The Special Edition Using… series of QUE books is for intermediate to advanced users. Therefore, Bill Camarda presumes that you have some familiarity with either Word 97 or Word 2000 and are now ready to use many of the advanced features (but not the arcane super-expert features) common to both versions and specific to the Word 2000 version.

Some of these features are: creating Web-based documents, Web-based collaboration tools, and better administration tools. But, as I have discovered is the case with many of QUE's Special Edition Using… series, the first 100–200 pages are elementary tasks that were probably covered in the Using… edition. Everyone should know how to do these things, and they are included in this book if you wanted to start using the heavy-duty stuff right away.

Better proficiency using many of the sophisticated features of Word is the main focus of this book. This reviewer knows the power of Word and, in fact, is using it to write this review. However, because there is nothing sophisticated in this document, WordPad (a.k.a. Microsoft Write) could just as easily have been used.

On the other hand, this reviewer is also in the business of consulting and development, and as such, has definite uses for many of these sophisticated features. Features such as: elaborate use of styles, templates, tables, and mail merge; master documents, tables of contents, indexes, and footnotes; incorporating visual effects, images, and complex layouts; and finally building applications that use Word as the "engine" for manipulating files and text.

Bill Camarda, having written many how-to books, has a feel for what might get you in trouble and offers several hundred tips, cautionary and informative notes, and small—very small—projects that highlight the power and quirks of Word 2000. However, this particular title is not for those who want an "activity book;" full projects that use many, perhaps dozens, of Word's features to accomplish a somewhat specific and elaborately constructed document. For that, you are advised to look elsewhere.

This book was written before Word 2000 was officially released and so this reviewer has some doubts about whether or not all subjects discussed match exactly how Word actually works. (There have been books written before applications have finished beta testing—the results being rather embarrassing.)

This particular copy of SEU-Word 2000 is from the second printing, and within the first hundred pages, several glaring errors missed by QUE's proofreaders were discovered. (This reviewer gave up taking notice of such proofing errors at this point.).

Many of the figures showing examples of the subject being discussed are immensely confusing. For example, a figure with a paragraph showing out-dents shows the horizontal ruler with the indent markers in positions not related to that paragraph. Hopefully, the copy you buy at the bookstore will be of a more current printing with such proofing errors fixed.

Included with the book, on CD, is Woody's Office Power Pack 2000 (WOPR 2K), the complete contents of this book, excerpted chapters from SEU-Office 2000, -Excel 2000, and –PowerPoint 2000, a huge collection of clip art, and dozens of free-, share-, and demo-ware programs.

Special Edition Using Word 2000
Bill Camarda
[1400 pages w/CD, $39.99]
Que, 1999
ISBN: 0-7897-1852-9

Weekend Crash Course is a fairly new series from M & T Books, now a division of Hungry Minds (formerly IDG Books Worldwide). This series is aimed at those who want a fast, focused course that concentrates on the essentials and leaves out the jokes and unnecessarily lengthy explanations.

It would help to know something about the subject when working through these books, although the material does start with the basics and move on from there. The books are good for those who need a quick refresher course, or who have some experience but need to learn a new language by Monday morning.

Each book consists of 30 lessons, each about 30 minutes long. You start on Friday nigh with two hours of work, continue with eight hours on Saturday, and five hours more on Sunday.

I found the material well organized, the books well-written, and as a result I strongly recommend them if they fit your profile.

Access 2000 Programming Weekend Crash Course
review by Tom Anderson

Any Access book with Cary Prague as the principal author starts out with a major advantage. Prague is president of Database Creations, Inc, the largest Access add-on company. His co-authors are all important principals with the same company. Prague and the others have authored or contributed to most of the major Access books.

The text is very clear, and covers the important material without verbosity. Working through the book, you’ll design and write a checkbook application. This ties the lessons together and gives you something useful when you’re finished.

Friday’s curriculum covers introductory material: the VBA window, basic design and testing, and the concept of events.

Saturday morning covers the programming basics: variables; logical constructs; editing, adding, and deleting records; and functions and procedures.

On Saturday afternoon you’ll learn more advanced programming: unbound forms, programming subforms, datasheets, tabbed dialogs, and error handling.

Saturday evening is about making the application more professional. It addresses data import and export, speed improvements, splash screens, and startup screens, and help systems.

On Sunday the necessities for creating a distributable application include creating wizards. packaging and compiling your program, handling printing, and using add-in libraries.

Finally, on Sunday evening, you’ll deal with security, client/server issues, and working with the Web.

This would be a particularly valuable book for those who have used Access, and possibly written some macros, and even small applications. For true beginners, a lot of concentration will be needed to fulfill the promise of a weekend crash course, but it can be done.

The enclosed CD includes all the examples from the book, the complete Checkwriter application, demos and free software from Database Creations, and other utilities.

Access 2000 Programming Weekend Crash Course
By Cary N. Prague, et al.
[614 pages, w/CD-ROM, $24.99]
Hungry Minds, 2000
ISBN: 0-7645-4688-0

Like the Access 2000 book, VB6WCC is divided into 30 lessons, starting Friday night and continuing through Sunday afternoon for a total of 15 hours.

Again, the book is comprised of short lessons that can be mastered over a weekend. (Better let your spouse know you won’t be available for chores most of the weekend.)

This book, too, can be used by beginners, but those with some Visual Basic knowledge will benefit more.

Visual Basic can be a very powerful language, with several hundred commands. This book focuses on the basic 50 or so used in all programming, and discusses the built-in wizards extensively. The point is to get you up-and-running by the end of the weekend, so the project your boss wants you to start on Monday morning can proceed.

Richard Mansfield is an experienced writer, with 21 computer books to his credit, including several Dummies books. This one is clear, like the Dummies books, but without the forced humor and with more coverage of important material.

You start out Friday night learning the basics of the interface and writing your first program.

Saturday morning covers the fundamentals: forms, buttons, text boxes, option buttons, images, menus, etc.

On Saturday afternoon you get into more programmatic aspects: dialog boxes, procedures, variables, and the different operators.

On Saturday night you learn the logical structures: looping, branching, subroutines and debugging.

On Sunday, you put together all you’ve learned. In the morning you’ll design and build a personal database manager, create an interface, connect a database, and learn how to handle records within the program. In the afternoon you’ll cover reports, letting users customize your application, and you’ll get into classes and objects.

The enclosed CD holds the Working Model of Visual Basic 6, courtesy of Microsoft; complete code listings from the book, and demo software from several add-on manufacturers.

Mansfield writes clearly and intelligently, explaining things thoroughly but not condescendingly.

The book is well worth its modest price for those looking to learn or brush up on Visual Basic skills.