Using Drupal

Author: Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Nathan Haug, and Jeff Eaton
Publisher: O'Reillly, 2008
Pages: 496
ISBN: 978-0596515805
Aimed at: Drupal beginners
Rating: 4
Pros: Good case studies
Cons: Lacks deep explanations
Reviewed by: David Conrad

 

This is a users book on Drupal (a CMS) that allows you to get up to speed but do you need it if you can read the source code?

Author: Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Nathan Haug, and Jeff Eaton
Publisher: O'Reillly, 2008
Pages: 496
ISBN: 978-0596515805
Aimed at: Drupal beginners
Rating: 4
Pros: Good case studies
Cons: Lacks deep explanations
Reviewed by: David Conrad

Drupal is an open source project and as such this means that you can always read the code to find out what it does - but like most open source projects getting inside the system is difficult. Also like most open source projects its documentation isn't great and this is a particular problem for beginners. Getting started with Drupal is difficult and working out how to implement some website feature using it confusing.

This book will give you the start you need. The first two chapters give you an overview and help you set up a basic Drupal site. From here the rest of the book tackles a range of types of sites as case studies. We have a job posting board, product reviews, a wiki publishing workflow, photo gallery, a multi-lingual site, event management and an online store. The final chapter deals with themes and templates.

If you want to use Drupal to implement a site that is similar to any of the case studies then you should buy the book. However it doesn't go very deep into any of the modules used and it certainly doesn't venture into creating your own modules. Many of the case studies work by telling you what to do and only later telling you why. You will also need to visit the list of errata at the website if you are actually going to try to follow any of the recipes.

This is the missing user manual for Drupal and if you are a beginner then you will save a lot of time if you buy it.

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Professional C++, 6th Ed (Wiley)

Author: Marc Gregoire
Publisher: Wiley
Date: February 2024
Pages: 1376
ISBN:978-1394193172
Print:1394193173
Kindle:B0CRXK5191
Audience: C++ developers
Rating: 4
Reviewer: Mike James
Can a book on C++ get any bigger and does it need to?



Machines Like Me

Author: Ian McEwan
Publisher: Vintage, 2019
Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-1529111255
Print: 1529111250
Kindle: B07HR6SGQ9
Audience: General
Rating: 4.5
Reviewer: Mike James
A novel about a synthetic human has become so much more relevant recently and guess what - it features Alan Turing.


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Last Updated ( Monday, 08 March 2010 )