2000 presidential election, spends 4 pages describing a conference that he attended (that had nothing to do with Microsoft) and reports on an interview with the manager of the Seattle Sunglass Hut. He also makes a number of obvious mistakes, for example he describes Microsoft's Internet Explorer as a "search engine", so it is hard to trust the facts that he does present. The author's style is easy and engaging, and at first glance the book looks interesting, but unfortunately under that veneer there is little of real substance.

Complex business portrait ruined by an anti-Microsoft slant.......2004-10-26

"Ballmer is vast. Ballmer contains multitudes." This observation in the introduction to Bad Boy Ballmer leads respected investigative journalist Fredric Alan Maxwell to conclude his unauthorized biography/expose of Microsoft head honcho Steven Anthony Ballmer, and truth be told, Microsoft itself, with "Steve Ballmer can remind you of many people." This seems to be his prevailing message along with "Microsoft is bad!"

Granted, Microsoft's misdeeds have been made public and their ruthless corporate strategies painstakingly if not gleefully reported by the media. A lot like Martha. But few companies have created such wealth or had more lasting influence on our lives, and thus Ballmer, who is Microsoft, deserves attention.

While "Monkey Boy" Ballmer, as portrayed by Maxwell, is passionless (he's committed to cancer research and was devastated over the deaths of his beloved parents, Fred and Bea), he self-contradicts, like Walt Whitman, and is a chameleon. Perhaps this is why Maxwell concludes by saying, anticlimactically, "Steve Ballmer can remind you of many people."

In this intricate as the integrated circuit biography, there are nuggets of gold underneath, such as the ironic twist that Fred Ballmer helped prosecute the Nuremburg trials under Microsoft antitrust case judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. Michigan and Seattle history, as well as Jewish identity (Ballmer is Jewish) and its contribution to Ballmer's psychology give the book that touch of individuality that a portrait of one of the highest-paid American employees, and one of its most controversial companies, deserves.

Extremely disappointing.......2003-10-13

Very poorly written, frequently goes off on irrelevant tangents, clearly biased against Ballmer, MS and Bill Gates, and full of factual errors. His attempts to describe technology are laughable.

Interesting, Geekish, Exhuberate, and Brilliant.......2003-09-23

Fredric Alan Maxwell is loud and proud. I would have discarded the book early in the reading, if it had not been for exuberate descriptions and storys of Steve Ballmer. Maxwell seems to hate capitalism. I'm a strong believer in capitalism, so his scarcastic remarks really annoyed me. Rather than letting the reader analyze the facts about Microsoft, he interjected stupid idols, such as, calling Microsoft the "beast". Its like he wants the reader to believe, Microsoft is the gangster who rapes, pillages, and destroys the community. Maxwell does not seem to be high tech expert, he can barely talk intelligently about subjects like Java, dot.net, and Server technology.
Think about it, Microsoft has made Corporate America richer because of its products. Microsoft wealth is simply a product of supply and demand. Customer continue to demand their products. Most of the VB and MFC programmers I know have migrated to developing in C# , ASP.net, and VB.Net. Dot.net was a great strategic move by MS. Win 95 was a hugh success and pattern to follow for emerging hardware introductions. Win 95 made the leap from 16 bit apps to 32 bit apps. The 32 bit apps were cool, so I dished out the money and receive value for several years using win 95. I've never regretted my investment in MS products.

Maxwell wants badly to denounce Microsoft incredible wealth machinery by claiming MS pulled a fast one. Maxwell points out the battle turned from the Justice Department to the political election. MS would reverse political democratic tradition by supporting Republican George Bush Junior and hope his administration would not agressively pursue the anti-trust charges. $2 million in soft money to the Republican party. Ballmer would yell "Who op!" three times seeing a possible escape from Judge Jackson. Bush would reveal, he was on the side of big business, just what Microsoft wanted to hear.

