Coreldraw 12: The Official Guide

List Price: $49.99 Discount Price: $28.45

Customer Reviews:

No Working Companion Site as Advertised on the Book Cover [Posted on 2005-11-09]
I went to the McGraw Hill page set aside for the images in the book so that I could use them to work along with the book. This is always a very big factor in my decision to buy software oriented books. Most software books now have a companion site if a CD was not included. Literally, over 90% of the 20 software books I have bought in the past three months have a companion site online if they do not supply images and other goodies on a CD in the book itself. Being able to follow along with the same images is an invaluable learning tool. This book advertises the availability of images online on the cover and within. I'm afraid however, that the web links on the companion web page lead to nowhere and McGraw Hill's technical support person could not have cared less. He never got back to me as promised, the links are still broken and if I could I would return the book. The person I spoke to simply didn't care about my problem (apathetic beyond description)-it was quite evident in his tone of voice and in the ultimate not fixing of the problem. And yes, I spoke to the correct department. This is all Unfortunate, as this book has the potential to be a terrific workbook. Now it is nothing more than a run of the mill book and I don't like to buy from companies that do not stand behind their products and mislead their customers as to what their purchase includes. Shame on you Osborne/McGraw Hill. Hopefully, someone from this mega book supplier will see this review and fix the companion site. For now , I will not be buying any books from Osborne/McGraw Hill or any of its associated companies.

Companion site works fine! [Posted on 2005-11-28]
I use this book to supplement our graphic illustration course at a local college. It's amazingly precise for a third party manual and extremely thorough in covering every aspect of the program. We follow the tutorials to create our practical design projects.

One reviewer mentioned he had troubles with the companion Web site, but we've never had a problem downloading the files. We follow the Downloads link and locate the book from the alphabetized list. It's a couple of clicks at most.

bad paradigm [Posted on 2005-12-19]
If you're looking for a book to get you up and running with CorelDraw 12, this ain't it. This book uses the "Start with the File Menu..." paradigm. The first several chapters are taken up with mind numbingly endless descriptions of menus and tools and options, how to save files (duh) and discussions of features, the function of which the novice user has no clue. You don't actually get to draw anything until way into the second section of the book. (Note that I said Section, not Chapter). Even then, the explanations are so obtuse and convoluted that it is almost impossible for anyone without a vector based application background to figure out what's going on.
I suppose if one has experience with Corel or the Adobe products, this book makes sense and probably covers all the bells and whistles. But if you're a relatively computer literate person who just wants to learn how to use CorelDraw 12 from the ground up, get a different book.
DB

Excellent resource for CorelDraw 12 [Posted on 2006-03-01]
This is an extremely comprehensive guide that is packed full of clear illustrations. I consider the volume to be very readable and useful for a range of users, i.e., users new to CorelDraw or intermediate level and above. No wonder they call it the "Only Authorized Reference on CorelDraw 12"!

Coreldraw 12: The Official Guide [Posted on 2006-03-16]
I selected this book after reading reviews on Amazon.com. I found the book an excellent supplement to the lynda.com training I purchased for the same program. It helped to fill in the gaps and expand upon the online training. I cannot compare it to the Coreldraw 12 unleashed cd since I have not viewed it, but I am pleased with my purchase. I enjoyed the book from start to end and that says a lot for a discriminating reader of technical publications. Because I use coreldraw 12 primarily to construct business cards, I do wish the book would have addressed color matching. However, there are other sources on this subject on the net. Enough said - great book!

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