SharePoint 2007 for Dummies Needs a Magnifying Glass

I just received a copy of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for Dummies by Vanessa L. Williams. I was the technical editor of this title. Overall, I found it a good book with valuable hands-on information for setting up and managing a SharePoint 2007 portal.

There were a couple of general problems that I noted during the tech review:

• It often wasn't clear whether the author was referring to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or both products.
• The screenshots were hard to read and it was difficult to tell just what element was being discussed.

The first issue has been fixed in the editing process. It's much easier to tell whether you're dealing with the full-blown MOSS 2007 or the basic WSS 3.0 product.

The screenshot problem hasn't been fixed. It's actually worse in the printed book than in the bitmap images I saw. By requiring full screen images instead of focused portions, the publisher has done readers a serious disservice. The resulting images are too small, washed out, and very hard to comprehend without a magnifying glass. 

For example, look at the image on page 119 and see how difficult it is to focus on the global breadcrumb - even with the callout. The screenshot wastes half a page just to show a tiny line of text in the upper-left portion of the browser pane. Yuck.

Sorry folks, but the Dummies book designers really need something like "Readable Screenshots for Dummies" to make their screenshots usable.  It's just not fair to authors to have their text content illustrated by such poor graphics.