At the turn of the century, 2000, Ballmer became the MS CEO, fourth richest man in the world, and characterized himself by screaming "I love this company!". I found Ballmers biography from childhood to adult: interesting, geekish, exhuberate, and brilliant. Ballmer would meet Gates at the Currier house. Gates would leave Harvard claiming they had nothing more to teach him. Gates and Paul Allen purchased existing code for 75k and created Basic. Ballmer graduates Harvard and goes to work for P&G. Later, Ballmer's excellence in math and ambition would take him to Stanford. In the meantime, Gates would be under pressure to build an OS compatible for the IBM PC Junior. Prior to graduation Ballmer would leave Stanford and help Microsoft manage the amazing feat.

Book Description

The unauthorized biography of an immigrant's son whobecame a multibillionaire working for Bill Gates, and probably the highest-paid employee in American history.

In January 2000, Bill Gates gave his vast responsibilities and title of Microsoft CEO to his best friend Steve Ballmer, a man relatively unknown to the public. Based on in-depth study and interviews with classmates and Microsoft insiders, Fredric Alan Maxwell vividly brings to life one of the technology industry's most colorful and controversial figures: Steven Anthony Ballmer. From Ballmer's relatively humble suburban Detroit beginnings (where he and his archrival Scott McNealy went to competing high schools) and his 1974 meeting with Gates in a Harvard dorm, Maxwell richly details how the competition addicts Ballmer and Gates have worked together for the past twenty years to form Microsoft's ego and id. The up-by-the-bootstraps saga reveals both the good boy Ballmer -- the dedicated son, great friend, and supportive schoolmate -- and the bad boy Ballmer -- the ruthless businessman who earned the nickname "The Em-balmer."

Download Description

In January 2000 Bill Gates gave his responsibilities and the title chief executive officer of Microsoft to his best friend, Steve Ballmer, who had been at Gates's side almost since the company's earliest days. The news sent shock waves throughout the technology and computer worlds, making many people wonder about the man who was now entrusted with Bill Gates's baby. The life of Steve Ballmer is an incredible story of tremendous ambition, genius, arrogance, and charisma, an up-by-the-bootstraps saga of how the only child of a Swiss immigrant grew up in suburban Michigan and became the fourth wealthiest American while working for someone else. Bad Boy Ballmer also reveals a man so arrogant that after the Department of Justice filed its antitrust suit against Microsoft, Ballmer stood onstage in San Jose and proclaimed "to hell with Janet Reno," a man so intense and aggressive that he once ripped his vocal cords by yelling too loudly.

Customer Reviews:

A nice rehashing of the Microsoft story.......2006-12-16

Microsoft's CEO Steven Ballmer is the subject of "Bad Boy Ballmer". It traces Ballmer and Gates friendship back to their days at Harvard University. It uses primarily secondary sources to give a nice rehashing of the Microsoft story. We learn of Ballmer's Jewish heritage, Detroit roots and even have a mention of Robin Williams. We learn of Ballmer's enthusiasm, tearing his vocal cords, ascension to the CEO position, and his arrogance. While technically a biography, it is more a history of Microsoft with Steve Ballmer as the focal point. Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.

A Real Gem.......2005-01-18

Fredric ya gotta fan. The book is a gem! Felt like I was looking at a well-cut stone;brilliant light reflecting and refracting on the computer industry and the "bigger than life" it seems men that run it or are run down by it. Hard as a diamond in places and then a soft glow like amber in others because of the wry humor.

Great macro view of the "new evil empire" of Microsoft and a heck of lot more.So now. . .where are you going to train your "lens" next?

Bad Boy Ballmer : The Man Who Rules Microsoft

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Bad Boy Ballmer : The Man Who Rules Microsoft
Fredric Alan Maxwell
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000C4T4O2

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Bad Boy Ballmer: The Man Who Rules Microsoft
Fredric Alan Maxwell
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0756784859

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101 Mississippi Delta Blues Cotton Picking Guitar Licks (Book and CD) (Red Dog Music Books Fingerpicking Guitar Series)
Larry McCabe
Manufacturer: Red Dog Music Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Delta Blues Guitar (Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar)

Acoustic Masters Series: Bob Brozman's Bottleneck Blues Guitar (Acoustic Masters Series)

101 Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Turnarounds book and CD (Red Dog Music Books Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Series)

