The Item arrived on time and in good shape . I would do buisness with this merchant again. Thanks

If there are those out there who have read: "Adobe Photoshop 6.0 Classroom in a Book" ISBN 0-201-71016-1

and disliked it as much as I did, please submit reviews of better books you've found.



I got the impression that, that book tried it's best to make sure you had very little idea of what the lesson was leading up to until the very last sentence. The problem with this method is that it makes understanding and following the lesson much more difficult because you have little idea of what it's leading up to.



Using it as a reference is pretty much impossible. You can't just pick up the book and go to a point of interest and learn that topic. It seems like you have to start at the beginning of the book just to get the sence of something in the middle or end of the book. Frankly, what a piece of crap. Thanks for any recommendations.

If there are those out there who have read: "Adobe Photoshop 6.0 Classroom in a Book" ISBN 0-201-71016-1
and disliked it as much as I did, please submit reviews of better books you've found.

I got the impression that, that book tried it's best to make sure you had very little idea of what the lesson was leading up to until the very last sentence. The problem with this method is that it makes understanding and following the lesson much more difficult because you have little idea of what it's leading up to.

Using it as a reference is pretty much impossible. You can't just pick up the book and go to a point of interest and learn that topic. It seems like you have to start at the beginning of the book just to get the sence of something in the middle or end of the book. Frankly, what a piece of crap. Thanks for any recommendations.

When I first picked up Adobe Photoshop 6.0, I almost gave up on it because I had no idea how it worked. Instead I searched around for a book to teach me how to use it. Well, Photoshop 6.0 Classroom in a Book was the right one to chose! Simple, step by step lessons teach you about each feature of 6.0. If you're brand new to Photoshop, this book will make you an expert!

If you want the practice and need a step-by-step lesson, this is a good book. I did want the step-by-step practice, and I'm still glad I bought the book. However, it only tells you what to do. It's not very good at explaining why you're doing it or what exactly the overall effect will be. Also, any tool, filter, etc. that you don't learn about in the lessons, you don't really learn about at all. I think it's a great book for practice, but it's probably best used in conjunction with another book that doesn't have lessons but gives a better explanation of the tools, what they do, and when and why to use them. An example is probably Photoshop 6 For Dummies. I haven't bought it yet, but I've looked through it, and I think it will be helpful if used along with Classroom in a Book.

First, let me say that it is very easy to pick apart any book that attempts to introduce a beginner to such a complex application program as Photoshop6. I am not an expert on Photoshop but I have invested a lot of time and money learning how to use it effectively in web development. This is an very cost effective approach to learning some of the useful features that Photoshop offers to the artist both in the Print media and the electronic web pallet.
Just remember this is starting point Photoshop is an life long pursuit if you are trying produce original quality work. If you can find a good copy used. It will be a reference book that you will continue to use years after you complete the exercises in it.

I found this book to be a good solid hands-on "text-book". The hands-on lessons made sense. The lessons explained what you were doing as you were doing it. This enabled you to really learn the information so that you would be able to fully utilize all the features of photoshop. Although I don't feel the lessons about the web uses of photoshop were as thorough, I had a good enough grasp of photoshop it took very little effort on my part to figure it out. This is the best book you can find explaining how to use photoshop you can find.

I don't think there is a 5 star book on Photoshop. That could be because no one book could possibly do justice to the whole of Photoshop so the books have to pick and choose where to put emphasis. I teach at a community college in an area different from this. I am taking the Photoshop course there and the book we are using is packed with so much information that I've found it worthless as a starting text, although now that I am getting the hang of Photoshop even it is useful. I now own 5 Photoshop books and they all do different things. This one's plusses are, in order: the images on the CD-ROM to do your lessons with that are in the book; the simple, straight forward style on an unjumbled, uncrowded page format and a logical, orderly way of proceeding and learning. Photoshop is considered a really tough program so I am not surprised that one book does not do it all. I would say if you are going to get more than one book, make this one of them. If you are only going to buy one Photoshop book, I honestly don't know what to recommend to you. It might be better to tackle the lessons in online tutorials in that case. The Photoshop Magazine is also excellent and better than all the books combined because it is chocked full of all color visual tutorials, every single page.

