Foundation Drupal 7 [Paperback]

R.J. Townsend (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2010 | ISBN-10: 9781430228080 | ISBN-13: 978-1430228080 | Edition: 1

Drupal is a content management framework that powers web sites from simple online brochures to more advanced sites including social networking sites, blogs, e-commerce sites, business portals, and more. It is free, open source software that allows anyone to quickly and easily build web sites. Its full range of modules—including user permissions, security mechanisms, JavaScript menus, image uploaders, WYSIWYG editors, and more— helps you easily create the foundation for a powerful web site. With its templating system (and a few tips and tricks), any graphic design file can be used to create a Drupal web site.

Foundation Drupal 7 covers all the topics necessary to quickly build Drupal-powered web sites, explaining in simple terms how Drupal works and providing you with concepts, tips, and code snippets for every step of the development process. From setting up a Drupal-ready web host and installing Drupal to using the administrative interface and configuring a site from start to finish, there is something here for everyone. In addition to thoroughly discussing all of Drupal’s core modules, this book reviews more than 50 contributed modules, including WYSIWYG HTML editors, JavaScript drop-down menus, web forms, and even the powerful Views module. Stephanie Pakrul, creator and maintainer of the Fusion theme, coauthors a chapter on how to lay out and add graphics to a site through Drupal’s administrative section. After reading this book, you will walk away with everything you need to know to quickly and successfully build a Drupal-powered web site.

Whether you’re an experienced Drupal site builder looking to expand your skills, a web developer or designer interested in learning Drupal, or a weekend hobbyist looking to build your first site, Foundation Drupal 7 will give you the knowledge and inspiration you need to bring your ideas to life.

What you’ll learn

• Significantly decrease the amount of time it takes you to code a feature-rich website.
• Understand how Drupal works and learn best practices to quickly integrate Drupal into every website you design.
• Learn how to configure a server and manage multiple websites and staging environments using popular server administration software (cPanel).
• Learn practical techniques to place Photoshop or Illustrator design files on a Drupal content management system.
• Have a reference manual and cookbook at your fingertips for help with CSS, popular Drupal modules, website recipes, code snippets and more.

Who this book is for

The primary audience for this book is web site designers throughout the world interested in using Drupal to build web sites. The audience may have previous experience using Drupal but do not consider themselves proficient. They are familiar with coding a basic HTML/CSS web site, although these skills are not required to benefit from the book.

The secondary audience for this book is freelance Drupal developers who actively use Drupal to build web sites. They are proficient developers interested in reducing development time and learning Drupal best practices.

Table of Contents

1. An Overview of Drupal
2. Setting Up a Web Host and Installing Drupal
3. Configuring a Basic Drupal Web Site
4. Adding Content Types and Fields
5. People, Roles, and Permissions
6. Enabling and Configuring Core Modules
7. Essential Contributed Modules
8. Theming a Drupal Website
9. Designing for a Browser
10. Going Live
11. Maintaining and Updating a Drupal Site
12. Translating Business Requirements to Drupal Functionality
13. Drupal and Search Engine Optimization
14. Drush, the Command-Line Shell for Drupal
15. 50+ Contributed Modules to Spice Up Any Site
16. Views Recipes

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

This book originally started out as an idea to provide my clients with a training manual for Drupal, an "everything you wanted to know but afraid to ask" book. I was cautious about submitting the book to publishers, because a lot of what I wanted to cover are the types of things I don't want my competitors to know; the modules I use, the techniques I practice, the basic stuff I do every day. I'm very happy with the results; the book is not for hard-core Drupal developers (get Pro Drupal Development for that) but for people new to Drupal who are looking to build and administer awesome sites without the need to code. I try to explain not only how Drupal works, but how you can expand core Drupal and think in "Drupalish" terms. This book is the perfect resource for someone who is new to Drupal and needs help administering and maintaining a Drupal site. If you are a developer or small business owner (like me), this book is perfect for your clients.

About the Author

R.J. Townsend is an entrepreneur, small business owner, and overall techy (borderline geeky) guy who enjoys using technology to bring value to businesses. He is the managing partner of Cultivate Technologies, a Philadelphia-based technology consulting and development firm, which specializes in Open Source Software such as Linux and Drupal. Some of his current projects include CodeMyDesigns.com and FoundationDrupal7.com. R.J. earned his master's degree in quantitative psychology from California State University, Fullerton and worked towards a Ph.D. at the University of Delaware studying Industrial/Organizational psychology. He has published several articles on integrating research and technology and won an award for his research in 2004.

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: friendsofED; 1 edition (December 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781430228080
• ISBN-13: 978-1430228080
• ASIN: 1430228083
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

R.J. Townsend is an entrepreneur, small business owner, and overall techy (borderline geeky) guy who enjoys using technology to bring value to businesses. He is the managing partner of Cultivate Technologies, a Philadelphia-based technology consulting and development firm, which specializes in Open Source Software such as Linux and Drupal. Some of his current projects include CodeMyDesigns.com and FoundationDrupal7.com.

R.J. earned his master's degree in quantitative psychology from California State University, Fullerton and worked towards a Ph.D. at the University of Delaware studying Industrial/Organizational psychology. He has published several articles on integrating research and technology and won an award for his research in 2004. In a previous life, R.J. worked as a youth pastor for a large megachurch in southern California. Now living on the east coast, he no longer uses the words "like" and "whatever" in everyday speech.

