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Every developer of web applications based on Microsoft's Internet Information Server and Active Server Pages needs to have certain essential reference books on hand: O'Reilly's HTML: The Definitive Guide, WROX Press Ltd's Professional Active Server Pages 2.0, O'Reilly's Essential Windows NT System Administration, Microsoft's Internet Information Server Resource Kit, and Addison-Wesley's How to Set Up and Maintain a Web Site: Second Edition -- to name a few. But these books, in a sense, sit at the edges of the information space traversed by the would-be IIS webmaster. They describe all the pieces, but not how to put the pieces together into the type of interactive application we see on the web every day.
Professional ASP Techniques for Webmasters sits right at the center of the web application information space, on both the strategic and tactical levels, and will save its purchasers from hours of painful struggle and experimentation. The major sections describe dynamic web page generation, site navigation, browser compatibility, remote administration, and gathering information and creating reports about site visitors. A final "plug and play" chapter includes a number of tricks and traps that didn't fit in logically elsewhere, ranging from the creation of pop-up windows to configuring the IIS SMTP service. The book is supplemented with downloads, errata, and feedback forms on the WROX web site.
We've come to expect high standards of quality from WROX Press, and this book is no exception. Professional ASP Techniques for Webmasters is clearly written and carefully edited, with a clean design, program listings that actually work, appropriate use of screen shots, and a minimum of fluff. This is not the kind of book you'll want to read from cover to cover, but its practical advice and example code will come in handy over and over again.
-- Ray Duncan (duncan@cerf.net)
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Explanation of ERCB rating scale: No stars = unacceptable, 1 Star = marginal, 2 Stars = average, 3 Stars = above average, 4 Stars = exceptional.