Magzalez’s eyes on media

I’ve gotten to explore Lynda.com at work recently, and boy is it awesome. For those who don’t know, Lynda.com is an “Online Training Library.”

In other words, you pay $25 a month or $250 a year, and you get access to more than 25,000 video tutorials. The tutorials are taught by writers of many of the leading books on a variety of subjects:

• A lot of software
• Broader subjects like digital photography and audio
• Coding like XHTML and CSS

I have checked out “CSS Web site design” with Eric Meyer and Larry Jordan’s video version of his book Final Cut Pro 5: Beyond the Basics–the book I will be using for my Applied Interactive Newspapers Class. I still need to check out “Web Accessibility Principals” with Joe Gillenwater.

Just the check the Web site and its more than 3,000 free videos for yourself. There are so many things to learn, and Lynda.com can be a very good supplement. The price is pretty good too considering how much you can do.

I’ve gotten to explore Lynda.com at work recently, and boy is it awesome. For those who don’t know, Lynda.com is an “Online Training Library.”

In other words, you pay $25 a month or $250 a year, and you get access to more than 25,000 video tutorials. The tutorials are taught by writers of many of the leading books on a variety of subjects:

• A lot of software
• Broader subjects like digital photography and audio
• Coding like XHTML and CSS

I have checked out “CSS Web site design” with Eric Meyer and Larry Jordan’s video version of his book Final Cut Pro 5: Beyond the Basics–the book I will be using for my Applied Interactive Newspapers Class. I still need to check out “Web Accessibility Principals” with Joe Gillenwater.

Just the check the Web site and its more than 3,000 free videos for yourself. There are so many things to learn, and Lynda.com can be a very good supplement. The price is pretty good too considering how much you can do.

As I said in my first installment of Hooked on Books, I was recently hired by the University of Florida Web masters’ office. They gave me a reading list to get me better acquainted with the skills I would need to perform this job. This is my first opportunity to see Web development and online media from a non-journalism perspective. Some of this stuff will be a repeat from my last post.

My “Level 1 training” includes reading the following:

HTML/CSS

• “Web Standards Solutions” by Dan Cederholm
• “Professional CSS” by Schmitt, Trammell, et al., Chapter 5 (UF chapter)
• “Designing with Web Standards” by Jeffrey Zeldman
• Web Design 101 – Floats – Digital Web Magazine
• XHTML Tutorial – W3C schools

Web usability

• “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krugg

There was also a video list:

HTML/CSS

• CSS Web Site Design with Eric Meyer – Lynda.com
• HTML Essential Training with William Weinman – Lynda.com

Web accessability

• Web Accessibility Principles with Zoe Gillenwater – Lynda.com

I haven’t gotten to all of this stuff yet, but if you’ve read it, seen it or heard of it, tell me what you think.

*Update (Nov. 7): Check out the Online Journalism Blog’s list of the six essential books about online journalism.

Here is a list of books concerning online media and other such things that I have read, am reading or plan to read in the very near future:

HTML, XHTML & CSS, Sixth edition
Elizabeth Castro
Peachpit Press, $29.99

This is an interesting and helpful book. The presentation is very nice (color!). Castro knows her stuff, but the information is not presented in the clearest and most concise way. This was one of my textbooks for MMC3260: Communication over the Internet, which I took at the University of Florida.

The Elements of Graphic Design
Alex W. White
Allworth Press, $24.95

This is a really cool book about design. Each page of text (left) is accompanied by a page of visuals (right). It covers various topics like space, color and unity. This overall was a good read. This was one of three textbooks for MMC4341L: Advanced online media production. The class was taught by the wonderful Mindy McAdams.

Final Cut Pro 6: Professional Editing in Final Cut Studio 2
Diana Weynand
Peachpit Press, $54.99

I haven’t had a chance to really delve into this book, but I hear that it’s the best of its kind. It is part of the Apple Pro Training Series and is Apple certified.

Flash Journalism
Mindy McAdams
Focal Press, $51.95

Awesome book. McAdams is a guru of online media. This book is clear, concise, easy to follow and quite in depth for a beginner. This was another book from my MMC4341L: Advanced online media production class. Everything I know about Flash I learned from here.

Don’t Make Me Think, Second edition
Steve Krug
New Riders Publishing $26.40

I am in the process of reading through this one. It’s a bit too cute for my blood but worth mentioning. There are some key ideas worth grabbing from the book, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t do without.

Web Standards Solutions
Dan Cederholm
Friends of ED, $23.09

I’ve been reading some more technical stuff lately because I just started working for the Web masters’ office at the University of Florida. They’ve given me a book list to get myself acquainted with some of the advanced principles of Web design, CSS and XHTML. I haven’t really gotten to them yet though. This book so far has been a great read. It shows you how to do things right and explains to you why it is right. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but skimming ahead I can see that there is a lot of useful information.

So these are just a few of the books I have come across. There are more, but I won’t go on forever. Are there any books that you think should be included in this first draft, or perhaps my next installment of “Hooked on books?”