📘 A Book About Hype (2020 Print Edition)

https://photics.com/books/a-book-about-hype/

TL;DR — A printed update to “A Book About Hype” is the next “Photics” project. It should be available in the first-half of 2020.

UPDATE — The book is now available. It is exclusively available at Lulu.com.


Now that the Widgets app is in better shape, the plan is to finally work on a new version of A Book About Hype. While I love working on Widgets, I also love this community! People have been asking for the book. I feel bad for not publishing an updated edition – especially since Tumult put extra work into improving the Physics API.

After much discussion on this forum about the format for this book, the plan for 2020 edition of “A Book About Hype” is to make it a printed book. It will be a hardcover (so posh) 8.25" x 10.75" (500 pages) book, for $49.50.

FAQ

Bro, why are you making a printed book? Hype is animation software!

Many different formats were considered… another eBook, an App, videos on YouTube/Vimeo… ultimately, print won out. These are the reasons.

  • More people prefer printed books — It's shocking, in this digital age, but apparently true.
  • It's the only printed Hype 4 book — As far as I know, it would be the only printed book about Hype 4. (If there is such a book, I don't see it listed on the Tutorials page.) Other people have created all sorts of digital content for Hype. The aim is to grow the pie, not divide it.
  • It's faster to create — With a book, I don't have to worry about responsive design, dark mode, cross-platform compatibility or any other technical matters. I can simply open my word processor and get to work.
  • It's good for education — If someone wants to teach a credit-bearing (:bear:) course, a book is typically part of the syllabus. While a book might not be required, it certainly helps to legitimize the class.
  • It worked for Flash — While Hype is animation software, so was Flash. One of my favorite resources for learning about that software was a printed book.

Also see... Why only a printed book?

What about templates? How are you going to include those?

I haven't fully decided yet, but I'm thinking about posting the templates on Photics.com as free downloads. The alternative is a private download section for book owners. The latter is higher maintenance, while the former could be good promotion for the book. That's one of the reasons why I'm posting this announcement. Feedback may determine the outcome.

I already bought a digital copy of A Book About Hype, should I buy this one?

Much of the content will likely be similar or the same. Unless you like having a physical copy of the book, you probably don't need it. There will be new content though, such as covering the changes in the software since version 3.6.

NOTE: This answer has changed.

Dude, $50 is a lot of money! Why so expensive?!

Don't forget shipping! Yes, printed books are expensive, especially ones with hard covers. Yet, I believe this is exactly what Hype needs to further legitimize itself. People generally don't have serendipitous conversations about ebook files that are hidden away on hard drives. There's something special about a book.

The plan is to use Lulu.com for on-demand printing. For a book of this nature, the price seems competitive. But if you are cost conscious, as you should be, then just wait for Lulu to have a sale. Here's an example of one going on today (12/1/2019)...

OK, I like what I'm seeing. I want to buy a copy of this book. When can I do that?

The plan is to release this book in the first-half of 2020. It's my New Year's Resolution. If you want to be notified when the book is available, simply like the second post in this thread or use the Photics.com contact form to request a notification.

But I like the Widgets app! Isn't development on that app going to suffer?

In the short-term, probably. While that project is not considered done, it does takes massive mental focus. With this book project in the back of my mind, I'm distracted. Also, with some technical issues from Apple's side, I could use a change of pace while those problems are worked out. However, while future development of the Widgets app is not guaranteed, there's a nice update in the works.

The plan is to work hard, in order to keep both communities happy. :smiley:

What topics are you going to cover in the book?

The idea is to thoroughly cover Hype, from getting started with Hype to using it in a professional setting. Some parts will be more useful for Web Designers, while other parts will be more interesting to Web Developers. Some stuff for Marketing folks is planned too. The hope is that if you're a designer, you'll learn more about development — and vise-versa.

But if you're interested in a particular topic, you can make a request on this thread.


So, that's the plan. It might still change, but probably not. Once I start a project, I become obsessed until I finish it. This project has officially started. Check back here for periodic progress reports.

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If you’re interested in being notified when the printed edition of A Book About Hype is available, you can like this post. :heart:

Note: If you already used the Photics.com contact form to request notification about an update to A Book About Hype, you probably don’t need to like this post to be notified. I still have an email list that goes back to at least April 29, 2019.

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@Photics I was waiting for this post :grinning:
congratulations for the job! look forward to more news

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Yeah. :v: +1

:ok_hand: for a printed version :slight_smile:

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Great news

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Here’s a quick update about the progress of this project. It’s about 12% complete. That’s slower than expected, but the project should move more swiftly now. (About four work days were diverted to get Apparatuses online.) Also, I’m moving a little bit slower because I want the book to look nice. :innocent:

Oh yeah, and I think I might be going a little crazy. :crazy_face:
(Shooting Stars started playing on my playlist while animating the fish. Heh, felt like the perfect background music.)

I got up to the “Rotation follows motion” part. I started wondering if I should add a graphic to better explain the effect. Next thing I know, I’m drawing a fish. HA HA!

fish

I’m not sure if I’ll use it. What do you think?