101 Razor-Sharp Slide Guitar Blues Licks in Open E Tuning (book and CD) (Red Dog Music Books Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Series)

Complete Rhythm Guitar Guide for Blues Bands

ASIN: B000OD4QT4

Product Description

This superb fingerpicking reference book features 101 authentic, traditional blues fingerstyle licks for guitar. The goldmine of licks is divided into the following categories: Four-beat licks; Eight-beat licks; Introductions and turnarounds. The licks are written in both standard notation and guitar tablature, and recorded at a moderate speed on the companion CD. This is not a method book for beginners, but a nice collection of licks for guitarists who have some fingerstyle ability and want to do some exploring. Another GREAT guitar book from Red Dog Music Books.

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Bo was the best
I wish I knew what Bo Knows
More than One Chance
SuperMan meets the Incredible Hulk = BO JACKSON
Bo Knows Bo

Bo Knows Bo
Bo Jackson
Manufacturer: Jove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0515107417

Customer Reviews:

Bo was the best.......2007-07-02

Bo Jackson is the greatest American Athlete since Jim Thorpe. For some reason, people don't recognize this fact enough. Most people would give that title to Ali, and to be sure Ali was superb. But no one that I can think of played three sports at world class level (football, baseball, and track and field) the way Bo did. You have to think about how incredibly difficult that is. He was such a natural at everything he tried that he could afford to devout only partial attention to a given sport at anyone time. In terms of pure natural gifts, Bo Jackson surpasses everyone else. But what is most remarkable in this story is how close he came to throwing that immense talent away. Sports was his salvation, that and his hard-driving mother. This book shows how sports can be a great positive outlet in a person's life. They provide an arena for focused action that serves to improve the individual through lessons of hard-work, team-work, and discipline. Even the very talented have to work for it, and Bo shows that in this blunt accounting of his life

I wish I knew what Bo Knows.......2006-06-15

This piece is a look at the upbringing of Bo Jackson. He discusses his past and what brought him to his successes in life. It is watered down with numbers and flashbacks of games that not many remember. The saving graces in this book are the stories in regard to charitable works Bo has done, as well as Dick Schaap and his mid chapter-per chapter writings.
This book is good for the twitch speed generation of parents to own to let their children one day know what the words: ownership, accountability, and work ethic really mean. Success is sometimes an afterthought.
~Angelo Markantonakis

More than One Chance.......2006-04-24

More than One Chance

I recently read the book Bo Knows Bo, Bo Jackson's autobiography. Bo Jackson was a pretty bad child and his career almost never happened. As a child, Bo Jackson twice almost pulled the trigger of a gun and shot and shot someone. He wasn't always a fan of practice and usually slept through team meetings. Bo got out of the ghetto when he got a scholarship to Auburn. While at Auburn, Bo played football, baseball, and did track for a year. A person he thought was a friend lied to Bo and cost Bo his eligibility his senior year for baseball when he worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the draft. He could've gone pro in either football or baseball but decided to go pro when he got drafted by the Kansa City Royals. After the baseball season, Bo would play the ten games or however many were left for the Oakland Raiders.
I like how this biography told about Bo's childhood because some biographies don't. I disliked how Bo was a problem child because he had so much talent. It is like Sports Century on ESPN Classic which is biographies of athletes on T.V.

SuperMan meets the Incredible Hulk = BO JACKSON.......2006-03-16

In my opinion, one of the greatest athletes to come along post-1970s (that generation had Ali, Wilt, Alcindor, Hank Aaron, Jenner, Hamill, Franco Harris, Evelyn Ashford, Archie Griffin, Bjorn Borg, George McGinnis ... some of the biggest names in sport!).

Fast. Big. Strong. (Did I mention Fast? Big? and Strong?)

This dude had all the physical gifts and the "can do" mentality of a super hero come to life!!!

Never seen anyone like him and probably will never again.

It's ironic that this two-sport All-Star, seeminly indestructible had his career hobbled to a stutter that fateful Jan. 1991 day on a football field.

