Memories do not necessarily have any association with good or bad design, but simply with devices that stay in the mind's eye. Good design is often memorable, but not always mnemonically, in that it cannot be described, or recreated with any assured accuracy. Viewers may have a recollection of its pleasing nature, but have little recall as to precisely why this is. If "red top" newspaper mastheads, the McDonalds golden arches, the Nike logo or the Heinz baked beans label are considered typical of successful mnemonic devices, it is interesting to debate their aesthetic merits. Sticky Graphics evaluates the audience's role in responding to mnemonic devices by discussing the impact of such influences as experience, familiarity and uniqueness. For example, designs that feature a viewer's favorite color, shape, or significant topic are likely to trigger a more positive and productive memory. Defined as the art of assisting memory, mnemonics play an essential and often unsung role in successful graphics. Sticky Graphics concentrates on the mnemonics of graphic design, and focuses on design memory devices. Presenting methods and solutions for ensuring audience retention and recollection though and examination of Typography, Graphic Wit and Shock, Metaphor Language, Use of Scale, Color Image, Materials, and Composition as well as insight into smell, sound, and touch.

Java 2D Graphicsis a remarkably accessible guide to graphics programming using Sun's new Java 2D API. Besides the basic navigation of the API, this title delivers plenty of useful advanced material for extending Java 2D's capabilities.

After a simple introductory example, the book focuses on the graphics architecture of Java 2D and its rendering pipeline. Support classes in Java 2D receive ample coverage as well, with sections outlining topics like storing points, shapes, and paths. For basic graphics output, the book demonstrates the simple—which can be found in the process of drawing common shapes like lines, ellipses, and rectangles—as well as the complex seen in modifying graphics output through translating, rescaling, rotating, or shearing.

Text output in Java 2D receives its due as well, since the book acknowledges Java 2D's advanced font capabilities that allow it to handle right-to-left languages such as Arabic. Further sections delve into Java 2D color models (including support for the CIEXYZ and sRGB color standards). Concerning the display of images, the book covers the built-in support for image filtering in Java 2D, which allows programmers to build toggles and fades into their code that alter brightness, contrast, blurring, and sharpening.

For advanced readers, Java 2D Graphicspresents techniques like double buffering and matrix operations for custom image effects. Another expert section on the internal storage classes for image data will be useful for those who want to write image decoders. (A sample PNG decoder shows off the basics here.) Final sections look at printing, animation, and performance issues.

In all, Java 2D Graphicsprovides a fine introduction to the latest in 2-D graphics programming from Sun, in a title that will be useful to both beginning and advanced Java developers. —Richard Dragan

This book provides an overview of leading-edge developments in the field of human-computer interaction. It includes contributions from many of the key areas that are influencing our use of computers. Highlights include sections on speech technology, on interaction with mobile and hand-held computers, on e-business, on web-based systems, on virtual reality and haptic interfaces. Furthermore the book includes chapters on E-Business, data mining and databases, mobile systems, speech, viewing the web, next generation office systems, novel ineteraction, accessibility, interruptions and coordination, design patterns, healthcare informatics, haptics, design techniques, remote interaction and evaluation, search, programming environments, 3D and virtual environments, social psychology and contextual design, learning, evaluation tools and communities and language. Today one of the most written and spoken impacts of computing and IT is communication and the easy accessibility for information. Geography is no longer a constraint. With these advances in first and second world nations, and slower introduction to the third world, an enlarging proportion of the world population is encountering computer based systems. This brings a changing basis of approach, as issues such as cultural, political and economic differences must be accommodated in ways that have not existed before. HCI researchers and practitioners have a responsibility to propose scientifically, socially and environmentally sustainable solutions that will help ease the burden that current new technologies impose on people and organisations. The goal must be to achieve benefit from technological advances, for it should match the skills, needs and expectations of the users of such technologies.

As noted by coauthor Patrick Chan in his interview with Amazon.com, programmers spend much of their time writing little programs that do nothing but explain to them the behavior of certain aspects of a language. Java programmers, working as they do with a relatively new, evolving language, spend more time than most writing experimental programs that help them figure out particular classes.

With this book, Chan, Rosanna Lee, and Douglas Kramer attempt to save you the trouble of all that futzing around. Each class in the java.io.*, java.lang.*, java.lang.reflect.*, java.math.*, java.net.*, java.text.*, java.util.*, and java.util.zip.* packages gets explored thoroughly in these pages. In each entry you'll find not only the pedestrian inheritance chart and statement of syntax but a lengthy, lucid discussion of the class (or member), too. Best of all, each entry comes with a working example of how the class or member is used in real life.

The authors, all affiliated with Sun Microsystems in Java's earliest days, know their stuff. They have created an omnibus tool that should prove immensely valuable to any Java programmer who wants to get the most out of the language. —David Wall

Just as the Java 2 specification expands upon the solid foundation created by earlier versions of the Java language, The Java Class Libraries: Supplement for the Java 2 Platformbuilds on the base established by the highly respected The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, Volume 1. This supplement covers all that's new and changed in the java.io, java.lang, java.lang.reflect, java.math, java.net, java.text, java.util, and java.util.zip packages, as well as the new java.util.jar and java.lang.ref packages in their entirety. Since this supplement covers only the new and modified material, you'll need to keep the older volume (whose contents are indexed in the Supplement for the Java 2 Platform, by the way) on hand.

The Supplement for the Java 2 Platformtakes the form of a series of entries, each detailing the characteristics of a single class. Entries include a full statement of the class's inheritance, a full list of the members of the class (with flags next to those members that are new or have changed since Java 1.1), and detailed subentries on the flagged members. Members' subentries include a brief statement of the member's purpose and syntax, along with a prose description of the member's behavior. All members' subentries also include either an illustrative example or a reference to one that appears with another member. —David Wall

Idea Index kick-started a revolution in graphic design books, unique in size, feel—and most important—wealth of ideas. Layout Index is the next step, a compendium of layout idea-generators that will help designers explore multiple possibilities for visual treatments each time they turn the page. The visual and textual suggestions are divided into eight major areas, including newsletters, flyers, posters, brochures, advertising, stationery, page layout, and Web pages.

Each of these examples are designed to inspire effective solutions in the viewer's mind, rather than simply give specific answers to design problems. The tone and temperament of the design problems, as well as their solutions, vary from traditional to cutting-edge, from corporate to crazy. Designers will learn to solve their design problems, produce fantastic work and become better, more creative thinkers.

* Both creativity books and layout books are extremely popular
* As proven by Idea Index, the format of this book is a proven winner with designers