Customer Reviews

Foundation Drupal 7

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is probably one of the few tech books I've actually read cover to cover, and I'm extremely pleased that I picked it up.

I was looking for a book that provided a broad introduction to Drupal that would allow me to get up to speed quickly, understand the fundamentals, and provide enough of a basis to be able to both construct something functional and to start asking tougher questions. This hit all the right points, and it was an easy read on top of it.

Definitely recommended for Drupal beginners.

Foundation Drupal 7 stays true to it's name. It starts with the basics, laying the groundwork to familiarize you with how to set up an initial configuration, then goes on to introduce you to the many facets of Drupal. From installing and configuring modules to adding content types to setting up roles and permissions to a basic introduction to theming, Mr. Townsend does a great job of laying out a clear process to follow in each case with plenty of screen shots to visualize along the way.

But he doesn't stop there. He also makes a number of suggestions, sharing his seasoned experience and understanding of how to use Drupal and support you in following good practices so you don't have to waste time making the "beginner" mistakes. It's like have someone working with you saying, "Well here's what I've done that has worked for me." or "If you do it like this, you will avoid problems later." Then he goes on to cover topics like Search Engine Optimization, how to maintain a site and adds a collection of 50+ modules he installs on many sites - all very informative.

One of the reviews on this book mentions a lot of frustration in getting off the ground with Drupal. He is not alone and others share his frustration, but I think the issue is more indicative of where Drupal, the Drupal community and the internet infrastructure IS at the present moment than about the book. Drupal is a very powerful CMS developed by very highly skilled technical people who are fluid at its implementation. Bridging the "gap" between the complex systems / tools involved and a simple layman's step by step process is a daunting challenge. There were a few sections where Mr. Townsend moved a bit out of my comfort zone of difficulty and a few where I was confused about the exact correct approach too. Perhaps when Mr. Townsend comes out with a second edition he might break it into two books: Foundation 1 (the simple basics) & Foundation 2 (going deeper into the technology).

Overall I know this text will become a "companion" book that I will keep with me and refer to whenever I'm working on sites. His suggestions and recommendations alone are worth the price. I definitely recommend this book, it's worth the investment.

Foundation Drupal 7 bridges the gap between the user and Drupal's notoriously difficult administrative interface by providing a solid all-around reference to site building with Drupal 7. Beginning with a discussion of selecting a webserver, Foundation Drupal 7 skillfully guides readers through topics of increasing complexity. Those new to Drupal will particularly appreciate the chapters discussing Drupal's approach to site building, including users and permissions, content type administration and block administration. Following these Drupal basics, the authors include gradually more advanced chapters covering topics such as selecting and installing contributed modules. Readers with some preexisting experience with Drupal will find the later chapters to be of greater interest, as they cover more advanced topics such as customizing the look and feel of your site by tweaking an existing theme.

To top off an already helpful book, the authors include appendices that serve as a launchpad for site administrators and builders to dig into more advanced topics to improve site administration and visits. Topics discussed in this section include Drush, the command-line administration interface for Drupal, as well as Search Engine Optimization for your site.

Covering a number of technical subjects with relative ease and lots of screenshots, Foundation Drupal 7 is a fantastic handbook for those new to site administration in Drupal or those who seek an approachable, easy-to-follow and yet relatively comprehensive guide to mastering Drupal basics.

I wanted to get a good idea of how Drupal 7 works so I chose this book for my introduction. While I liked the book, I felt that it was incomplete. Portions of the book are decent however other parts are extremely brief and in need of additional information. After completing the book I feel as though another book is needed to get a greater understanding of Drupal but with that said, I do agree with the Slashdot review in that this book has promise.

As a beginner to Drupal, I found this book quite helpful. However, there are a significant portion of chapters that give facts about simple things like content types, which can easily learned on one's own through experimentation. Nevertheless, I was having problems with Drupal at an early stage, and I had given up on it when this book came in the mail. It sorted out my problems immediately.

There is a great section on what a Drupal 7 site requires of a web host. There are also chapters on going live, maintaining a Drupal site, making graphics for your site, etc.

A good buy!

What struck me first about this book was Mr. Townsend's simple, straight-forward approach to writing. It's apparent that Mr. Townsend has a grasp of the technical but does a great job spelling it out in his book in terms that non-techies can understand. The book is well organized and steps you through the whys and hows of things without getting confusing.

For a beginner at Drupal, this book is very easy to follow and the instructions are very clear.

This book was recommended to me by a couple of the guys in a drupal group I attended. I'm a designer and don't have a lot of "back-end" in my skill set. I had worked a little with Drupal 6 and had just started monkeying around with 7 so some of it was review. However, I was delighted to learn several little details about areas I thought I knew thoroughly but were giving me problems. It's an easy read, and the author does a good job of explaining his recommendations.

The chapter about theming was a bit weak I thought. Although, in the author's defense, you could (and people have) written entire books just about theming. The chapter does cover the key concepts, but will not give you any kind of comprehensive knowledge about theming.

The real strength of the book for the beginner is that the author covers more than just the drupal install. What kinds of servers you need, how to configure your database, tips and tricks and pitfalls, all are covered.

All in all, a great resource. The author gives plenty of suggestions about key modules that will save you hours and hours of searching and installing and evaluating. He also provides links to several online resources. If you are already a hardcore developer this may be less than what you're looking for, but if you are looking for a road map for drupal7 this is the book.