XSLT Cookbook

Ajax in Action

Xml

SVG Essentials (O'Reilly XML)

Format: Paperback
Author: J David Eisenberg
ReleaseDate: 05 February, 2002
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

Good introduction, needs more recipes
It is well written and edited, it also provides a thorough description of the entirety of the standard. The book provides a solid introduction to SVG through an increasingly complex set of examples of SVG use. What it lacks is more depth in the area of recipes for commonly used image effects. It also needs more advice about how complex SVGs are organized and built for efficiency. I understand that SVG is still on the adoption curve, so perhaps we could see these improvements in a second version of the book when the standard has picked up a little more.

For the time being the book earns it's four stars by providing a nice learning curve and having high quality examples that demonstrates the concepts effectively.

Best ORA book since HTML: The Definitive Guide
Within a few hours of buying this book, I was producing and printing extremely high quality images that I had found all but impossible to produce w/other technologies (JPEG codecs, etc. While it's difficult to separate my excitement over SVG from the contents of this book, it's quite possible that the two are so directly related as to be inseperable.). If you are familiar with the basic mark-up language concepts, then you should have no trouble gleaning the essential elements of SVG.

After an excellent introductory chapter that provides a general overview, subsequent chapters cover aspects of SVG in detail, such as how to create basic shapes or generate text. One thing I particularly liked was that the author mostly uses a single example (SVG code to create a picture of a cat) to illustrate new concepts, creating a sense of cohesiveness that tied the chapters together. This book is *not* just a scattershot collection of essays that characterizes so many other technical books -- the text is clear, concise, and to the point. Finally, there is a very uselful appendix that summarizes the most frequently used attributes.

Perhaps the only drawback is that if you are coming to SVG from a non-technical background, you might find this book a little too gear-headed for your liking. For technical readers that want a thorough introduction (i. e. , not a PhD thesis) to this exciting and useful technology, however, this book is a must.

Good starter book, but...
If you're looking for a book to get you started, this one will do nicely. Not a bad book if you want to learn just the basics; however, I think you can easily find everything in this book on the Web if you take the time to dig around. But if you're looking for more advanced/esoteric SVG material, I'd keep looking.