Using Drupal

by Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Bruno De Bondt

Take advantage of Drupal’s vast collection of community-contributed modules and discover how they make this web framework unique and valuable. With this guide, you’ll learn how to combine modules in interesting ways (with minimal code-wrangling) to develop several community-driven websites— including a job posting board, photo gallery, online store, product review database, and event calendar.

The second edition focuses on Drupal 7, the latest version of this open source system. Each project spans an entire chapter, with step-by-step "recipes" to help you build out the precise functionality the site requires. With this book, developers new to Drupal will gain experience through a hands-on introduction, and experienced Drupal developers will learn real-world best practices.
Learn Drupal’s concepts and building blocks, and how everything works together Hit the ground running—build your first Drupal site hands-on
Explore solutions that meet each project’s requirements, and discover why specific modules were selected
Understand the projects through case studies, including the client’s needs and desires
Learn how to configure modules with a bird’s-eye view of how they work
Discover new modules, including Drupal Commerce, Media, and Workbench

Genres: Programming, Nonfiction, Web, Technology, Reference, Computers, Technical

496 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review of this should not be trusted -- as one of the co-authors I'm hopelessly biased. But I do like to think that it's, you know. Pretty awesome.

[Ben Stoutenburgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to Drupal core and some common modules. I love the chapter by chapter use case way of showing off a technology like Drupal. I keep this at my desk as a frequent reference now.

[Kushnuma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, easy to understand and very helpful.

[Derek Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drupal is an open-source Content Management System with user-contributed modules, for building powerful websites.

I installed it a few months ago. But then found myself asking: what do I do next? How do I proceed to build the website that I want to build?

Lacking the patience to work through the less than unified on-line documentation, I put Drupal to one side.

This book changed all that. Each chapter presents a case study (e.g. a job site, a Wiki, a photo gallery, etc.), and you can (as I did) build the case study website by following along on your own installation.

I now feel pretty confident snapping together modules to build simple sites. So I definitely recommend this as your first Drupal book.

But you will need another book or two to get Drupal to sit up and beg so that you can build really nice sites.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one of the best how-to books on computer tech that I have ever read. The book's website allows the reader to down-load and install the example websites. The reader can then follow along, modifying and configuring each site under the authors' direction. This is a very effective learning method.

[Jovany Agathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOT BAD

[Chris Chinchilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Michal Angelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** The preface opens "We assume...PHP...[is] in your vocabulary" and that's dead-on. Neither for newbies nor gear-heads, this is an excellent state-of-the-technology fly-by of Drupal at 15,000 feet. *** A short jump-start (Ch2) launches you into the meat of Drupal (Field/View Ch3) and lands nicely into a field of real-life implementations--not toys and nothing esoteric--such as a job board and event-management calendar. *** This book helped me realize that although Drupal is not the technology for me today, it's where I'll turn to when I need a Content Management System (CMS) with more horsepower. Excellent job O'Reilly--5Stars

[Phineas Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really useful book for Drupal 6. Coverage of Views, CCK, and the Image modules is particularly helpful. Overall the book is quite sane, well organized and readable. I can't wait for the Drupal 7 version to come out! This is a good thing. Other publishers are racing to get their Drupal 7 books printed in a hurry, and the rush is painfully evident. O'Reilly takes more time to get a new book to press, but the reader can be more confident that the book has been properly edited.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, well-paced guide to the content management system. It opens with an overview of Drupal's concept and structure before moving into a series of case studies. Because of the range it covers, there are portions of the book that probably won't be useful to every reader. It was also aimed a little beyond my expertise (i.e., non-admin), but it was certainly informative.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book with practical ideas on how to customize sites you create with drupal. Authors describe in detail how to do stuff with drupal modules, in easy-to-read language. I highly recommend this book for people wanting to expand their drupal knowledge.

[أحمد زبيدة · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جيد، يمكنك إعتباره كمدخل لعالم دروبل اللامحدود. الكتاب يعاني من الإطالة الغير مبررة أحياناً، كما أن طريقة الكتاب في استخدام الجداول لعرض التفاصيل التقنية غير مريح ويصبح أشبه بالمختنق للقراء الذين يريدون القراءة دون تطبيق الشروحات.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stole if from Nate for about five seconds, and got a quick chance to see some of its hotness. Definitely going to have to pick up a copy when it's available.

[Steve H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful information in one volume, but the online info from Drupal.org is probably better if you don't mind working online.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro to Drupal. A must-have for folks learning the content management system.

[Stephen Lovell]

Informative, learned how to do a few things quicker, easier, and more streamlined than I had been.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for an information architect but a bit lacking in the "under the hood" view.

[Archer]

it is a good book for drupaler

[Hashem Alrabih · Rating 3 out of 5]

the perfect book to learn an use durpal as cms platform, the problem that it needs more application to be done as examples of the uses of drupal.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been drupalling for 7 years and I learned a bunch of stuff.

[Allisonperkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid overview but not as much meat as I'd like.

[Darrell Ulm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for getting started with Drupal.

[Caryl Westerberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to using this website content management system.

[Cesar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta segunda edicion cubre Drupal 7.