Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drupal condensed, December 31, 2009
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours (Paperback)
I began to learn Drupal by reading the documentation on the Drupal website ([...]). I found the so-called Drupal "manual" poorly organized and not well-suited for a beginner like me. My first attempt to build a Drupal website was a complete failure, and my first exposure to the open-source world left me shaken. If I were not being paid to learn Drupal, I would have abandoned the attempt the first day. I was ready for a book.
I bought Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours and starting working my way through it. I enjoyed the organized, incremental approach, and I was making good progress...up until Hour 11. In Hour 11, I was not able to add an image to text. It appears that the instructions in that chapter are not correct. For example, on page 179 Mr. Feiler writes "...you do not need a bridge to use IMCE with FCKeditor." However, I was not able to insert an image into text until I installed the IMCE Wysiwyg Bridge module. Then, although I was able to insert an image, as soon as I previewed or saved the page, the image disappeared. I still have not solved the problem, and I am about ready to start over with a new Drupal installation and different modules to see if I can get around this site-breaker. I read the rest of the book, although a lot of it, such as e-commerce, does not apply to my immediate goals, but without the ability to add images to text, this Drupal site is dead in the water.
To be fair, Drupal is a moving target, constantly changing, and it may be that one or more of the relevant modules changed since the author finished his draft. Or, I may have made a mistake in my installation, or in one or more settings.
This book makes extensive use of screen shots. My biggest complaint is that the shrunken size, low resolution and poor contrast make them very hard to read. This is not a problem when a screen shot is used just for orientation, but there are many places where the author instructs the reader to copy one or more settings from a screen shot. I found myself reaching for a magnifying glass.
I found several minor grammatical errors and typos in the text, and on page 347 there are several sentences that are repeated. This left me wondering if SAMS scrimped on the proofreading before the book was printed. I did not find an errata page on either the SAMS website nor the author's website. There were a couple of times that I wished for more information. For example, the book does not explain how to back up a Drupal site and database, and it seems to me that this is a skill that everyone learning Drupal should know.
On the whole this book has a lot of information packed into a modest number of pages for a very reasonable price. The information is well organized, and it appears that the author knows the subject. IMHO Reading this book gives a smoother start to learning Drupal than attempting to read Drupal's on-line documentation. If it were not for my difficulties with Hour 11, and if the book shipped with a magnifying glass, I would probably give it 5 stars.... This book will not be the last book on Drupal that I buy, but I think it is a good place to start.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, but have a magnifying glass handy, January 1, 2010
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours (Paperback)
5 stars for the author and the writing. But no stars for the publisher.
I am finding this book to be an important addition to the Drupal library I've been building as I prepare to use Drupal for a major new site. But the publisher has made a design decision that undermines the skills of the author and conveys disrespect for readers.
Having been through almost all the Drupal books available, I feel that the way in which this book is organized, written, and illustrated is among the clearest yet.
The book will provide me with good counsel and guidance as I start to proceed through installing and building my Drupal site. Finally, I have found a book that answers some key questions I have had about the Views and Panels modules!
HOWEVER, the major flaw is that the text is accompanied by grey-scale screen captures that, while critical to understanding the 24 one-hour lessons that comprise the book, are nearly impossible to see. The abundance and relevance of these screen captures are among the best of any Drupal book -- but the publisher has chosen to print them too small, and with grey text against grey backgrounds.
"Too small" is an understatement. Using a magnifying glass is essential!
This is a real shame. The screen captures are so essential to the book, but the difficulty reading them severely weakens the book's value.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book for getting a full-featured Drupal Site up and running, February 6, 2010
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Drupal in 24 Hours (Paperback)
I decided to tackle Drupal for one of my Information Systems classes this semester. I chose this technology because I don't know it at all (school is about learning, right?). Anyway, this book was an absolutely fantastic way to create a site in Drupal. Once the core Drupal files are installed, each chapter either has you installing another module to add more capabilities to the site or explains a concept your current setup is already capable of handling in more detail.
In gentle and logical steps the author guides you from a base Drupal installation to a site framework capable of handling anything from a blog or social network to a full-blown ecommerce site. The pacing is excellent as it is thorough enough to get you up and running and headed on the right path without bogging you down with so many details that you never seem to get to the next topic.
This book provides excellent advice and a few words of warning, but it doesn't hold your hand. If you have problems with an installation or need more advanced knowledge about a particular topic, you will need to consult additional sources to get that information. This did not reduce the quality of the book as it is obviously intended as a quick start guide that gets you up and running in 24 brief lessons and then leaves you to further research the specifics that are necessary to fine-tune your site to your specific needs. Drupal's strength is as a generic content management framework and that is what this book helps you create: A generic framework that is ready to handle whatever content you provide.
The author also assumes that you have some content that you are ready to use. This book doesn't provide the learning environment that is common in many books where you slowly create a fake site for a fake company. You will need to have your own text, graphics, and other content to fill up you nodes.
The images are rather small, but, if you are following along with each step, you will have the same content represented on your computer screen in front of you so that you can read from that. This book also is written at an awkward time because of the upcoming release of version 7 of Drupal. The author does a very good job of telling you (and in many cases showing you) the difference between versions 6 and 7. Overall, this is a fantastic book for getting the framework for a Drupal site up and running.
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