Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 20:26:50 EST
From: "Rob Slade, the doting grandpa of Ryan Hoff"
Subject: "Mosaic for Dummies" by Angell/Heslop

BKMOSDUM.RVW   950523
 
"Mosaic for Dummies", David Angell/Brent Heslop, 1995, 1-56884-242-2,
U$19.99/C$26.99/UK#18.99
%A   David Angell dangell@bookware.com
%A   Brent Heslop bheslop@bookware.com
%C   155 Bovet Road, Suite 310, San Mateo, CA   94402
%D   1995
%G   1-56884-242-2
%I   IDG Books
%O   U$19.99/C$26.99/UK#18.99 415-312-0650 fax: 415-286-2740 kaday@aol.com
%P   356
%T   "Mosaic for Dummies"
 
Parts two and three do provide a basic overview of the Mosaic interface
(although the coverage of the menu items is pretty disorganized),
customization, and "add-ons" you can use to enhance your setup.  Chapter eleven
gives a reasonable start to basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language) although it
gets kind of confused between the raw HTML and HTML Assistant examples.  The
last part, as now seems to be mandatory, lists the usual bunch of Web sites.
 
There isn't much to say about the rest of the book.  Two chapters are devoted
to *not* telling you how to set up IP connections, TCP/IP and Mosaic.  Believe
me, unless you already know how to prepare for a Mosaic installation, you will
*not* be able to set up the program from the information in this book.
 
Perhaps, though, the minimalist content is a blessing in disguise.  The lack of
accuracy in some of the current sections makes one wonder what would have
happened had the authors tried to cover more advanced topics.  The failure to
have current numbers for Web sites is understandable, given the rapid growth of
the World Wide Web.  The implication that TCP/IP "comes with" ftp may be simply
careless wording.  But the large, boxed, highlighted statement that HTML+ will
provide email capability in the future is flatly wrong.  In the first place,
the current version of HTML already provides adequately for email, and in the
second place it is a fault within Mosaic, itself, which does not allow the use
of forms or mailto tags.
 
Of the many texts on Mosaic, this rates way down the list.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKMOSDUM.RVW   950523

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