After finishing this book i was some what dissappointed at the fact that a company like Adobe who has created such amazing software would release a book that doesn't live up to the software itself. They must be spending their money on programmers instead of publishers and authors. This book is OK if you want to learn your way around the program at a basic level, but falls short at actually giving you enough content to feel comfortable working with the powers of Photoshop such as layers, masks and channels. For example there is a chapter on layers and one for advanced layers and after going through both chapters and lessons i was still thinking to myself "that's it!?!...there's got to be more to it than this???"

The book is still very decent, and it is easy to read and to follow the lessons, but i'm sure there are alot of other books out there for the same money that offers alot more bang for your buck. I didn't buy this book thinking i would become a master at Photoshop after reading it and i hope anyone else who buys it doesn't think that either, at best it will be a good reference book.

The Classroom In A Book books have impressive-looking covers and the stock used for interior pages feels good in hand. For people, like myself, who just love books--who love the way they feel, the way they smell, the way they look on shelves--I would give this book high marks; it's well-designed. If you actually want to learn Photoshop, however, you would do well to look elsewhere.

I would expect that a tutorial like this one would be concise; however, many of the step-by-step instructions are so brief as to be meaningless, particularly if you don't know the program already. Photoshop is very complex and the interface is not at all intuitive. The writers introduce tools and refer to other application features without bothering to explain where to find them. Many step-by-step instructions are misleading, which is to say, the results you will get by following the intructions verbatim will not match the outcomes shown or described. (Many relatively complex procedures are not illustrated at all, or not illustrated adequately.) I have found a disturbing number of instances where the instructions are just, well, wrong. (You will figure it out, but it might require another book!)

Several people reviewing this book have mentioned that it would be better used as a companion to other reference documentation or as a companion to classroom instruction. I would agree; the book could be particularly effective as a classroom text. Presumably there would be an instructor to show you where to find this tool or that, or to explain why the book says "drag up from point E to the red dot" when the actual series of keystrokes require you to click and release the appropriate mouse button and then click and drag from point E to the red dot. I think the book would also be good for someone who knows Photoshop and just needs to brush up on features in a newer version. But it is not a book that I would recommend to learn this application. (I also question how much information any Photoshop newbie is actually going to retain. The book gives virtually no explanation about how the program operates or how various application elements relate to each other. You're mostly just pushing buttons. And if your results don't match the book's, tough nuggies. There is no attention given to alerting user to common errors and what to do about them.)

I don't know about you, but I am real tired of shelling out big bucks for impressive-looking computer books that do not fulfill their stated purposes. This book has real value; but, if you are looking to actually learn Photoshop on your own, you would probably do better to look at another resource...

I purchased this book through a recommedation of a friend and thought I was only going to use a chapter or two. I used the entire book with the CD and felt the purchase was well worth the money. I had Adobe Photo Deluxe and I knew nothing about Photoshop 6 when I bought the book. It was easy to understand and now I use Photoshop more comfortably.

The college I teach at uses this book as their textbook. You can either start from the beginning, following the lessons along step by step, or keep it on the shelf as a reference when you can't figure out how to do something.

I would have given it 5 stars, but I wish it had a bit more detail.

This book is probably good for people that knows photoshop. The book consist mainly of text with limited pictures.

Most of the time, the book will tells you to do something and will not show you where to select the tools from. Most of the time you have to figure this out yourself, which makes me wonder why I would even consider reading this book.

Each chapter is a stuggle because of the lack of menus and the skipping of steps. I think the people at Adobe thinks this is funny.

They tried to make this techincal. Its attempts to make it hard makes this book worthless.

We are not learning C++, java, javascript, perl, cgi,php,delpi,vb, etc here. This is a simple application like word or excel. This books talks about how tough photoshop is. Photoshop is simple.

I would recommend The Visual Series by the Maran Family.
They have a good book that is easy to understand. The Bible is a good book for reference.

This book is too simple to be a reference and too complex to be a learning tool.

The best thing is to sell this book and never look at this thing again. What a waste of time by the authors.

Of course, this is the offical training workbook for the staff at Adobe. In a summary, this book is junk.

I am a multimedia specialist for the government. I started with Aldus Photostyler so I am very familiar with Photoshop in all it's versions. 6.0 is a multimedia specialist's dream come true.
It is very different from all the earlier versions. It combines photo editing with internet applications for photos, graphics, and animation. A good book is necessary to learn all the new techniques available to the user.