  • I like the fish!
  • I don’t like the fish!

0 voters

Remember, if you want to be notified when the book is available, like the second post in this thread or use the Photics.com contact form.

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The fish is in the book…

…template coming soon.

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The books is now 25% complete. :slightly_smiling_face:

Lots of new templates are appearing on the website.

Since Christmas Eve, a new template has appeared at Photics.com every Tuesday. Two templates are already queued up for the next two weeks.

Also, thanks Tumult and @Daniel for the nice words in the Hype Universe newsletter.

Remember, if you want to be notified when the book is available, like the second post.

OK, less talk, more work. :smile:


UPDATE: The book is now 33% done. It looks like target of completing the book in the first-half of 2020 is still in sight.

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Excited for the printed book! Thanks! :grinning:

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Looks like there's an update to an earlier statement…

...since December, I've been copying and pasting the previous book content into the new book — creating new screenshots and updating the text. That part of the project is almost done.

The goal is to have a beefy sized book — 500 pages. But after migrating the content, the book is around 250 pages. The remaining "Publishing" section content needs serious updating and the last two chapters of the "Examples" section are moving into a new game development section.

That means about half of the book will be new content.

The book is about 50% complete! :tada:

Since the project is now moving into the original content stage, I was looking back at old messages and comments for ideas. Here's one in particular…

While this book isn't meant to cover every aspect of JavaScript, are you interested in a "crash course" chapter about JavaScript?

  • Yes, I would like a chapter about basic JavaScript.
  • No, there are plenty of JavaScript guides already. Use that book space for new Hype content.
0 voters

If you don't want a JavaScript chapter, what would you like to see instead?

Remember, if you want to be notified about when the book is available, heart the second post in the thread❣️

I voted no.

I don’t think a one chapter crash course on JavaScript is going to satisfy beginners. The shortest one I have seen is about 100 pages long with a nice amount of white space and line spacing for easy reading. There are also plenty of examples of how the various pieces fit together as You move through the book. A generous amount of examples are critical especially when learning something new.

I doubt this could be pulled off in a chapter (say 25 pages?). While beginners can definitely learn something in this amount of space they will be like the blind man feeling an elephant - the description of the animal will vary with the area being touched. They need to see the whole beast.

I don’t understand the resistance to buying a book dedicated to the subject.

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Actually, you don't even need to buy a book about JavaScript. There are plenty of free resources available.

I was actually thinking something shorter than that — closer to a cheat sheet, but probably somewhere in the middle — more like 10 pages so people can get up to speed.

The chapter would be for beginners.

So far, looks like I'm leaving the chapter out. HA HA. There are only two votes so far though.

No one else voted?! :scream_cat:

Hopefully I’m not wasting my time with this project, as I’m putting a lot of work into the book. Nah, of course I’m not wasting my time. When I look at the book so far, I smile. I think it’s really good… and that’s without the freshly killed trees smell. :smile:

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Being a newbie in the world of coding, specifically HTML5, CSS3 & JavaScript, I believe the chapter on JS and how it works with hype would be helpful. JavaScript is a training in itself but, to brush up a little on the topic, I believe I see fit. JimScott, agreed to a certain point.

Regards,
tg2k

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Ok, I am likely not going to buy the book :scream: ( if I was just starting out I would though. ) but… maybe

Some basic explanations of what people are seeing when they see the use of JS.

var ( what a var is )
• What no var indicates.

•Scope of vars and global ( in regards to Hype and Doc/window)
• Scope of scene objects ( including if exists yet or not )

•Operator basics - + * = > < <= >= ! !== != == === && || : , ; $ ( string + symbol as apposed to maths +)

• basic functions named/un-named

• The idea of why Hype API overlays on top of vanilla javascript

id v class ( also picking up ids and classes from elements in Hype )

var & class naming conventions

console.log() why it is your friend

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As someone who is just getting to start their education and training in JS, I understand that in older code writing is what uses var and it has been substituted now by let yet, they are both used for variable declaration in JS. At least that’s what the training I’m taking right now specifies…

And so that’s why I believe JS should not only be brushed up lightly in the book, if you are going to take that route is because JS is a whole other training in itself. Things like the definitions should be synchronous with the latest and greatest standards.

Just a thought…
All the best @Photics ,
tg2k

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Yep let is also a good point to add. But could become confusing in a short basic explanation.
Also it is not a substitute for var.
It has different scope and definition implications

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You didn't totally rule it out, so you're saying there's a chance.

Maybe you too will want to have "A Book About Hype" up on your shelf, as a symbol of your mental prowess in the area of web animation, design, and development.

Not in this book. HA HA! :smile:

Because Hype supports IE 6-9, I'm sticking with "var" instead of using "let"… Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc


Anyway, the poll is still stuck at two votes. Right now I'm leaning towards not including a JavaScript explanation section. I have some radically new ideas for Hype templates. I suspect people will be more appreciative of that.

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