I hope authors, as well as readers, will gain some insights. Here is my review of MooTools 1.2 Beginner’s Guide.

Book Structure

The book basically takes you, step-by-step, through downloading the MooTools library parts and building simple examples with HTML, CSS, and, of course, MooTools. It seems to touch on many of major parts of MooTools: Core, DOM selection, Events, Ajax, and Fx. Finally, it introduces you to MooTools More and how to write your own MooTools plugins. it approaches everything with very simple, very “hands-on” examples. There are some deviations (like pop quizzes), but they are few.

The examples themselves generally introduce a topic, give an HTML/CSS template and then progressively fill in the MooTools bits.

The Good

You can tell that the authors are bloggers by their very informal writing style. They know how to use simple language so that their writing does not impede the learning ability of the reader. I was able to read the entire book in about 3 hours cover-to-cover, a testament to how easy-to-read it is.

This is a book that a real, never-coded-a-web-page-before dude(tte) could pick up and do something with immediately.

The Bad

It truly is a beginner’s guide, and having some sort of MooTools knowledge myself I was annoyed by the verboseness of the examples. There seemed to be a lot of times I was seeing a small code example stretched out to several pages of text.

I was slightly disappointed by the number of linguistic (spelling and grammar) mistakes throughout the book. These were obviously not cultural differences between the UK-based Packt and the US. I was always able to understand what the writer meant, but I kept getting hung up on the mistakes because that’s the kind of asshole I am ;)

I really missed a good reference or appendix section at the end where I could find links to more information about the parts of MooTools I was learning about. There was some stuff within the chapter texts, but not enough.

You should buy this book if…

… you are truly a beginning web developer. This book is a great introduction to web development with a core focus on MooTools. It seems to generally promote good web development practices in my opinion.

Conversely, this book is not great to use just for reference. If you want to lookup anything advanced, it’s not going to be your best bet.

MooTools 1.2 Beginner’s Guide »

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3. Staples of the Bookshelf: ppk on JavaScript

The structure of this book

ppk begins with a brief history of JavaScript and explains the “fat and thin” JavaScript cycle. I would agree with him on that we are in a fattening state right now, but I think the tides will turn soon (my guess is before 2010).

Then ppk gives a basic overview of accessibility (which he adds to later) before introducing us to the 8 real world scripts used as examples in this book:

• Textarea Maxlength
• Usable Forms
• Form Validation
• Dropdown Menu
• Edit Style Sheets
• Sandwich Picker
• XMLHTTP Speed Meter
• Site Survey

We then see chapters on browsers, how to prepare your markup for good JavaScript and a series of chapters that use his examples heavily giving light on several very diverse topics of JavaScript.

Bits of ingenuity

Here I am going to sum of a few particularly useful snippets of this book.

A section on object detection vs. browser detection explains that object detection is the better way to go in general. ppk makes a good case for object detection: browsers will change, and by using object detection we can determine if an action is executed by directly tying the action to its dependencies. A lot of good JavaScript coders believe in this but it cannot be stressed enough.

Koch also knows that we need other fundamentals of how to setup our HTML and CSS for good JavaScript. He makes a very appropriate example for this is his Sandwich Picker script in Chapter 4: Preparation He summed up his advice well by saying:

Obviousness is the key to creating HTML structures that will help your script instead of hinder it

Since we want to separate content from behavior, we need to develop obvious element hooks to neatly tie our JavaScript to our HTML and CSS. We learn that the id attribute is the best known and most popular element hook. Another great idea that ppk presents here, though, is using custom attributes, such as a rel attribute.

One last bit I’d like to mention here is that ppk’s createXMLHTTPObject() function in Chapter 10: Data Retrieval is really quite elegant and I think you might check it out here. Your homework is to make this function rewrite itself upon successful completion so that it doesn’t have to try different methods of creation after the first call. ;)

Conclusion

There are several reasons I highly recommend this book, and Koch’s site: quirksmode.org.

First of all ppk gives us a really good foundation in Chapter 5: Core, one that I would recommend even experienced JavaScript-ers read. He also covers the BOM, JavaScript Events, and DOM in great detail also keeping accessibility fresh in your head as you pick up JavaScript’s quirks and issues with different browsers. That said, I would say that the amount of history covered by the book may have been excessive but may be more helpful to other readers.

ppk on JavaScript is a good reference book that I keep as one of only 10 books within arms reach at work (I obviously have others but I don’t feel the need to keep many so close by). I think that more than a few of you would also benefit from keeping this book handy as well as checking out quirksmode.org for other bits.

