The UK division of International Thomson Computer Press has made its Internet debut with an on-line version of Spinning The Web: How To Provide Information on the Internet, by Andrew Ford. It is intended to guide would-be Internet publishers through the various stages involved in putting a publication on the World Wide Web, from preparing and creating hypertext documents to setting up a Web server, through to which software to use and likely pitfalls along the way. The on-line version costs $10 for one year’s access which is supposed to whet the appetite and encourage purchase of a hard copy for $30. The book can be bought direct from International Thomson’s Andover, Hampshire office and will also be available in specialist book shops throughout Europe. French and German translation are due out early next year. Apt Data Group Plc affiliate Internet Publishing Ltd has put the book up on the World Wide Web and will deal with credit card subscription to the on-line version. Robert Bolick, managing director for International Thomson, expects demand for the book to initially outstrip that of the on-line version but plans to produce a hard copy that will interact with its on-line counterpart to boost on-line subscriptions. A future edition, which will incorporate a question and answer for HyperText Mark-up Language users, is due later this year. Information in the book will be supplemented by further details that are only available on-line.
