Review by Bob Shayler, President of San Leandro Mac User Group (SLMUG)
So you have Leopard but just
haven't had the time to really investigate
its features? Me too! Even though I am
on vacation, there
has been too much housework and shopping plus some really
delightful time with family to delve much into Leopard. Thank
heavens for Claire Rottenberg and her eBooks!
I have personally purchased six of them for the really good
price of only $7 or $8 per topic. Her eBooks are in PDF
format and can be downloaded directly from a link provided to
your email address after payment using Kagi or eSellerate.
There is no copy protection. Updates from 10.4 to 10.5 are
included. Claire has produced three eBooks for Leopard thus
far: System Preferences for
Leopard, Safari for
Leopard and
iTunes7. She
indicates that Apple
Mail for Leopard will be out soon. See:
http://homepage.mac.com/cjrtools/ebooks/
Claire's eBooks are very easy to use with
clear detailed tables of contents. I rarely have to use the
PDF search feature to find exactly what I want. For those who
have a more organized learning style than mine, the eBooks
are organized as stepwise guides. I am a more visual learner
and appreciate the plethora of images that show screenshots.
Her System Preferences eBook for Leopard has 86 such images
in 153 pages.
Usually I prefer printed guides but Claire has put together
such well-designed eBooks that I am quite happy with the
electronic versions. I do enlarge a couple of clicks from the
default, as some images are a bit blurry on my G4 iBook to
decipher without magnification.
Some guides are for the rank beginner with little interest to
an experienced user. Others are so advanced the average user
group member can't even follow the
vocabulary. These eBooks provide enough of both levels to be
valuable to all but the professional who spends all day with
Leopard and Apple applications. The eBooks are easy to read
and are very accurate.
Bob Shayler, San Leandro MUG president
Review by David Daniels, Treasurer of Fox Valley Mac User Group (FoxMUG)
Modern Apple computers and software are
highly complex, yet very easy to use. The trick for the user
is to learn the shortcuts and methods to make this use even
smoother and easier. I suggest that each user, given the
right assistance, will discover the particular shortcuts and
tricks enabling their use to be both productive and
FUN.
I enjoy your e-books because I have neither the time nor the
interest to research all the issues you cover. I enjoy your
clear, easy-to-follow directions on how to better use my
Apple computer and software. The difference is between me,
the user, and the creators of software: I want to USE the
software, not to write it or understand the internal workings
of code. Your e-books and automators make this
possible.
I especially like the spacing of your writing in your e-books
- leaving room for my thoughts and notes. Searching your
e-books with an Apple computer, to find the answers to a
particular question, is also SO EASY. The index is good and
Apple computers are designed to "Find" and/or "Spotlight"
easily.
I don't necessarily read an e-book from "cover-to-cover",
rather I quickly and easily search for issues on which I have
questions or wish to learn more. Simply, I use your easy to
read and easy to understand e-books to enable fuller use of
my computer and its software.
What about the information in your e-books which the
reader/user may not need? This is "potential" information. It
tempts the user to try new things, it makes untried features
easy to understand and attempt.
David Daniels, Fox Valley MUG treasurer
Review by Roger Matthews, Webmaster of The NorthWest of Us Mac User Group
Roger Matthews, The NorthWest of Us webmaster