This book gives you the inside on how a young Bo Jackson (aggressive and physically awesome even as a young kid) came all the way from Bessemer, Alabama, rose through elite football and baseball ranks to become the late-1980s megastud on the same dais of Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky before his injury.

It's an interesting tale with behind the scenes looks at how teammates and competitors in both the NFL and MLB interacted with him -- or should I saw competed in awe -- how Jackson came to hate Steinbrenner and how his family kept and continues to keep him grounded.

Here you had an athlete with ...

Carl Lewis' speed
Herschel Walker's size
Reggie White/Ray Lewis strength
Jim Brown's physical toughness
Barry Sanders' explosiveness

... and a "No feat too great or too tall" mentality ALL HIS OWN.

Bo was a champion who's athletic career was cut short too soon, leaving fans to always ponder "what if".

This book celebrates memories and reflections on "What was."

Bo Knows Bo.......2005-03-18

Bo Knows Bo is a good book. It's about Bo Jackson's life as a kid, and how he played professional baseball and football. It tells you about his childhood, and when he went to Auburn. It talks about his personal life, when he played baseball, and football, too. It has chapters when people like Howie Long write in the book.
I would recommend this book to sport fans or people how know Bo Jackson and want to know more about the real Bo Jackson's life.
Spokane,WA Morch 17,2005 9 o'clock 32 minuts 21 secents

Sports Shots Collections/Michael Jordan/Joe Montana/Ken Griffey/Magic Johnson/Bo Jackson/Don Mattingly

Average customer rating:

EXCELLENT INSIGHT FOR A SPORTS LOVING FAN.

Sports Shots Collections/Michael Jordan/Joe Montana/Ken Griffey/Magic Johnson/Bo Jackson/Don Mattingly

Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0590639641

Customer Reviews:

EXCELLENT INSIGHT FOR A SPORTS LOVING FAN........1999-11-21

This book covered what it is like to be a sports hero and nothave an attitude about it. The people talked about in this book arehero's without being arrogant or hateful.

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I Know Bo.
Bo Jackson

Bo Jackson: Bo Jackson
Bill Gutman
Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067173363X

Customer Reviews:

I Know Bo........2003-10-22

I knew Bo when I attended Auburn University the same time he did. I was a grad student. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met. I met him when I was a graduate teaching assistant at the Child Study Center at Auburn. He was one of my lab students. The children really loved him. Sports Illustrated did their article on him with the children. I am glad to see a book out about him and wonder what he is up to now. If any one knows, please email me at counselor2heal@msn.com. Thanks, Kimberlee

Bo Jackson.......2000-11-28

We belive this book is really great. We gave it 4 stars because the beginning of the book could have told about Bo's childhood and how he got into sports. I love how the author Bill Gutman told how Bo was such a nice man and athletic person. He told very well how Bo did Track, Baseball, and Football all in one year. He described Bo's determination to sports and how he would play through the pain of his injuries. Bill Gutman explaned to us how much heart Bo had in all his sports. I think it was really amazing how Bo played 3 sports and had time for study. So in conclusion, We give this book 4 stars and we think if your athletic and no matter how old you are, We think you should read this book. So come and read this book and, see Bo run, see Bo hit and, see Bo sing

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Un-BO-lievable!

The Amazing Bo Jackson
Randi Hacker
Manufacturer: Parachute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0938753347

Customer Reviews:

Un-BO-lievable!.......2006-04-15

This book is BO-dacious! It's full of stories and facts about everyone's favorite superstar "BO" Jackson. This book is perfect for anyone suffering from Bo-Mania... I know I am! My favorite chapter? Bo-Lieve it or not! This may very well be the best book ever written.

The Amazing Bo Jackson is a modern classic.

Randi Hacker should win a freaking nobel prize... Seriously, Bo Jackson is a God worthy of mass worship and devotion. Randi Hacker is a prophet. I find it sacraligous that despite such landmark novels as, "What Every Teenager Wants to Know About Sex: With Startling New Information Every Parent Should Read", "Totally Amazing Dinosaurs (Full-Color Activity Book)" and, "Pony Pals Cookbook" Randi Hacker has still not been awarded a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize.

