ewsgroups: rec.arts.books.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.technical,misc.books.technical,comp.infosystems.www.users

ubject: Book Review - The Mosaic Handbook

ollowup-To: comp.infosystems.www.users

ate: 09 Nov 1994 18:32:17 MET

rganization: Basser Dept of Computer Sciece, Uni of Sydney, Australia

title: The Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System

by: Dale Dougherty, Richard Koman + Paula Ferguson

publisher: O'Reilly & Associates 1994

subjects: computing

other: 262 pages, glossary, index, CDROM, US$29.95/A$59.95

title: The Mosaic Handbook for the Macintosh

by: Dale Dougherty + Richard Koman

publisher: O'Reilly & Associates 1994

subjects: computing

other: 171 pages, glossary, index, floppy disk, US$29.95/A$59.95

One of the nicest things about using Mosaic to access the World

Wide Web is that it is simple enough for complete novices to manage

without ever opening a book or a manual. But those who want a guide

to using the more advanced features of Mosaic and the Web will welcome

the latest offering from O'Reilly. _The Mosaic Handbook_ comes in

three different versions -- for X Windows, for Macintoshes and for

Microsoft Windows -- all coupled with the latest and fanciest version

of Mosaic on disk or CDROM. It is aimed at novices and assumes no

computing background.

The first chapter (on the internet and internet services) goes into a

little too much detail about such things as ftp sessions and the

distinction between clients and servers. This will scare some readers

unnecessarily (I can't see the average Macintosh user wanting to know

what a Unix ftp session looks like!), but starting with chapter two

things become much more user friendly, with a slow, step by step

treatment of the material, complete with illustrative snapshots of

Mosaic windows. Chapters two through four cover the basics -- getting

Mosaic up and running, the World Wide Web and non-Web resources like

gophers, WAIS and News. Chapters five through seven cover extras --

customization of Mosaic, using multimedia with Mosaic and creation of

your own HTML documents. The final chapter has information about the

W3O project and sources of information on the WWW, the appendices have

some reference material, and a glossary and an index finish off the

book. This covers everything ordinary Mosaic users could want, and is

sensibly structured. All the material is clearly laid out and

explained, and _The Mosaic Handbook_ is up to the high standards one

expects from O'Reilly.

I haven't seen the Microsoft Windows version, but I assume it is very

similar, since the X and Macintosh versions are pretty much the same,

with the differences concentrated in the chapters on multimedia and

customization. (The X book is so much longer partly because these are

more complicated with X and partly because the window snapshots take

up more room). I have two minor gripes -- there's no Linux binary

on the CDROM, and the X Windows window snapshots are barely readable

I think some verisimilitude should have been traded for legibility)

- but otherwise have no qualms at all about recommending _The Mosaic

Handbook_.

-- Disclaimer: I requested and received a review copy of _The Mosaic

Handbook_ from O'Reilly & Associates, but I have no stake, financial or

otherwise, in its success.

-

T The Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System

A Dale Dougherty

A Richard Koman

A Paula Ferguson

I O'Reilly & Associates

C Sebastapol, California

D 1994

O paperback, glossary, index, CDROM

G ISBN 1-56592-095-3

P xxiii,262pp

K computing

T The Mosaic Handbook for the Macintosh

A Dale Dougherty

A Richard Koman

I O'Reilly & Associates

C Sebastapol, California

D 1994

O paperback, glossary, index, floppy disk

G ISBN 1-56592-096-1

P xxiii,171pp

K computing

Danny Yee (danny@cs.su.oz.au)

November 1994

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All book reviews by Danny Yee are available via anonymous FTP

ftp.anatomy.su.oz.au in /danny/book-reviews (index INDEX) or

URL http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-reviews/index.html

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Copyright (C) Danny Yee 1994 : Comments and criticism welcome

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