This book has it all. I keep it by my desk to review those things I know and to learn those that I don't, such as the sections on Web Development and Animation with Image Ready.

One thing that is very helpful, the authors show you screen captures of what you "should" be doing with the examples to achieve the end result. I sometimes find the instructions to be a little confusing, and asking myself, "What is it you want me to do?!" It is at this point the pictures are a good guide. The instructions as a whole are very good, but once in awhile the authors kind of overwhelm you with so much information you don't know if they are presenting just information or if you are suppose to preform the keystrokes.

The book is written so an expert has a good reference or a beginner can learn. The language is not the dry stuff you usually find in a software manual. It's to the point, but the authors understand that learning can be frustrating at times so they keep it light and sometimes even a little humorous.

It's also packed with tips to make your work easier. The CD has all the examples organized into Chapter folders so it is easy to find the examples you need.

Overall the book is a key learning tool and invaluable for anyone who wants a good guide to Photoshop 6.0. or a good guide to preparing photos and graphics for the internet.

I find it very difficult to follow. I am using it on a Windows machine, and I think it may have been written more with a Macintosh in mind. I am finding some of the directions and steps do not apply in the Windows environment.

I have tried to follow the book very carefully, but I have found several times that the directions in the book are not the same as what I am seeing on my computer.

I was given this book in 1995 (version 2.5) and it taught me photoshop in a week abouts. I CANNOT recommend this book to enoght people. It will TEACH YOU THE PROPGRAM, and not how to use it like a vehcile for ...plugins. Photoshop is an amazing tool, this shows you what all the bells and whistles and some tricks too.

I have been using the PhotoShop tutorial, Classroom in a Book, as either a required or recommended textbook since version three. Most of my college students can not stand to read the Adobe manuals so this publication functions in its place along with me as an instructor. However, without a PhotoShop user manual or an instructor a beginner could easily become confused unless they were already familiar with an advanced level computer program. The book's enclose CD is superior to online tutorials that accompany many similar tutorial publications. The instructions are clear for both Mac and PC users. The inherent problem with all books in this beginning category is that they don't promote thinking that is outside of the box unless one simultaneously experiments (and gets into trouble) using the commands and operations with their own images. Regrettably, since version 5.5 incorporated ImageReady and its web features the breath of the book devoted to advanced-beginner usage has shrunk. Hence, the book no longer sufficiently prepares the student for the advanced-intermediate user level for which the majority of PhotoShop publications are written.

Basically a good book for step by step. THere are several typos that make the assignments not work right as in the book.

I would recommend you do the step by step exercise then try to do the same exercise again without following the steps. I used this in a college course and the instructor as well as the students all complained that you become too used to the steps and when you need to apply other than an assignment in the book, you feel lost!

If you are a visual learner like myself and someone who needs hands on training to fully grasp your subject, I would highly recommend this book. It has a step-by-step format that guides you through using the tools and features of Adobe Photoshop 6.0. It comes with a CD that includes visuals to work on for each chapter/lesson. I am by no means a professional web designer, photographer, graphics editor, etc., so this manual gave me much needed information about this feature packed software. For novices such as myself Adobe Photoshop can be intimidating to say the least, but this book along with the lessons on the CD really unlocked using the program for me. I would eventually like to retouch photographs and I now feel confident that I will be ready to do that in the not too distant future, and now I also feel motivated to try my hand at some web page design also.

I was new to Photoshop and wanted a book to help me work through the various functionas available in the program. This book did just that. This is not a "How to do -insert your question here-" book, but more an instruction on how to use each tool.

I found the book to be very good at giving me an understanding of the functions of the various tools in Photoshop 6.

Computer instruction books come in three varieties -- 1) those that describe every menu function, 2) those that tout a variety of golly-gee-whiz tricks, and 3) those that attempt to teach how to get something done. Photoshop Classroom in a Book is a pretty good example of the latter. Seventeen 1 hour lessons take the disciplined reader thru the bulk of Photoshop's capabilities. It's not an easy read, but then Photoshop is not an easy program. There seem to be a million functions and at least ten different ways to do the same thing. Yet, the book provides a pretty good roadmap thru the confusion. With this one under your belt, you'll be able to go on to one of the many Photoshop Golly-Gee-Whiz books that will amplify your understanding.

