Blogcritics

Software Review: DiffDog 2008 from Altova

T. Michael Testi — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 21:49:11 EST

If you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what files have changed then DiffDog 2008 is a perfect solution.
DiffDog 2008 is a difference/merge tool for software and application development. It is a graphical differencing utility that will allow you to visually compare and merge text or source code and synchronize directories using a straightforward visual interface. It also provides advanced XML-aware differencing and editing capabilities. What this...

Software Review: Adobe Master Collection - Dreamweaver CS4 from Adobe Systems

T. Michael Testi — Thu, 1 Jan 2009 02:51:33 EST

The premier Web design program just keeps getting better.
This is the fourth of a series of reviews that will cover what is contained in the Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) Master Collection. When Adobe released CS4 this fall, they not only released single version products, but also six separate suites of products. They are Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, and...

Video Training Review: Dreamweaver CS4 Essential Training with James Williamson from Lynda.com

T. Michael Testi — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:03:55 EST

Dreamweaver CS4 Essential Training is another high quality training video that will allow you to get up to speed on the Dreamweaver CS4.
Dreamweaver is the Web development application from Adobe Systems and to get the most out of the program, it's important not only to master the application, but also to understand fundamental concepts of modern Web design. Dreamweaver CS4 Essential Training attempts to do just that. In this training series, James Williamson covers everything...

Video Training Review: Designing The Moment with Robert Hoekman

T. Michael Testi — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:27:51 EST

This is a short but very focused video, the goal of which is to show you how to get a user to sign up to your Web site.
When you see a popular site, do you ever wonder how they get so many people to sign up for their products and services? It all has to do with providing an experience to the user that makes them feel comfortable turning over personal information like their e-mail address to the site. It also has to do with providing an environment that makes it easy...

Software Review: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 - Expression Encoder 2 & Expression Media 2

T. Michael Testi — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:15:15 EST

If you are into development using Microsoft products, then you should really checkout Expression Encoder and Expression Media 2
This is the third of a series of three reviews that will cover what is contained in the Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Collection. Expression Studio is the latest version of Microsoft's development design set. In Expression Studio 2 there are five programs that are geared to Web and application developers and designers. The products include...

Software Review: Camtasia Studio 6 from TechSmith

T. Michael Testi — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:08:11 EST

For the money, there is really only one choice if you want to do professional video recording: Camtasia Studio 6.
So what is Camtasia Studio? It is the premiere screen recording system on the market today, and it has just gotten better with the release of Camtasia Studio 6. It is a complete software solution for creating high-quality training videos, presentations, and screencasts that can be shared on the Web, CD-ROM, as well as on portable media players such...

Software Review: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 - Expression Blend 2 & Expression Design 2

T. Michael Testi — Wed, 3 Dec 2008 08:47:12 EST

I think that if you are into development using Microsoft products, then you should really checkout Expression Blend 2 and Expression Design 2.
This is the second of a series of three reviews that will cover what is contained in the Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Collection. Expression Studio is the latest version of Microsoft's development design set. In Studio 2 there are five programs that are geared to Web and application developers and designers. The products include Expression...

Software Review: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 - Expression Web 2

T. Michael Testi — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:19:53 EST

I think that if you are into Web development, and especially if you work with Microsoft products, then you should really check out Expression Web 2.
This is the first of a series of three reviews that will cover what is contained in the Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Collection. Expression Studio is the latest version of Microsoft's development design set. In Studio 2, there are five programs that are geared to Web and application developers and designers. The products include Expression...

Book Review: Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed by Adam Nathan

T. Michael Testi — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:51:48 EST

If you want to get up to speed quickly then this book will give you the boost you need.
Windows Presentation Foundation, also known as WPF, is a graphical subsystem of the Dot Net Framework 3.0 that will allow you to create richer, more dynamic applications than you ever could before. Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed was written as a definitive guide to getting real world results from WPF and Visual Studio. It is for those...

Book Review: LINQ Unleashed for C# by Paul Kimmel

T. Michael Testi — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:46:15 EDT

If you want to get up to speed quickly then LINQ Unleashed for C# will give you the boost you need.
Language Integrated Query; also known as LINQ, is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to the .NET languages using a syntax similar to SQL. The goal of LINQ is to make it easy to retrieve any information programmatically from any data source by unifying how data is accessed, no matter where it comes from,...