- ISBN13: 9780470556115
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Learn to set up, manage, and administer a Drupal Web site Drupal offers unparalleled flexibility for content-managed Web sites, but most Drupal books are written for expert developers. Drupal For Dummies shows you the fast, fun and easy way to get going with Drupal, set up a site, apply templates, use modules, and more, even if you have no programming experience. Drupal For Dummies shows you how to take advantage of everything in Drupal that is ready to use,… More >>
#1 by Joe Shmoe on June 25, 2010 - 8:20 pm
The book is written with Drupal version 6.12 in mind. I couldn’t find this information anywhere on the Amazon page. Version six is the latest version but some folks still use five. Version seven will be out some time 2010. This book should be OK for any 6.x version but probably won’t be as helpful with 7.x when it comes out.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by Video Maker on June 25, 2010 - 10:57 pm
Well, maybe no coding is required, but to actually get a Drupal site up and running requires a healthy amount of web literacy. Check out the table of contents. I’m an experienced web applications developer and realized right away that installing Drupal successfully was not for the faint of heart. Do you know the distinction between a local machine and a remote host? Have you ever edited an Apache configuration file? Do you have any idea of what an Apache web server is?
The author guides you down the installation of Drupal on a very particular web provider at a particular point in time and took screen shots. She tells you that other installs will be different and will require some know how and maybe a call to the help desk. Well duh? If you do not know what the words mean in her book then you will be spending a lot of time reading FAQ’s and asking for help. Installing the database? Setting up users and access rights? That sounds pretty advanced to me!
Still – I gave it 4 stars because the book is a good overview and quick start for those with enough web savvy to conceptually understand what is going on. She also has lots of good tips for dealing with spam and user authentication. I’m not returning the book!
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by Kevin Marshall on June 26, 2010 - 1:41 am
Drupal for Dummies is a great introduction to one of the most powerful and popular PHP based frameworks/systems out there!
This book really helps a non-programmer or non-web developer go from having an idea about a web site to ACTUALLY having a real, functioning, and useful web site. And it does it in a very clear, clean, and plain-English sort of way.
I really recommend this book to anyone that’s been ‘too scared’ to dive into web development or anyone that thinks doing ‘real’ websites is too technical and hard.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by G. Aiken on June 26, 2010 - 2:50 am
Essential reading if you are starting out with Drupal. I have several books on drupal that are somewhat meaningless without the foundation this book offers. Buy it!
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Randy Lent on June 26, 2010 - 4:06 am
Drupal for Dummies is an excellent introduction to Drupal. Ms. Beighley’s writing style is refreshingly clear and concise. This is the third book on Drupal that I have read in the past few weeks, and I wish it had been my first. While I cannot judge this book from the perspective of someone with no previous exposure to Drupal, I did find it to be well-written and an excellent review of material I have read elsewhere. I was pleased that the author includes instructions on backing up a Drupal website, as this information was lacking in the first Drupal book I read. (See my review of Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours)
I have installed Drupal on my desktop computer using first BitNami, and then WAMP, and ran into complications that sent me to the Drupal forums for solutions. At one point in reading Drupal for Dummies, I thought the book to be perhaps a little too optimistic, but then Ms. Beighley did point out that the reader may need to seek help elsewhere to overcome difficulties with installing Drupal. For a localhost installation, the author recommends XAMPP. I wonder if I could have avoided problems if I had tried XAMPP first.
I should disclose that I did not do the hands-on exercises in the book. I read Drupal for Dummies after working through several chapters of Using Drupal so I didn’t feel the need to repeat procedures that I had already done. I did, however, read all of the exercises in Drupal for Dummies and found them to be very well presented.
A book cannot be both concise (and cheap) and comprehensive. Drupal for Dummies is concise. If you decide that you are serious about pursuing web development with Drupal, Drupal for Dummies will not be the only Drupal book you will buy, but it is an excellent introduction and a real bargain.
Rating: 5 / 5