Well what can I say!! I've been using Adobe PhotoShop 6.0 for quite awhile now. After going through the interactive lessons, I can create some things that I never dreamed of creating before. The only drawback applies to newbies, as you need to know certain particulars, and features to be effective with this training tool. I will say this though, if all you want is to edit photographs ... pass on PhotoShop 6.0 as there are lesser programs at a fraction of the cost such as Adobe Home Edition, and ACDSee that will pretty much cover all the areas in photo editing, although not as completely as PhotoShop 6.0. I Hope this review was helpful to you.

Don't expect to get much out of this book. It has a lot of tutorials, not enough in-depth explanations. For each little trick or tip it might have a paragraph on how it works. I think the title is misleading. Classroom in a book, if you are not in a classroom with an instructor you will not learn the software. They should call it something like the Classroom Companion (I should send in my suggestion). You will not learn Photoshop inside and out by doing all the tutorials in the book.
It is a great book if you already have a reference book with it. By reference book, I mean a book that lets you find a tool and look up its functions and features. Or just outlines the software.
This is just a bunch of tutorials. This might help you get comfortable with using the software but to really understand the software, I would go with a different title.
By the way, a good reference book might be the Photoshop Bible, or a Visual Quickstart guide. Pay close attention to the version of your software!

well this is a great book for peoples that want learn photoshop and dont know nothing about the program,i am very happy with this book but the problem with this book is that the lessons are very long.

i recommend this book for all peoples that want learn photoshop,and if you like read much is better

I purchased this alongside the Illustrator Classroom in a Book course. What I found, as with any course, is that my experience was determined by my own effort. Adobe has done its part by developing a thoughtful series of lessons to make any user comfortable working in Photoshop.

I have heard two competing (and contrary) objections to these courses. People complain that there is a) either not enough or b) too much information in the Classroom in a Book series. It is true that Adobe has not developed a course that custom fits the requirements of every single possible user. This can hardly be held against them. They have created a series of straightforward courses for intermediate users. Neither this book (nor the application it is designed to teach) is for absolute beginners. It is for people who are comfortable in front of their computer. Nor should an expert user looking for some advanced tricks and tips purchase it. There are other books available to fit these needs.

Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book does a wonderful job orienting a typical computer user to a heavy hitting image manipulation application. If you take the time to complete this course, you will know your way around Photoshop. By properly learning the skills featured in this book, you will be prepared to absorb the sorts of tricks you have always wanted to learn.

I took a 12 week night course in Photoshop, so I had an understanding of the basics when I bought this book. The book however turned out to be much better than the course I'd taken for a number of reasons, including: you can work at your own pace; you can stop to experiment; you can re-read any part that is causing you confusion. Many of the lessons I re-did 3-4 times just to make sure I'd mastered the techniques. This book is also much cheaper than a course.

For con, as another reviewer commented, the book after instructing you to perform a feature, often does not explain the 'why' behind that feature. This is unfortunate, but considering the techniques taught aren't the most complicated aspects of photoshop, the reader in most cases will be able to deduce 'why' a feature worked a certain way.

This was the first Photoshop book I've read, and I've now read 6 more. I was quite happy with the foundation it provided for learning Photoshop. A good first Photoshop book.

I am an Information Technology Training Specialist currently taking a free online course for Photoshop 6. I am learning more (and having more fun) using the Classroom in a Book than I have from the online course and the book it is using (Visual QuickStart Guide). The tutorials in this book are great and provide the detailed steps necessary to complete tasks as well as references to where you can access more in-depth information from Adobe's online Help. The book covers how to complete tasks in ImageReady as well as Photoshop. One of the first things I recommend is printing up the Quick Reference Card so you can add your own notes to it -- an irreplaceable guide! To ensure I've mastered the lesson, I recreate the end picture on my own.

I teach Photoshop at the local college and have complained to my adminstrator about the use of this book for our level one classes. The lessons are too long, and introduce too many different features of Photoshop at one time. I've found that students appreciate a linear approach, and want to master the essentials of one topic before they move on. The lessons in this book "skip" around so much that my students get lost easily, and I've reorganized many of our lessons as a result. As well, it often ignores the "why" of a feature, and focuses instead on the "how". Inquisitive students want both questions answered. Adobe Photoshop is fabulous, but this book is not. I'd recommend that a beginner use the Visual Quickstart Guide instead.

