Books in PDF (or other online format) are nothing new, but somehow reading 400 pages on my monitor doesn’t do it for me. I’ve noticed a couple of publishers offering documents in the 50-60 page range on more niche topics though. After contacting the publishers and arranging for a couple of samples, I’m here to present my findings.
I looked at two documents from Pearson and O’Reilly (links go to the catalog of PDF documents for each publisher). Both publishers coincidentally call their series “Short Cuts” and sell them for around $9.99 US (some are less). The titles I looked at were AJAX and Web Services and Lead Generation on the Web from O’Reilly, and CCVP GWGK Quick Reference Sheets and CCNP ISCW Quick Reference Sheets from Cisco Press (Pearson).
Pearson’s ShortCuts are delivered through a third party and use Adobe DRM. According to the security settings, the reader is allowed to print the document (which I did), keep the document for an unlimited amount of time, and to make 6 selections (ie copy and paste) every 30 days. There doesn’t appear to be a limit on how much can be copied and pasted at any time. Internet access is required to download and activate the book on the computer for the first time. It appears that the document can be transfered to other computers but because I only have the one Windows machine I wasn’t able to try.
Windows? Yes, this unfortunately won’t work on Linux, at least Pearson’s DRM enabled documents. OS X will work, at least according to the FAQs over on Adobe’s site.
O’Reilly’s document on the other hand is an unencrypted PDF (while there’s nothing technically stopping you from copying it, the copyright, of course, prevents you from legally doing so).
In terms of the actual layout, you can get an idea of Pearson’s from their ShortCut Sampler. I couldn’t find something similar for O’Reilly. Pearson clearly has the visual edge, colour is used, there is more whitespace used and the two column landscape layout enhances the on-screen readibility. O’Reilly’s is denser, they use more of the page, and have a portrait orientation.
In terms of quality and completeness, both were excellent. Each ShortCut delivered as promised and I thought my time was well spent reading.
AJAX and Web Services explored the use of AJAX to make REST and SOAP calls to search engines. From there it branched off into XSLT for transforming the output either server side or client side, and also the use of proxies to work within JavaScript’s security framework. The code (Perl and JavaScript) was well constructed and I really learned a lot from it. The way it was structured allowed for easy re-use of the code.
Lead Generation was an interesting mix of business and tech. I had initially thought it would be all sales based, but I found the content to be applicable for techs looking to market their services.
The ISCW exam refresher was also fairly good. I happen to be doing some editing on the Cisco Press ISCW exam prep book so I’m in a good position to judge the completeness of this one. The length of the PDF doesn’t allow for many diagrams or complex instruction, but as a refresher before writing the exam this is an excellent choice.
The GWGK exam refresher was also good. It made heavier use of diagrams and instructions than the ISCW guide, so for people that work with voice periodically this will be a good quick reference guide. The breadth of the topics in this one made it an interesting read, and worth printing out even after the exam is over with.
After studying the offerings from the two vendors, I realized it’s not a case of one over the other, just which one offers the subject you’re looking for. There is little overlap between the two, both have many AJAX titles for example, but it’s such a focused document they’re really offering different products. The only complaint I can find on the Pearson side is the DRM, not because of any philosophical reasons, but because I’m a Linux user. From O’Reilly, it doesn’t look as polished (visually) as the Pearson ones, but for 60 pages it’s not something that’s an issue.
This PDF format and smaller size means that content can come out faster. A book may take many months to write, print, and distribute, these documents can come out much faster. Because of the tight focus the author can really teach something, or solve a troubling problem. At less than ten bucks a pop and immediate delivery, these downloadable ebooks are well worth it.