Beckett Baseball Monthly (Issue #51, Vol 6, No 6)

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Beckett Baseball Monthly (Issue #51, Vol 6, No 6)

Manufacturer: Statabase, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000MAPP4Y

Product Description

Published monthly

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BO JACKSON
Bo Jackson
Manufacturer: Craftmaster Printers Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QAA7XO

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Bo Jackson
Stephen Hanks
Manufacturer: St Martins Mass Market Paper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312923945

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Bo Jackson
Stephen Hanks
Manufacturer: St Martins Mass Market Paper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTM1TU

Bo Jackson (A Sports Illustrated for Kida Biography)

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Bo Jackson (A Sports Illustrated for Kida Biography)
John Rolfe
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

All films with a predominantly or entirely African American cast or that were about African Americans are detailed here. Each entry includes cast and credits, year of release, studio, distributor, type of film (feature, short or documentary) and other production details. In most cases, a brief synopsis of the film or contemporary reviews of it follow. In the appendices, film credits for over 1,850 actors and actresses are provided, along with a listing of film companies.

Amazon.com

California seems to have been the source of almost every cultural trend that defines modern America--often in contradictory ways. Consider the waves of conservative and progressive politics, self-love and selflessness, sushi and Big Macs, great literature, and banal films. Inventing the Dream traces this extraordinary state through the early years of the 20th century, when Americans began to flock westward and Los Angeles grew from a town of 50,000 to a large city of 320,000 in justa couple of decades. By 1926, Starr writes, Hollywood was the United States' fifth-largest industry, grossing $1.5 billion a year and accounting for 90 percent of the world's films--and, of course, changing the values of whole cultures. This is a fine work of historical reconstruction, joining Starr's other well-regarded works of Californiana.

Book Description

This second volume in Kevin Starr's passionate and ambitious cultural history of the Golden State focuses on the turn-of-the-century years and the emergence of Southern California as a regional culture in its own right. "How hauntingly beautiful, how replete with lost possibilities, seems that Southern California of two and three generations ago, now that a dramatically diferent society has emerged in its place," writes Starr. As he recreates the "lost California," Starr examines the rich variety of elements that figured in the growth of the Southern California way of life: the Spanish/Mexican roots, the fertile land, the Mediterranean-like climate, the special styles in architecture, the rise of Hollywood. He gives us a broad array of engaging (and often eccentric) characters: from Harrision Gray Otis to Helen Hunt Jackson to Cecil B. DeMille. Whether discussing the growth of winemaking or the burgeoning of reform movements, Starr keeps his central theme in sharp focus: how Californians defined their identity to themselves and to the nation.

Customer Reviews:

Read the 'Dream' and weep.......2006-07-24

I read this book 20 years ago. It has held up remarkably well. California is the victim of its own utopian dreams.

Should Be Called a History of Southern California.......2004-02-18

... Not that I have a problem with that. This is the second volume in Starr's definitive six volume history of California. Starr writes history that combines straight forward "who, what, when" facts with digressions into literary criticism and pyschologlogical speculation. This is a blend that is quite apt for California, and I have found volume one and two to be rewarding.

Starr (who is also the state librarian for California) also includes excellent essays on his sources for each chapter, which makes further reading a snap! For example, after reading his first volume "Americans and the Californian Dream", I read "The Octopus" by Frank Norris and "Two Years Before the Mast" by Dana.

This book covers roughly the same time period as the first volume, and there is some overlap. After all, there wasn't THAT much going on in California from 1850 to 1900. However, while the first volume focuses almost totally on Northern California, this volume focuses almost totally on Southern California.

And by Southern California, I mean Los Angeles, with a little bit of Riverside thrown in. As a native of San Francisco and a current resident of San Diego, I simply couldn't believe at how little San Diego county came in for mention. Again, I'm hesitant to label this as a criticism, since I did love the book, but I just wonder what San Diego did (or didn't do) to get left out.

Starr spends ample time covering pre-American Southern California history. He charts the development of California agriculture, talks about the "Craftsman" movement and, as his wont, spends entire chapters talking about the artists and boosters of the time. Personally, after reading this book I have resolved to read at least one book of Mary Austin.

