![]() |
How to Geta hardcopy version of Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing |
Here are some options:
I love the book. While Philip shows incredible generosity in putting all the content out on the web for free, the book is still an excellent deal. Attend one of Philip's one-day seminars and he'll give you the book. It is very interesting to hear Philip speak and you'll carry away a very well produced book that is content-rich and beautiful.I wish the book was in hardcover and printed on lighter stock. At times it feels unwieldy. However I love the photos and Philip's "I wear my opinions on my sleeves" style.
-- Jagadeesh Venugopal, August 8, 1999
I bought the book through a local bookstore. Here are my thoughts.
- There's no way I could print a 600-page glossy four-color book for $40. It would cost me more like $60 for the paper alone, and another $30 for the ink and printing. Also, I would have to download all the high-resolution photos and arrange them in the text; it's not likely that I would do as good a job of this as Yonie Overton, so Philip still wouldn't want to have my baby.
- But if I did print it, I would do a better job of binding it than Morgan Kauffman did. They used 'side-binding', which means the threads that hold the pages together run through holes in the edges of the pages, and glued the edges of the pages to the spine. This typically means that it is impossible to rebind the book in a better (more durable) cover, because each page is a separate sheet of paper, instead of half a sheet as in the traditional 'center-bound' method, and each page is glued to the spine. It also means that the book will not open to lay flat; it has a tendency to try to close itself if you let go of it, and it has a strong tendency to remember where it's been open to in the past, just like a cheap pulp paperback.
I expect that this binding will decay in about ten or so readings of the book, which is a terrible shame, since the photos and witty commentary are worth reading far more often than that.
When the book arrived at the bookstore, I was horrified and asked if it was available in a better binding. It wasn't. Why?
I bought it through a local bookstore because I want to be able to go to a local bookstore and browse five years from now. I won't be able to do that if Amazon puts all the bookstores out of business.
(Amusing postscript: the day I wrote the above text, 1999-07-30, it was a little above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Ohio, where I live. I left the book in my car, open. When I returned to my car, I found that the glue holding the pages to the spine had melted, and the spine had peeled away from the book. I reassembled it; I will probably attack it with an iron to try to make it stick.)
-- Kragen Sitaker, October 27, 1999
Printing out the book with Web PrintSmart doesn't seem to be an option anymore (if it ever has been :-)). Here's why:(from http://www.hp.com/pond/wps/index.html)
"Update on Availability of Web PrintSmart Products
The Web PrintSmart product line, popular with HP customers and recognized by press and industry experts for changing the way people experience collecting, comparing and reporting Web information, will be discontinued in order to allow HP to pursue other strategic opportunities in the areas of Internet publishing products and services.
Effective 11/16/1999, Web PrintSmart Plus! 2.0 and Web PrintSmart 2.0 FREE will no longer be available for download. The Web PrintSmart support Website and online forums will continue to serve the support needs of the installed base."
What does "to allow HP to pursue other strategic opportunities in the areas of Internet publishing products and services" mean? Couldn't they keep the free downloads anyway?
-- Pär Nilsson, November 18, 1999
I'd like a Palm version to download!
-- Tristan Tom, March 23, 2000
This book is very well written, the stories are wonderful, and the technical tips are meticulous. It has its roots within the context of this very website and every feature about it; it's been a joy to read through the book a first time comfortably, away from a computer, and a second time in the scope of the arsdigita website and working on the problem sets. The book is totally unique and groundbreaking; it is perhaps the first computer book ever to have voice. The author offers a wealth of techniques, tips, history, and epistemology in the field of Computer Science. But so much better than that, Philip Greenspun weaves it together with the authenticity, storytelling, and culture that has grown around computers. If you are still skeptical...the clarity of the layout, graphic design, and colorful photographic insights, make it a project worth supporting. In a field where computer books are in gross excess and are quickly outdated, this is a purchase that you will find very useful and elegant. You hardly need an invitation.
-- Nicholas-Cohle Toulouse, July 16, 2000
I found a link to the Hewlett Packard PrintSmart utility in the Hewlett Packard forums (Web PrintSmart Community Forum, Guest login, and the message was not posted by an HP employee). This link is to a page that contains a link to the file itself.(the missing file was also referenced on the boot-camp page)
Perhaps HP wouldn't mind us putting a copy somewhere more permanent?
-- Michael Bluett, July 18, 2000