Great introductory Drupal book | Using Drupal | Angela Byron, Addison Berry, ...

This Book Delivers | Using Drupal | Angela Byron, Addison Berry, ...

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	• Using Drupal Angela Byron, Addison Berry, ... O'Reilly Media, 2008 - 492 pages average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good introductory, but to do anything really useful, you'll need more

After learning XHTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL over the last year, I determined that I really needed to learn a content management system if I was going to take any of my ideas, or the sites I manage, into the modern age. Drupal had been recommended to me by a friend that had used it to develop a fairly extensive travel website.

I found Using Drupal to be a great introduction to Drupal. Like most Open Source software, I found the documentation on the [...] site to be very confusing. It was difficult to find a real entry point in anything posted there. Using Drupal provided that entry point, getting the user up and running and running through most of the basic functionality of Drupal, as well as giving some ideas for expanding into more complex ideas. That said, there are limitations to the book. One of the main drawbacks is that many of the modules that the book uses are very basic in nature or the book doesn't delve that deeply into them. A prime example is the chapter on event registration. While it is functional at a basic level, it is not really usable in the real world as the actual registration consists solely of having a user (who has signed up for an account) click an 'attending' link. That doesn't allow much flexibility for how many guests they might bring, options for food selection, purchasing tickets, etc. The book does mention that there are some other modules that have more functionality, but a look at them seems that most aren't that far along in development, at least for Drupal 6.

A couple of technical notes. If you download the source files and run the older version of Drupal that comes with it, most everything will look as it does in the book. If you use the most recent version, certain things don't look or work exactly the same way. I decided to use the source version, however I ran into problems with the Amazon module (had to update it to the most recent version) and the language translation (known bug with Drupal 6.4). They weren't show stoppers, but it did add some frustration.

I've order a couple of the more advanced drupal books on building your own modules and themeing in order to get the functionality I need for my site.

So in summery, this is an excellent introduction to Drupal, but it doesn't cover any of the more advanced topics. If you are looking to start Drupal, buy this book, but realize you've got a few more you need to read if you want a truly modern website.

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Great introductory Drupal book

I highly recommend this book for anyone starting out with Drupal. The authors provide the following:
- An overview of how drupal works, what the various pieces are, and how to put them together.
- A small project to get started with Drupal. this project incorporates some of Drupal's most use features.
- An overview of Drupal add-ons (modules) and how they might be used.
- Good references and a good index.

Any negatives?
-I thought they could have given a little more detail on theming, if only to just a quick highlight of other starter themes.
- I thought they could have provided slightly more information on implementing user-developed modules.
These are minor though, and don't take away from the usefulness of the book.

Bottom line? If you're getting started with Drupal, buy this book.

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This Book Delivers

The preface specifies who this book is written for and then it just delivers. If you are a newbie to Drupal but with some developer or web background, then you can learn from it. Want to know what Drupal is about but have no interest in getting hands on? Want to start working with Drupal? Want to expand your present knowledge of Drupal? This is the book for you.

The authors not only cover Drupal, its abilities and how to use it, but they also recommend modules and describe how to install and use them. They also regularly and appropriately add in interesting tips and tidbits to expand the basic message.

The writing is clear and concise, the information is arranged in easily digested segments and finding information after reading is possible. Between its chapter descriptions and the index, I can find the information I need, something that isn't always easy in technical books.

Keep it around as your Drupal bible!

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A great first Drupal book.

Like I said, I think this is a great first Drupal book. This isn't a programming book, so if you're looking for more in depth on the plumbing behind the examples you build in this book, then you might look elsewhere. The tutorials in this book are well written, easy to follow, and teach you how to build a variety of features into just about any kind of website you want. Thanks, Lullabot.

EDIT : Actually, this might be the best $30 I've ever spent.

Good project-based approach to common websites

I have been tinkering with Drupal on and off for some years and always felt that I could use it to replace the current websites for our CAD classes and research pages. However, by reading this book, I understood how to properly use Drupal for this and replace the legacy php/css site we currently use.

This book gives a good approach to setting up common websites (e-commerce, job-board, image gallery) without being too complex and with a reasonably small subset of well-chosen modules. Most of them rely on CCK and Views (+ImageCache), but the book manages to give a good approach on how to properly use them, which was a tremendous advantage for me.

There are more detailed tutorials elsewhere, but this book clearly delivers on how to make good and efficient use of Drupal.

I think I used most of the chapters with the setup of my new website, coupled with some additional modules.

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With the recipes in this book, you can take full advantage of the vast collection of community-contributed modules that make the Drupal web framework useful and unique. You'll get the information you need about how to combine modules in interesting ways (with a minimum of code-wrangling) to develop a variety of community-driven websites. Each chapter describes a case study and outlines specific requirements for one of several projects included in the book -- a wiki, publishing workflow site, photo gallery, product review site, online store, user group site, and more. With Using Drupal, you will: Get an overview of Drupal concepts and key modules introduced in each chapter, with a bird's-eye view of each module's specialty and how it works Explore various solutions within Drupal that meet the requirements for the project, with details about which modules are selected and why Learn how to configure modules, with step-by-step recipes for building the precise functionality the project requires Get information on additional modules that will make the project even more powerful Be able to access the modules used in the chapter, along with other resources

Newcomers will find a thorough introduction to the framework, while experienced Drupal developers will learn best practices for building powerful websites. With Using Drupal, you'll find concrete and creative solutions for developing the exact community website you have in mind.

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