Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Knowing near nothing about Drupal, I wanted to find a book that would give me the big picture and help me develop a nuts-and-bolts working knowledge quickly. I saw so many titles online that I went to a physical bookstore so I could carefully look at the books and choose the most appropriate one for my needs. I looked at many books, and scanned the Introductions and Tables of Contents of several promising ones. I chose "Beginning Drupal" because it had a great balance of concrete examples, theory, and discussion of the implications of making various choices in Drupal.
After I purchased the book and began to actually use it, it became quickly clear that Wiley Publishing had not only jumped the gun in publishing a Drupal 7 book prematurely, but several other things really soured the experience for me. There was no discussion in the introduction about the fact that the book was based on early alpha and beta versions of Drupal 7, and that the installation instructions would install Drupal 6 which is so different that the exercises in the book are more confusing than helpful. Still, I persisted, trying to find the Drupal 6 equivalents to the Drupal 7 examples in the book. (of course this was not mentioned on the cover either, or on the web site. As a matter of fact, the promotional materials misleadingly call Drupal 7 the latest version, but don't mention that it has not been officially released yet). After I hit page 100, I realized that the UI differences were not the only problem. The book was not only unclear because of the version differences, but because the writer apparently didn't have the benefit of a conscientious editor to make the language clear. The grammar was sloppy, but worse yet, the meanings of many of the sentences were foggy.
I did switch over to using Drupal 7 beta, hoping that would help. In fact, it did help with many of the exercises, but there were also far too many instances in which the examples were confusing because they were based on earlier versions of Drupal 7. I looked at the "errata" published for the book, but they barely scratched the surface of the errors in the book.
I really liked the unfolding of concepts as the book progressed, in that sense the design of the book was brilliant. But it was sloppily executed, and there were numerous instances in which avoidable inconsistencies prevented examples from working the way they should have.
In summary, I'd say that this book was a well conceived but so poorly executed and rushed to market. It wasted more of my time and effort than any other "how to" book that I have ever encountered in my 4 decades in the computer business.
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A thorough introduction that lessens the learning curve to building sites with Drupal 7
Drupal 7 is the latest version of the free, open source content management system Drupal. A powerful content management system and framework Drupal has an unfortunate reputation of having a steep learning curve. This guide to Drupal 7 methodically demystifies Drupal and shortening the learning curve.
Author Jacob Redding is deeply embedded in the Drupal community, and walks first-time Drupal developers through the installation and configuration of a Drupal system. In-depth information on key areas of Drupal explore the Drupal hook system, Drupal's theming layer, and Drupal's API. You'll also get sample code, and lessons that guide you through various aspects of Drupal.
Introduces you to every aspect of Drupal 7
Demystifies key areas of Drupal and shortens the learning curve for even the most novice beginner
Features lessons and sample code that offer extra insight into a Drupal web site
Exploring simple single website installations and more advanced multiple site installations that share users and/or content.
Addresses how to use Drupal's theming layer to your advantage.
With this comprehensive and clear book by your side, you will quickly learn to leverage Drupal's impressive power.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
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