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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book for beginning Joomla site owners, December 25, 2009
This review is from: Using Joomla: Building Powerful and Efficient Web Sites (Paperback)
This is the first Joomla title that I am aware of from O'Reilly, and I was interested in checking it out for that reason alone.
The publisher describes this as suitable for introductory/intermediate users with some basic HTML and/or CSS skills. As someone who teaches Joomla development, I was a little suspicious. After spending some time with Using Joomla, however, I would have to agree that this is an excellent book for non-developers, but with a couple of caveats.
Chapter 2 suggests to readers that installing Joomla with Fantastico is an excellent option, and I couldn't disagree. The downside to this approach is that not all hosts will provide the most current version of Joomla. This may pose some security risks to your site, but if you're more of a hobbyist than relying on Joomla as a business-critical site, that may not be a problem. Chapter 2 also briefly discusses how to install Joomla using FTP, as well as provides an overview of the technical environment needed to run Joomla. In a future edition, I would recommend either eliminating this information (it's too simplistic to be very helpful) or providing more useful links to additional information. For example, providing the books' links as a reference point to MySQL compatibility isn't going to be terribly useful. As a beginning user I primarily need to know how to find out this information, which is going to vary from host to host.
Across every chapter, Severdia and Crowder do an excellent job of explaining the functionality of every administrative aspect of Joomla. Further, they provide succinct explanations of every setting imaginable, and the book's index is thoughtful and well-organized.
One strange aspect of an otherwise excellent book is that the cover teases: Includes Joomla 1.6. First, be warned that this amounts to 8 pages, including some beefy screenshots. This chapter most appropriately should have been prefaced with the fact that Joomla 1.6 is still in beta, and not yet ready for primetime. Period. If you want an overview of 1.6, the book does provide it, but Joomla offers a better description on their site ([...]).
While I wouldn't recommend this title to my students (or other developers), it's precisely the title that I want to hand to new Joomla Web site owners.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BUILDING EXCELLENT AND OUTSTANDING WEBSITES WITH JOOMLA, January 28, 2010
This review is from: Using Joomla: Building Powerful and Efficient Web Sites (Paperback)
Are you new to content management systems or even new to building websites? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Ron Severdia and Kenneth Crowder , have done an outstanding job of writing a book that will help you to get up and running in no time.
Severdia and Crowder, begin by giving you a little background on Joomla, its history, and what the future holds. Next, the authors show you how to install Joomla in just a few minutes. Then, they show you the basics of the administrator interface. The authors continue by showing you what configuration options are available, and how they affect your website. Next, they cover some basic Joomla concepts and how they can help you best plan your website. Then, they give you an in-depth overview of how content is created, managed, and displayed within Joomla. The authors continue by showing you how to control layouts and use different navigation styles. Next, they show you which components are built-in and how to extend Joomla's functionality with third-party options. Then, the authors explain how to manage and display modules. They continue by explaining the power of plug-ins and the various types. Next, the authors help you understand the basics of templates. Then, they show you how to manage users and collaborate on your website with user permissions. The authors continue by showing you how to install, remove, and upgrade your extensions. They also show you how to convert your existing website to Joonla. Next, the authors will walk you through how to set up a variety of solutions: An online photo gallery, online calendar and more. Finally, they show you how to improve your website's search ranking, by using Joomla's built-in SEO/SEF capabilities and some best practices.
This most excellent book shows you how to build a website in a short period of time. More importantly, if you read this book from cover to cover, you'll discover the benefits of a content management system by converting to an existing site.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!, February 1, 2010
This review is from: Using Joomla: Building Powerful and Efficient Web Sites (Paperback)
I already have some Joomla knowledge, but I really needed a reference book so when I forget how to do something I could look it up, and this book is more! I have started reading right through it and working on my website as I go, I have found it very helpful and I have learned how to do things easier than I had been doing! I have also learned how do perform tasks I didn't know joomla did. The book also has good support links, for the book itself and joomla in general
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