This is a great book to start learning Photoshop. It covers most of the basic information. A good way to get your feet wet.

While Adobe undoubtedly makes THE best graphics software, it falls extremely short in its Classroom in a Book series. I've been using Photoshop 6.0 for a while and I wanted to learn more. I purchased Adobe's Classroon in a Book thinking this book had to be as good as their software; not so. While the lessons in the book are extensive, the instructions are not always clear. (I also agree with other reviewers that the lessons take longer than stated.) The visuals are often not clear and they should be in color; flipping back and forth to the color section of the book to see the final result is annoying. In the lesson on Basic Pen Tool Techniques, in the converting paths to selections section, after completing step 5, the catmask does not look like the result in the book. I have done this segment several times with the same result every time. It is also a shame you cannot email Adobe about their Classroom in a Book series; suggestions from readers could be helpful. Adobe can do better.

Consistently well written with lessons used in Adobe's official training and certification program. Solid instruction book! Period!

Since the book assumes no prior knowledge, it will benefit beginners the most. Topics covered include the work environment, tools and palettes, working with selections, layers, masks, channels, retouching, effects, color management, and creating images for print or the Web. Context-sensitive options bar, layer sets and layer styles, weighted optimization (which allows you to specify varying qualities of JPEG compression in a slice or image), image and text warping, and the new support for vector-based art. You'll also learn how to create slices both in Photoshop and ImageReady and rollovers and animations in ImageReady.

Entire book covers: Painting, editing, and photo retouching, working with pen tools, vector shapes, and clipping paths, colorizing and applying filters, color management, preparing art for print or Web creating slices in both Photoshop and ImageReady, creating rollovers and animations in ImageReady using Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe GoLive in designing Web pages.

Truly a fun and enjoyable read. This is the best book on Adobe by far!

...

I just finished the last of the book;s 17 lessons. I gave this book a 5-star rating because it provided an excellent method for learning Adobe Photoshop 6.0. Although I have the user's manual that came with the software, I decided to go ahead and buy the "Classroom" book. I was glad that I did. Step-by-step instructions are presented for each lesson that are relatively easy to follow. The only complaint that I have is that their estimates for the time expected to complete the lessons was underestimated. For instance, a lesson that should take about "90 minutes" to complete may actually take up to twice as long. Nevertheless, the Classroom book will be as useful a future reference as will the user's manual itself. I just bought the "Adobe GoLive 5.0 Classroom in a Book" and am eager to go through all of the lessons in that book as well.

I knew I'd have to learn it sooner or later, but I'd always been intimidated by Photoshop. This book got me started quickly and demystified the complexities of the program. If you have to buy one book to get you started, this should be the one. Work through the exercises one by one, and you'll end up loving Photoshop!

I took a class using Classroom in a Book as the text. I enjoyed the class, and was able to do all of the lessons with no problem. However, when I attempted to do my own projects, I realized that my learning had not been a continuum of skills, but a,"How good are you at following step by step directions course." I then went through Photoshop Studio Techniques, doing every example on my own, and learned how to use Photoshop.

The software on the CD-ROM included with this book is faulty. The automatic installation of Adobe Type Manager with Post Script fonts failed. Adobe Type Manager could not be installed because a required file is missing from the CD-ROM. This file is: "FONTS\atm_9x\ATMENU.HLP". There may be other problems with the software but I got no further with the automatic install because of this roadblock. The Lessons installed OK. I've just started working with the lessons so it is too early for me to review the rest of the book.

Outstanding book for a casual user as well as a professional. Lots of practical reference and examples. Step by step examples are easy to follow so that even new users of Photo Shop 6 will not be intimidated.

Great book. Highly recommended.

This book assumes you are new to image editing/Design Layout software and are new to graphic design type work.

The tutorials are excellent. The Lessons are carefully planned and work great.

Of all the computer books I have purchased through Amazon, this one has the best cd files ever. The lessons make sense and the examples are excellent.

If you are new to image editing/layout software and want to really learn what Photoshop is and what it can do without becoming entirely overwhelmed then buy this book.

Just Buy it!

