November '08 Issue:

• > Monthly Memo: A note from the editor
• > Retire in a Down Market? Not So Fast
• > Webcast: Planning for Retirement, With Bonnie Biafore
• > Music, Interrupted and Other Feature Gripes and Hopes
• > Missing CD for iPod, The Missing Manual
• > Stay Competitive
• > Special Borders.com Holiday Discount
• > See the Missing Manuals Team at Macworld Expo
• > We're Wondering...

Upcoming Releases

• Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual, Second Edition
  By Matthew MacDonald
  December 2008
  

• David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual
  By David Pogue
  December 2008
  

• Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual
  By Lesa Snider King
  December 2008
  

New Releases

• Flash CS4: The Missing Manual
  By Chris Grover with E.A. Vander Veer
  November 2008
  

• Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual
  By By David Sawyer McFarland
  November 2008
  

• > More titles

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Buy two books from oreilly.com and get the third free by using discount code OPC10 in our shopping cart. All orders over $29.95 qualify for free shipping within the US.

Monthly Memo

A note from the editor

By Peter Meyers, Missing Manuals managing editor

Apple's cornered the portable music player market and Google runs the world's searches, but when it comes to creating professional-quality pictures and Web sites, Adobe's the Big Kahuna. Thanks to programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash, designers everywhere shudder with glee every 18 months or so. That's when new versions arrive, like last month's release of the CS4 editions. But, man, as powerful as these tools are, they're about as easy to operate as an aircraft carrier.

There's no shortage, of course, of books on these topics. But there's a difference between trudging through hundreds of morale-crushing pages on, say, hooking a database up to your Web site, and the reader-friendly coverage you'll find in Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual, releasing later this month. I'm biased, but our explanation of how a dynamically generated Web page comes together is worthy of some kind of humanitarian award. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but we here at Missing Manuals HQ get misty eyed when the incredible writers we work with come up with new and humane (which is not to say dumbed down) ways to explain things.

Our book on Flash CS4 also deserves a spot on any Web designer's shelf -- especially for those looking to add software-like features and animations to their sites. For this edition (also coming out this month), we've got loads of new Missing Manual-style coverage explaining the brain-bending ActionScript language -- perfect for designers who are running out of hair to pull trying to make what's onscreen match what's in their head.

And I'm pleased to welcome our newest member of the family: Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual. We've been hearing for years from fans wondering why we haven't covered this popular program. Well, frankly, that's how long it's taken us to find someone like Lesa Snider King, a veteran instructor and student-favorite, whose teaching style happens to mesh perfectly with ours. Look for her book next month. CS4 fans everywhere: time to get busy!

Retire in a Down Market?
Not So Fast

By Bonnie Biafore

Spending money by selling investments whose values have dropped could be the torpedo that sinks your retirement ship. There are a few simple techniques that can help you sidestep this predicament or bolster a retirement portfolio that isn't as big as it should be. All you need are a couple of years to prepare. The less-than-ideal alternative is reducing your retirement standard of living to match your new financial reality.

Webcast: Planning for Retirement, With Bonnie Biafore

In this live Webcast, personal finance expert Bonnie Biafore offers a two-pronged approach to retirement planning. First, she helps you get a quick-and-dirty look at your current retirement finances. Then she shows you how to use Quicken to see if your current retirement plan is working. If it's not, Biafore tells you how to see whether changes you make to your retirement strategy can improve your retirement-plan results.

Sign Up Here

Music, Interrupted and Other Feature Gripes and Hopes

By Chad Capellman

Wishing for features for Pandora, Twitterific, Google Reader, Flash, Quicken, Windows Vista, Windows Live Writer or (surprise!) an iPhone? You're not alone. Twitterers speak out on our Missing Feature blog.

Missing CD for iPod, The Missing Manual, Seventh Edition

We just posted every one of the 79 helpful links mentioned in iPod: The Missing Manual, Seventh Edition, by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue.

Visit the Missing CD page

 

 

Stay Competitive

Regroup, retrain, rebuild. Financial markets are in a tailspin. Jobless rates are at a 7-year high. Budgets are shrinking. The good news is that the shifting economic landscape is creating new opportunities for those with the right skills. Do you have what it takes to tackle tough technical problems? To offer bold solutions? To provide businesses with the expertise they need? O'Reilly books, courses and conferences can help you put your best foot forward without breaking the bank.

Learn more

Special Borders.com Holiday Discount

Mark your calendar! From December 2, 2008 to December 15, 2008 Borders.com will be offering customers a special 30% discount on all Missing Manuals (does not include stores).

See the Missing Manuals Team
at Macworld Expo

Meet the Missing Manuals team and authors at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. If you're attending, please stop by booth #2210.

The series creator, David Pogue, will be there, along with a great line-up of Missing Manuals authors including J.D. Biersdorfer, Chris Grover, Lesa Snider King and David McFarland. We hope to see you there!

We're Wondering...

Do you use Twitter? If so, how frequently do you post updates and who do you follow?
Let us know: emailus@missingmanuals.com or reply to twitter.com/missingmanuals