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PC Pro
by mng70
PC Pro magazine has been going for quite a while now and both it's publication and website are amongst my best viewed sources for computer related information. The magazine is factual, unbiased and brings together both business and home computing seamlessly.
Amongst it's staff are some highly regarded members of the computer ... fraternity including Jon Honeyball and Barry Collins. Both have there own sections in the magazine and discuss many topics complimenting the magazine.
The A-List is a section that displays the best of each category such as value graphics card, enthusiast graphics card etc. This give the consumer a good idea on what to buy in the future.
Other little sections I like include the part that compares there views with other publications and the views of the PC Pro forum members. The letters section shows a great community spirit and the reviews, whilst not exhaustive are thorough and a pleasure to read.
One annoyance is that there are two editions of the magazine, one with either a CD or a DVD. The DVD version is slightly more expensive than the CD version but offers more content on the disc. My main gripe is that being a computer / internet magazine why do we have a CD at all? We should be able to download any content we need from a secure website.
All in all, I will continue to enjoy my subscription (some good rates out there!) and suggest you give it a try.
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Net Magazine
by Red56
What Is .Net Magazine?
The .Net magazine is the web designers mag. It has detailed examples of different techniques ,advice and opinions from web designing experts .It takes a look at and gives its opinion on all the technology's and web standers used in today's Industry
What is in it?
On opening the ... magazine you will come to the contents page first. The first section is articles , it contains interviews with people from the world of web design with their opinions and advice relating to web design technology and the latest issues facing the industry.
The next section is the techniques section. This section goes into specific detail on how to use web technologies such as CSS, Java Script, PHP. A good example of this would be, Add cutting edge visual effects using CSS. It contains a detailed breakdown of how to do this.
For each project in this section it will tell you the level of understanding you will need to complete it. An example of this would be (Java Script : intermediate knowledge needed).It will tell you what tools you will need such as what web editor , browser ect. It will tell you how long the project will take and at the end of it give you a list of resources on where to find out more info on that subject.
Also in this section is a web site build off. You get three different approaches from different Industry professionals on how to deal with a particular part of web site build or a complete build. It can be quite interesting to see how different people deal with the same problem.
There are plenty more sub sections within techniques
(Mobile) for web sits designed for the mobile phone market
(Make over) Designers revamp a site
(How we built it) web site creators talking about how they created their own site
(Opinions) Industry leaders with their view from the latest news and topics from the web designing industry
The next Section is Called Showcase which contains Gallery, Profile, Focus and opinion. Its about Show casing design and creative opinions. It takes a look at different websites and how they have used different techniques within web sites.
The last section is called Web Pro which contains Search , E-commerce , Start-up, Hosting, Security , marketing and opinions. The section takes a look at (SEO) search engine optimization how to get the most from this. Also (SERP) search engine results page and how to improve your standings on your results page .How to go about starting up websites and a look at hosting packages and company's.
The magazine comes with a free CD which contains free web design software, trial software magazine files , resources, pdf book extracts and plenty of tool kits. If you want to archive your CD there is a free inlay on the back page which also as a support address for the CD. There is an email for reader support and a phone number, ask to speak to disk support.
The Cost.
The cost of the magazine is £5.99 but as with most magazines if you subscribe you will save, £13.99 is the price per quarter. It is also a global magazine subscribing world wide.
Mt opinion
This magazine is a monthly mag which as a huge amount of information in it and is very detailed. The very nature of .Net means that the narrative style is very technical ,I would not recommend it to a beginner or some one who wants to use a blogging application such as word press who as no knowledge of web design. There is plenty of other free resources that would be better for these people. .Net also comes with an events calender for seminars conferences and general talks on web design. One thing I do find a bit annoying is there is for me too many adverts in between the articles but over all a great mag. For the right person this is going to to be an excellent magazine . I would definitely recommend for the enthusiastic amateur Web designing pro, small or large business, its an excellent resource
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Computer Arts - Magazine
by Lehen
Computer Arts is a monthly magazine aimed at graphic design and illustration students and freelancers worldwide. The publication offers a wide range of features, from the Exposure section covering new illustration trends, to design studio and industry reports thrown together with a bundle of up-to-date tutorials on current graphic and ... illustration styles and underground trend movements that are making it mainstream. Computer Arts try to pack in as much information and useful tips as possible in every issue and every designer out there, no matter their skill level and experience will always find something new and helpful inside the pages.
The magazine also comes with a free CD that usually contains all the tutorial files on disc, along with various free design resources and utilities, such as brushes, layer styles, textures, stock photos, trial and full software, along with open source projects, videos and book extracts.
If you're looking for a quick injection of an inspiration fix, you will often get inspired by Computer Arts if you find yourself hitting a creative block, so it is always best to keep various issues of Computer Arts at hand. The magazine will give you a new lease of life if you're stuck for ideas.
As an avid reader of Computer Arts for close to a decade you will notice, once you become a regular reader, the same topics are often covered and featured at least once year, but reworded and including a slightly more up-to-date version. These topics that are often covered multiple times and in some cases, a little too much, are the likes of 'How to create a portfolio', 'How to setup a design studio' and 'How to stay on top', type of articles, some readers consider too repetitive. But needless to say, new readers find these articles useful and the older readers need to skim through them in hope to find something extra that might be of use to them.
All-in-all, if you have never picked up a copy of Computer Arts, or its sister magazine, Computer Arts Projects, now is a great time to start, as if you are passionate about graphic design and illustration this is the mag for you.
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