Towards the end of this volume Starr dishes out a hefty dose of the history of the Progressive movement in California. His essay on sourcing for this chapter reveals a penchant for the works of more traditional political history writers, and I felt like this chapter was kind of "eh."

His final chapter is on the growth of Hollywood. I don't feel like he adds anything to the voluminous literature on this subject, but hey, this is a survey of California history, and I suppose he had to include it.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. If you are more interested in Southern then Northern California, you may want to skip the first volume and proceed directly to this one.

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Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era.
Kevin. Starr
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RPURAQ

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Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era
Kevin Starr
Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KVL76A

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Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era
Kevin Starr
Manufacturer: Oxford Univerity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NP2TNS

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Inventing The Dream: California Through the Progressive Era.
Kevin Starr
Manufacturer: Oxford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KTH86K

Book Description

We know from the success of titles such as Web Standards Solutions, Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation, and the Web Designer's Reference that web designers are increasingly concerned with making sites that don't just look pretty, but are also built using current best practices. There are three main technologies married together to create usable, standards-compliant web designs: XHTML for data structure, Cascading Style Sheets for styling your data, and JavaScript for adding dynamic effects and manipulating structure on the fly using the Document Object Model. This book is about the latter of the three. DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model gives you everything you need to start using JavaScript and the Document Object Model to enhance your web pages with client-side dynamic effects. Jeremy starts off by giving you a basic crash course in JavaScript and the DOM, then move on to provide you with several real world examples built up from scratch including dynamic image galleries and dynamic menus, and show you how to manipulate web page style using the CSS DOM, and create markup on the fly.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for learning the latest on Document Object Model.......2007-09-24

This is a great book. I learned JavaScript during a time when the differences between Netscape and IE was enough to drive you away from adding any JavaScript to your page for DHTML. This book is probably best for someone already knowleadable in JavaScript and just needs to learn how to traverse the Document Object Tree to do some cool things with today's browsers. There is not sufficient material on actually learning to program using JavaScript...get another book for that. The examples are very clear and the explanations well done. I highly recommend the book.

One of the reviewers (a 1 star) complained about the lack of material on cross-platform compatibility...well the author discusses in the first Chapter "Browser Wars" how the war is over and how the book covers the most standard features that should apply to all browsers today.

NOT for beginners!.......2007-09-16

This is a superb book for people who already know a whole lot about javascript and programing, definitely NOT for beginners! Before I bought this book I had worked my way through some popular titles like: "Teach Yourself Javascript in 24 hours", and then :"The Javascript Anthology, 101 tips tricks.."(600 pages only this volume!!) and I definitely needed all the bit of knowledge I had learned from them to keep up with the pace the author takes on in discussing advanced topics, in-depth! You do not only need to know the basic syntacs and the building blocks of the language like variables and loops etc,but you already MUST have an in-depth knowledge of such more advanced issues as regular expressions, types of objects, literal expressions, all the event registration modells in their complexity, bubbling-capturing included.. Should I continue listing? These do not seem to be for a complete beginner..
All in all, the above mentioned "Javascript Antology 101 .." IS a book for the false beginner- or rather for, the so-called "advanced beginner",but you need heavy armor and weaponry if you want to succeed with Advanced Dom scripting!

Learning to DOM your web pages........2007-07-24

Learning how to AJAX your web pages may leave you floating if you don't understand the DOM well enough. This book is excellent at introducing you to what the DOM is and how to use it. Most of the other comments and the book description are great so you don't need me to write that over again. I am a professional web programmer and this book helped me move from another person who liked to do everything server side to doing even more inside the browser.

Loved it.......2007-07-15

I'm not a full time programmer (was one earlier), and usually play a role in product management. So my objective was to get a grasp of the technology itself and the various components of DOM/JS. This book does that job very well. From a programmers perspective it's probably an intro level book. I have to say that the book is very well organized. I'm about to start on - Bullet Proof Ajax - by the same author.

Easy read on DOM scripting.......2007-07-13

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about DOM scripting and how it fits into web development.

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