Typical of the "Classroom in a Book" series, this book is set up as a series of lessons. They take you through the major functions of Photoshop providing both instructional overviews and hands-on exercises. Lessons-wise, I can't fault the authors. They did a bang up job of hitting all of the major functions of the program.

I would however like to warn users to realize that this book and the others in the series are really not for beginners. Photoshop packs A LOT of functionality. If you are a beginner and you start going through these lessons, you may feel VERY overwhelmed. I strongly suggest beginners start with another Photoshop book. Perhaps SAMS 24 hrs version. Good intro. Then buy this book and try the lessons. You really need the grounding in the application so you won't feel blown away.

I really did like this book, but it is truly for intermediate to advanced users only.

I purchased the book a couple days ago, and I'm barely through the first 7 lessons and I'm already happy with it. I've learned a lot more by reading this book, and I'd recommend it to anybody starting out with Photoshop. It has great step-by-step instructions (walkthroughs) and tons of projects so that you can experience what the book is telling you to do. This is a must for anybody starting out with Photoshop.

This book is a short version of covering a really large program. I use it in my classes, both the ACE-classes and the "regular" levels. You get inside information along with hands on training, and that's the best way of learning.
The book is made up by lessons. Lesson one just throws you in to doing everything in Photoshop and Image Ready, while the other lessons are more specialized.
If I should complain about something, this is it: you will be familiar to boredom with the lessons/images if you have used classroom in a book for the earlier versions of Photoshop.
This book is good both for reading and for practical use. I recommend it!

I am a new user to Photoshop, and struggle alot with graphics, it is definitely not a strong point for me. This is by far the best and easiest way to learn Photoshop, I really like the step by step tutorial method of learning things, all the instructions were correct. Overall a great book.

More and more companies are looking for people who know Photoshop and this book is a great way for beginners, such as myself, to become familiar with this wonderful program.

Lessons are designed to help you become familiar with the Photoshop Menus, Tools and design- its a great place to start and will be keeping this as a reference book.

This is an amazingly helpful book for both beginners and intermediate users. The tutorials walk you through step by step and give you the tools that translate into your everyday Photoshop needs.

Although I am pretty proficient with computers, I am not a designer, yet I wanted to use Photoshop for simple Image manipulation, enhancement, etc. When I got Photoshop I was at first intimidated. Sure, I could figure out the VERY, VERY basic stuff, but not much more.

Well, this book changes everything. A huge amount of information is conveyed in an easy-to-learn format with clear examples and set-by-step instruction. Everything from the work environment, tools, and palettes , selections, layers, masks, painting, photo retouching etc. It's awesome!

If you own or are getting Photoshop 6, this is a REQUIRED purchase to go along with it! You'll be glad you did!

This is one of the greatest and easiest book on photoshop. This book helped me set up my free account at portfolio.com. It was so easy and I have had many complements on my work since getting this and one other guide. Well worth the price.

The class room in a book series is the best way to learn Adobe products. If you are new to Photoshop I highly recommend this book!

The book consists of a series of projects/tutorials that are logical and easy to follow. Once you've completed this book you will have a good foundation of Photoshop knowledge.

If you have just upgraded from an earlier version this book will help you learn the new features of version 6.0 but a lot of the information in this book is the same as previous versions.

The book has some good projects involving web graphics and image ready.

This is the greatest and easiest book on photoshop. This book helped me set up my account at portfolio.com. I have had many complements on my work since getting this guide. Well worth the price. And CD too!

Wow! Even I, an art school dropout, can follow the step by step tutorials in Adobe Photoshop 6.0 Classroom in a Book (With CD-ROM)! I am well on my way to becomming an ACE, Adobe Certified Expert. Thank you Adobe! Tony Norberg

I read the manual of Photoshop 6 too and I think everytime a Classroom in a Book book is better than manual of its software for beginners. Book gives you general use of software with 17 Lessons. Some lessons got tool techniques for getting the theory . ( Expecially every beginner will like Lesson 7 : Basic Pen Tool Techniques . ) I advice to new Photoshop 6 users to read this book firstly . And after that to improve their Photoshop 6 skills should read book's manual . If you firstly read the manual you can bored about it because there are too many theory ( not too much practices) You can spend your money for this book ! It will deserve it.