R.J. is always on the search for good, authentic Mexican food. Carne asada, pico de gallo, tacos de pescado, tamales, chile rellano, R.J. likes it all. He does not eat tacos in a hard shell.

You can follow R.J. on twitter at twitter.com/robertjtownsend.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful For Those New To Drupal and Drupal7 January 11, 2011

By E. Underwood

Format:Paperback

I manage a Drupal development team and have stacks of Drupal Books and attend DrupalCon on a regular basis. One thing that is always true for those new to Drupal is the learning curve - it is steep. There are some things that you can do quickly and easily with little experience but soon you will hit the wall and start rummaging through the Drupal documentation site which in itself is a good tool but often is confusing for the true beginner. This process will be made more complex as Drupal 7 is new and has a number of changes from Drupal 6 so there will be a lag in seeing good tutorials and helpful hints build up in the community. That is where this book fills the gap - it can take the new Drupal user through the key components of setting up and using Drupal 7 in an understandable and accessible way. To aid this the authors have included a large number of screen shots and clear explanations so that you know clearly what to do and how to do.

For those who already have some Drupal experience this is a nice overview of Drupal 7. One thing not to miss is the 40 pages of appendices where more advanced topics are covered. I was very pleased to see a section on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is very unfulfilling to build a great site and then have no one find it, the SEO section gives you the basics on how to make your Drupal site findable. The other three sections - Drush, the commend line shell for Drupal; 50+ Contributed Modules to Spice Up Any SIte; and Views Recipes are all helpful and are a good follow up to the main body of the book.

I think this is a very helpful book and one which anyone new to Drupal or Drupal 7 would benefit from reading.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars An insufficient introduction to a powerful and flexible CMS tool April 5, 2011

By JaxOnAmazon

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is not going to help you harness the power and flexibility of the Drupal CMS. Save your money and use the FREE (and very user-friendly) documentation at Drupal.org.

Before buying "Foundation Drupal 7", I did some research on the two authors - Townsend and Pakrul - who seemed to be reasonably talented and respected professionals. After reading their book, I'm frustrated and disappointed that their skill and knowledge are too subjective and limited to produce a true reference book.

It's worth noting that under a different title, I might actually recommend this book for someone who is simply trying to crank out a few quick pages for a typical informational website - even though Drupal is an awfully big and sophisticated tool for such a small job. But publishing it as "Foundation Drupal 7" implies that (a) it provides a good foundational background in Drupal, and (b) the material covers the latest release, 7.x. Neither of these are true.

Of the many issues I had with this book, here are my top three. (Note that the discovery of the third one is what pushed me over the edge, prompting me to sign in and write this review.)

* Instead of promoting a COMPREHENSIVE understanding of the Drupal "big picture", which should include explanations of the full range of Drupal's functional capabilities and a detailed primer on design concepts, this book glosses over the key construction components (nodes, modules, blocks, users, etc.) and instead jumps right into step-by-step instructions for setting up pages. For those of us in the "architect first, code second" camp, this is bad form.

* The book does not cover local server setup, an essential best-practice for any web developer. Can't understand why this was omitted when there is a free, pre-made tool for this on Drupal.org - "Quickstart" - which I did not see referenced once in this book.

* THE BIG ONE - rather than giving an true overview of the mechanics of Theming a Drupal site with PHP and CSS, the majority of the questionably-titled "Theming" chapter is really an instruction manual for modifying a pre-existing theme created by the co-author called "Fusion". That wouldn't be so bad, if the author's "Fusion" tool weren't based on the Drupal "Skinr" module - WHICH IS NOT YET RELEASED FOR DRUPAL 7. That means this entire section is USELESS; even if you wanted to skip the REAL overview of Theming a Drupal site in favor of a quick pre-packaged solution, that isn't an option today!

If someone else finds a better reference book - preferably one written by someone with a broader and more strategic understanding of the full range of Drupal's capabilities, and how best to exploit them - please let me know.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Primer Going Beyond the Basics of Drupal 7 January 9, 2011

By Max Gurdziel

Format:Paperback

A simple and well written book from Robert and Stephanie that contains not only Drupal 7 essentials but also all other things you need to know to create and run successful Drupal powered website including collection of requirements, selecting a host, selection and installation of components, setup for development, staging and production. Authors exhibit extensive Drupal experience and the book is full of useful tips yet it is written in very accessible and pragmatic manner that will not cause you head to explode from information overload.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is new to Drupal, evaluates upgrading from version 6 or is seasoned CMS designer who wish to learn about Drupal's power.

What I liked about the book:
- Simple and to the point explanation of the subject
- Examples with plenty of screenshots
- Access to author's website with super user privileges
- Tips going beyond scope of simply setting up and running CMS
- Excellent and complete theming tutorial
- Links to many resources for further study

What I did not like about the book:
- It gives away secrets of the trade that creates stronger competition '
- It refers to modules that are not yet ported to Drupal 7 but I recon that is only matter of time when they will and it is good to know about them anyway.

Overall, I was very pleased to see this book being published at the right time when Drupal 7 was released and it being a comprehensive reference and set of easy to follow tutorials.