Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this second edition, author Mikkel Aaland updates Photoshop for the Web to include important new techniques and workarounds for the latest release of Photoshop--version 5.5. The first edition was loaded with step-by-step examples and real-world solutions from some of the world's hottest Web sites. The second edition adds coverage of Photoshop 5.5's newest features, including a compression tool that ultimately leads to faster download times and higher quality Web graphics. This edition also details features new to version 5.0, including the changeable type tool, color profiling, and the history palette.If that's not enough, Photoshop for the Web, 2nd Edition also covers Adobe's ImageReady 2.0 Web graphics production software, now part of the Photoshop 5.5 package, and includes 64 pages of color inserts. You'll find information on ImageReady 2.0's image slicing, animation, and JavaScript rollover capabilities.Topics include:

Using 5.5's powerful Save For Web feature Automatically creating an interactive web photo gallery with 5.5 Image manipulation and processing with 5's history brush Working with browser-safe colors to create stunning images regardless of platform or hardware Using Photoshop 5's contact sheet feature to organize digital photographs Quickly building Web backgrounds, buttons, and graphical type Creating JavaScript rollovers with ImageReady 2.0 Streamlining Web production with Photoshop 5's changeable type tool Using Photoshop 5.5's new color decontamination features Using Photoshop as a Web layout tool Customizing Photoshop for Web production, including 5's color profiling Improving photos taken with a digital camera Controlling anti-aliasing with custom brushes Getting rid of the dreaded halo syndrome Optimizing images for JPEG compression Coding layout information in a Photoshop layer Changing Photoshop's matte color to match your Web page color Importing vector graphics into Photoshop Straightening scans with Photoshop 5's ruler tool Working with browser-safe colors to create stunning images regardless of platform or hardware Integrating PS and ImageReady to create the most efficient web production environment In its first edition, "Photoshop for the Web" has received praise from press and readers alike: * The Canada Computer Paper picked it as one of the 10 best computer books of 1998. * Hewlett Packard's E-Business Web site called it "one of the most useful Photoshop books I've ever picked up." * And My Mac magazine said, "Aaland knows Photoshop inside out and how to maximize it for Web creation."Readers were even more effusive: * "This is the first book that gives me both ready-to-use recipes and enough information to experiment with and learn my own solutions. Highly recommended!" * "Aaland has provided an excellent and detailed analysis of using Photoshop to produce web pages ... a must-read book!" * "Within minutes of perusing Aaland's book, I found exactly 4 new tricks that I immediately applied to improve my web site." * "This book now rests on my most hallowed piece of real estate - on my desk next to my mouse." Photoshop for the Web, Second Edition shows you how to use the latest version of Photoshop to create Web graphics that look great and download blazingly fast.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• 1 Making Photoshop Web-Friendly (p. 1)
• Photoshop 5 color preferences (p. 1)
• Stop wasting bytes (p. 3)
• Other web-friendly preferences (p. 7)
• Changing Photoshop's default background color (p. 9)
• Selecting web-safe colors (p. 10)
• Using Actions for web production (p. 11)
• Calibrating your monitor (p. 11)
• Take the time (p. 15)
• 2 Improving Photos for the Web (p. 17)
• Global corrections (p. 19)
• Selective corrections (p. 28)
• Enhancing acquired images (p. 32)
• Putting your photos on the web (p. 40)
• 3 Making Great GIFs (p. 45)
• GIF or JPEG? (p. 45)
• Using Save for Web (p. 48)
• The Indexed Color option (p. 53)
• 4 Creating GIFs from Scratch (p. 63)
• From RGB to indexed color (p. 63)
• Controlling anti-aliasing with custom brushes (p. 64)
• Working in Indexed Color mode (p. 67)
• Creating an illusion of translucency (p. 68)
• Hijacking a color palette (p. 68)
• Creating your own browser-safe colors (p. 69)
• On to transparency (p. 70)
• 5 Special Effects with Transparent GIFs (p. 71)
• Save for Web (p. 71)
• Indexed Color mode (p. 76)
• Selecting Transparency in the Color Table (p. 77)
• Using the GIF89a Export module (p. 78)
• Familiarity counts (p. 94)
• 6 JPEG: All the Color You Want (p. 95)
• Compression versus quality (p. 95)
• Saving JPEG files (p. 98)
• Optimizing for compression (p. 102)
• Other JPEG issues (p. 106)
• Pushing the envelope (p. 109)
• 7 Creating Background Tiles (p. 111)
• Working with tiling strips (p. 113)
• Creating patterns with square tiles (p. 119)
• Compressing backgrounds with JPEG (p. 124)
• Grabbing backgrounds (p. 126)
• Remembering the balance (p. 127)
• 8 Photoshop Web Type (p. 129)
• Working with Photoshop 5's Type tool (p. 129)
• Working with rendered type (p. 137)
• Going that extra mile (p. 142)
• Blur for readability (p. 144)
• The inherent beauty of type (p. 145)
• Making a difference (p. 145)
• 9 Creating Navigational Graphics (p. 149)
• Layer effects with Photoshop 5 (p. 149)
• Creating photo bubbles (p. 150)
• Creating beveled boxes with the Gradient tool (p. 152)
• Painting beveled buttons (p. 154)
• Embossing and debossing type (p. 155)
• Bullet balls with light effects (p. 156)
• Creating flashy round buttons (p. 157)
• Creating navigational triangles (p. 158)
• Using found objects (p. 158)
• Creating an interactive navigational bar (p. 160)
• Instructions in layers (p. 161)
• The personal touch (p. 161)
• 10 Importing Vectors into Photoshop (p. 163)
• Importing vector files (p. 163)
• Avoiding color shifts (p. 168)
• Two are better than one (p. 172)
• 11 Laying Out Pages in Photoshop (p. 173)
• Painting design on a web page (p. 175)
• Redesigning with layers and grids (p. 178)
• Animating your graphics with Actions (p. 179)
• Using guides to design and crop (p. 180)
• Keeping boundaries with templates (p. 182)
• Working within the "live" area (p. 183)
• Coding layout information in a layer (p. 183)
• Unintended uses (p. 185)
• 12 ImageReady 2.0 (p. 187)
• From Photoshop to ImageReady and back (p. 187)
• Using ImageReady (p. 189)
• Slicing images (p. 192)
• Animation (p. 196)
• Rollovers (p. 199)
• Making dolls come alive (p. 201)
• Conclusion (p. 205)
• A The PNG Format (p. 207)
• B Third-Party Software (p. 213)
• C Contributor Notes (p. 221)
• Index (p. 225)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Mikkel Aaland is a photographer, writer, Web producer, and the author of six books, including Sweat (1978), County Fair Portraits (1981), Digital Photography (1992), Still Images in Multimedia (1996), Photoshop for the Web (1998), and The Sword of Heaven (not yet published). He has contributed both text and/or photography to Wired, Digital Creativity, Pre, American Photo, Newsweek, Graphis, Publish, and MacWeek, as well as several European publications. His photography has been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and the former Lenin Museum in Prague. He is the recipient of the National Art Directors award for photography. Aaland is also the co-founder of Tor Productions, a multimedia company founded in 1989 and based in San Francisco specializing in the use of the still image in new media. He has lectured and taught on that subject at Stanford University, Drexel University, and University of California at Berkeley, as well as at computer graphics conferences around the country.