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3. A Javascript stacktrace in any browser

A life hack reprograms your personal workflow to save you time and effort.

Gina Trapani’s Lifehacker book centers around this philosophy. Life is too precious to waste time doing some monotonous computing task. You must find ways to make your computer do more for you. This book outlines 10 main principles of being a lifehacker, organized into 88 life-hacks that range from taking great notes to accessing your personal wiki on your home computer from work:

Chapter 1: Free Up Mental RAM

Gina explains how to relieve your mind of the brambles of ideas, notes, and tasks so you can concentrate on the task at hand. My favorite tip here is using Flickr to develop your (Digital) photographic memory by taking pictures of signs with store hours, possible gifts, insurance photos, or items that will remind you of something you might need to do. A good lifehacker always has resources to write down ideas or a way to remind yourself
later – even in the bathroom.

Chapter 2: Firewall Your Attention

This chapter focuses on creating your own personal firewall so that you can get in the zone and stay there.

stop checking your e-mail 50 times a day and try to keep it to 2-3 times

We learn about how to reduce e-mail interruptions and make your house a usable home.

Create a “landing strip” for your keys, mail, etc. by your door so that you can drop them there and deal with them all at once later

Chapter 3: Automate Repetitive Tasks

Your computer should automatically backup your stuff and e-mail it to you, defragment itself (if you aren’t on a Mac :D), clean up junk files, download podcasts, restart itself and start all your useful programs, and log your work for you. It takes some setup, but my wife appreciates the 15 hours a week I save not worrying about this stuff. All of these can be found at lifehacker.com

Chapter 4: Streamline Common Tasks

Most common tasks that are ad-hoc should be able to be launched in a few (5 or less) keystrokes. Launching programs and searching should be effortless. Personally, I love Launchy for this.
This chapter is all over the place, showing you how to send money to your phone or e-mail address to quick launching programs.

Use BugMeNot to bypass site registrations

Chapter 5: Get Your Data to Go

Most everything you need should be accessable from a computer. Carry Portable Apps and data on your thumb drive or iPod SECURELY. Run and access a home web server. Turn your phone into a modem. Use Gmail as your internet hard drive.

Chapter 6: Control Your Email

Empty your inbox into the “Trusted Trio”: Action, Archive, and Hold. Action for stuff you need to deal with now, Archive for everything that you could possibly need in the future, and Hold for messages that you may need quick access to in the next few days. Use a search utility (Google Desktop) to search that Archive folder effectively.

Forever007usa@geocities.com is no longer an appropriate e-mail address

Chapter 7: Organize Your Stuff

Use del.icio.us for bookmarks so you can tag, search and share them – from anywhere. Google Desktop for search (yeah, they have a Linux version too). KeePass for passwords. And would you please “give your paperwork a spacious place to live”?

Chapter 8: Kickstart Your Productivity

Here we find out how to make a to-do list that you can actually uh…do. I use Remember The Milk, but many are not using Todoist.

Tasks that suck are best dashed through (with a timer, even)

Also, “Think Time” is important, always make time for yourself because it really does help you sort things out quickly.

Chapter 9: Master the Web

An absolute treasure of a chapter if I may say so. We learn tips for Googling, how to extend our favorite browser, bookmarklets (stay tuned for a big post about this later), use Google’s cached pages features, and map your data.

Chapter 10: Tune Your Computer

Finally, Gina explains hacks that are meant to make and keep your now working-for-you computer running quickly. These tips include how to completely erase data, how to retrieve deleted files (not completely erased), how to spot problems early and recover your files should something really bad happen. I would say after using these that my computer was noticibly faster, but not stupid fast.

Conclusion

Most of these life-hacks can be found online, but there is still something about having it in print so you don’t have to go through all the work of hitting Alt-Tab all those times and searching them all out yourself. $25 is also very reasonable for all this info. However, do not consider this book if you are not comfortable with making changes to your computer and even your
lifestyle because you might never be the same.

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1. What and why: the tech behind Cheqlist
2. Staples of the Bookshelf: ppk on JavaScript
3. Book Review: MooTools 1.2 Beginner’s Guide