Robin Nixon has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s (his first computer was a Tandy TRS 80 Model 1 with a massive 4KB of RAM!). During this time he has written in excess of 500 articles for many of the U.K.’s top computer magazines.

Robin started his computing career in the Cheshire homes for disabled people, where he was responsible for setting up computer rooms in a number of residential homes, and for evaluating and tailoring hardware and software so that disabled people could use the new technology – sometimes by means of only a single switch operated by mouth or finger.

After writing articles for computer magazines about his work with disabled people, he eventually worked full time for one of the country’s main IT magazine publishers, where he held several roles including editorial, promotions, and cover disc editing.

With the dawn of the Internet in the 1990s, Robin branched out into developing websites. One of these presented the world’s first radio station licensed by the music copyright holders, and was featured in several news reports on TV and radio networks in the United Kingdom. In order to enable people to continue to surf while listening, Robin also developed the first known pop-up windows.

Robin lives on the southeast coast of England with his wife Julie, a trained nurse, and five children, where he also finds time to foster three disabled children, as well as working full time from home as a technical author.

Robin has contributed an article to “The Daily Tip” section on “IT World,” and Plug-In PHP is one of the featured books on the company’s web site. For a look at the article, please click HERE.

Books by Robin Nixon

ISBN-13: 978-0-07-166659-6
ISBN-10: 0071666591
©2010 | 1st Edition | 384 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: February 2010 
Price: US$ 39.99
Sample Chapter 01  |  Learn More

Plug-In JavaScript 100 Power Solutions

ISBN-13: 978-0-07-173861-3
ISBN-10: 0071738614
©2011 | 1st Edition | 400 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: May 2010
Price: US$ 39.99
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Filled with ready-to-use JavaScript solutions for creating dynamic web content, this practical guide is will save hundreds of hours of programming time!

Plug-in JavaScript is aimed at people who have learned basic HTML (and perhaps a little CSS) but are interested in doing more. For example, they may wish to create more dynamic menu systems, provide mouse hover effects, and support Ajax functionality. This practical guide shows readers how to do all of these things and much more using very simple JavaScript.

Readers are taken through each example step by step. All explanations are included so there is no need to look up anything elsewhere. Every solution is complete and applicable immediately. The book can be dipped into as required with each chapter being self-contained.

Features

• 100 ready-to-use JavaScript solutions—saves over 500 hours of programming time
• Author based in the UK and writes for several UK-based computing magazines
• Each chapter solves a single problem or set of problems, is self-contained, and features the entire solution in JavaScript code
• Companion website includes all the book’s ready-to-run examples available for download
• While not a programming tutorial, the book fully explains all solutions should readers want to know how they work

A Beginner’s Guide series, written for absolute beginners is designed for Easy Learning with Key Skills & Concepts with chapter-opening lists of specific skills covered in the chapter , Q&A sections filled with bonus information and helpful tips, hands-on exercises that show you how to apply your skills, Extra information related to the topic being covered and Helpful reminders to help you prepare for the exam and alternative ways of doing things.

This series has reveived several praises from SciTech Book News, which is published by Book News, Inc. Book News prepares concise, descriptive reviews of new books in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities for librarians and other buyers of serious books; SciTech Book News is unique in its coverage of high-level books in technology, engineering, computer, medicine, agriculture, and the physical & biological sciences.

AppleScript: A Beginner’s Guide

Authors: Hart-Davis, Guy
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-163954-5
ISBN-10: 0071639543
©2010 | 1st Edition | 448 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: December 2009
Price: US$ 39.99
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Reviewed in the March 2010 issue of SciTech Book News

“Written for absolute beginners, this tutorial shows how to program in AppleScript, the scripting language built into Mac OS X, in order to automatically generate documents, spreadsheets, and e-mails. Sections cover getting started, essential AppleScript programming techniques, and automating major applications with AppleScript. Debugging and error handling are also covered. Learning features include Q&A sections, hands-on exercises, tips, cautions, and example code with annotations. A companion web site offers ready-to-use code. Hart-Davis has written other computer books.”

HTML A Beginner’s Guide

Authors: Willard, Wendy
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-161143-5
ISBN-10: 0071611436
©2009 | 4th Edition | 538 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: June 2009
Price: US$ 29.99
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Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of SciTech Book News

“The fourth edition of this beginner’s guide to programming in the HTML language describes the basic steps of structuring pages, placing images, formatting text, creating links, adding color, using forms and working with multimedia. Willard, a freelance web designer and consultant, uses hands-on exercises, self tests and Q&A sections so that novices can learn advanced applications such as dynamic web content, CSS and JavaScript. A new chapter has been added in this version that covers the use of HTML for email so that target audiences can be reached through online communications.”  

iPhone SDK Programming: A Beginner’s Guide

Authors: Brannan, James
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-162649-1
ISBN-10: 0071626492
©2009 | 1st Edition | 480 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: August 2009
Price: US$ 39.99
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An excerpt from this book has been published in the Winter issue of iPhone Life Magazine. To view the excerpt, please use the following link (article located on pages 80-81 of the electronic issue), please click Here.

Check out all our titles from A Beginner’s Guide series: