I want to preface this review by saying that this is the very first Drupal book I have ever owned, and I’m very excited about it.
I started working with Drupal last year and quickly fell in love with it. I begun building websites and learning as I went from the numerous Drupal tutorials online and the Drupal website documentation, and by experimenting by myself. Because I learn best by seeing things done and doing them myself, I am constantly in search of resources that teach me how to build something, not just theoretical descriptions. Theoretical descriptions are good and have their place, but the best way to learn how to do something is to DO it. I have created a series of tutorials on building a website with drupal from scratch, that are based on Drupal 5. But it’s time to move on to Drupal 6, and as before, the best way to learn is to do.
That is why I am so excited about the book Drupal 6 Site Builder Solutions by Mark Noble. The book tackles learning Drupal by walking you through the process of building a fully functional small business website from start to end. There is no fluff in this book. It starts you from the beginning and goes step by step, explaining the theoretical aspects and the whys along with the hows, which I think is the most appealing thing about it. There are no abstract explanations just for the sake of it, everything fits into the scheme of building the website.
The author starts out by laying out the needs of the new websites, outlining the differences between a traditional static HTML website and a dynamic CMS based website, and then pointing out the advantages AND disadvantages of using Drupal. He then jumps right into the creation of the Good Eatin’ Bistro website. Like I said, no fluff, you start getting your hands dirty and seeing Drupal at work right from the beginning of the book.
Each chapter builds upon the last, and to his credit, the author manages to incorporate not just the Drupal core but some other extra modules to make the learning experience interesting and to show you some of the possibilities in using Modules to extend your website. Throughout, the book emphasizes security issues and what I believe are good practices, and gives you a really solid understanding of Drupal to build upon for your own websites.
If you work through this book from beginning to end you will learn Drupal 6 in such a way that you will be able to go on and develop your skills in creating websites.
If you’re a Drupal guru this book may be elementary for you. If you’re an intermediate user or someone seeking to make the leap from Drupal 5 to 6 this may be an excellent book to see the inner workings of Drupal 6 and explore how to work with it through an interesting real world example. If you’re a newbie, I recommend this book highly as it will give you a good start in learning what Drupal 6 is and what you can do with it. I do recommend that you have an idea of how to install Drupal (setting up your local development environment, setting up your database, and completing the installation), as this books just skims over the process. You can ask here and I will answer any questions you may have.
In summary,
Build powerful website features for your business and connect to your customers through blogs, product catalogs, newsletters, and maps
- Implement the essential features of a business or non-profit website using Drupal
- Integrate with other “web 2.0” sites such as Google Maps, Digg, Flickr, and YouTube to drive traffic, build a community, and increase your website’s effectiveness
- No website development knowledge required
- Complete example of a real world site with clear explanation
You can buy Drupal 6 Site Builder Solutions at the books website where it’s available both as a hard copy and as an ebook.
Many thanks to Packtpub for the opportunity to review this book.