Professional Joomla! (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

~ Dan Rahmel (Author)
Key Phrases: outside content, professional deployment, open workbench, Successful Joomla, Building Joomla, Hello World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

As a major force in the world of affordable, advanced web site deployment, Joomla! has become the most important noncommercial Content Management System (CMS) in the world. The number of Joomla! downloads and add-ons continues to grow at lightning pace, spurring the need for a resource that explores the diverse needs of professional Joomla! developers. This book fills that void by covering the two main areas of the Joomla! field--development and deployment--with a focus on the new Joomla! version 1.5 and all the features it provides.

Seasoned author Dan Rahmel walks you through the process of creating all three types of Joomla! extensions (modules, components, and plug-ins), explains how best to use Ajax technology, and shows you how to adopt design patterns and incorporate source code control. You'll examine the underlying technologies (PHP, Apache, etc.) that can be tuned to offer the best system performance, and you'll explore interfacing with outside content, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) setup, and much more. You'll even delve into the internal structure of the Joomla! framework, and obtain a unique behind-the-scenes education so that you can modify and extend Joomla! to meet the needs of you and your customers.

What you will learn from this book

* How each server of a Joomla! system can be installed and configured for maximum performance
*

The process of creating a module from scratch
*

Ways to use Ajax to add dynamic data retrieval to Joomla!
*

Techniques for using design patterns to solve common programming problems
*

How to create and retain a virtual community
*

Procedures for tuning a Joomla! site for both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Management (SEM)

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers, hobbyists, web designers, bloggers, corporate content creators, and support specialists who are looking to build a more robust web site. Basic skills in the area of PHP programming are necessary.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

From the Back Cover

As a major force in the world of affordable, advanced web site deployment, Joomla! has become the most important noncommercial Content Management System (CMS) in the world. The number of Joomla! downloads and add-ons continues to grow at lightning pace, spurring the need for a resource that explores the diverse needs of professional Joomla! developers. This book fills that void by covering the two main areas of the Joomla! field—development and deployment—with a focus on the new Joomla! version 1.5 and all the features it provides.

Seasoned author Dan Rahmel walks you through the process of creating all three types of Joomla! extensions (modules, components, and plug-ins), explains how best to use Ajax technology, and shows you how to adopt design patterns and incorporate source code control. You'll examine the underlying technologies (PHP, Apache, etc.) that can be tuned to offer the best system performance, and you'll explore interfacing with outside content, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) setup, and much more. You'll even delve into the internal structure of the Joomla! framework, and obtain a unique behind-the-scenes education so that you can modify and extend Joomla! to meet the needs of you and your customers.

What you will learn from this book

• How each server of a Joomla! system can be installed and configured for maximum performance

• The process of creating a module from scratch

• Ways to use Ajax to add dynamic data retrieval to Joomla!

• Techniques for using design patterns to solve common programming problems

• How to create and retain a virtual community

• Procedures for tuning a Joomla! site for both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Management (SEM)

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers, hobbyists, web designers, bloggers, corporate content creators, and support specialists who are looking to build a more robust web site. Basic skills in the area of PHP programming are necessary.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; First Printing edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470133945
• ISBN-13: 978-0470133941
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #360,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite there, December 8, 2007

By	J. D. Begin (Toronto, On Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book content is ok, but too basic. Instead of 50 pages of Examples of "successfull sites", maybe the author could have expanded on some of the examples. For example, the example on MVC patterns is so simple as to be meaningless. If I wanted to "study the Joomla source code" as the author suggests, I wouldn't have spent money on a book.

The downloaded example source code doesn't match the book and often doesn't quite work.

I did learn quite a bit about Joomla, but I always had the nagging feeling that the book wasn't finished and was rushed to print.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible writing and editing, December 14, 2007

By	C. Campos "Carrie Candid" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A lot of "filler" material and poorly written on top of it, many typos as well that are distracting and get in the way of the material. Only useful with a lot of background in Joomla. Didn't help me at all. I found Joomla!:A User's Guide far better written with clearer examples of the underlying concepts. I understand this is a "professional" book - but it was really quite lightweight and it felt very padded. Doesn't Wrox use technical editors anymore? The language sounds very much like a non-native speaker - which is fine - but editing is always called for - for everyone.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Light Weight, January 6, 2008

By	The Max Daddy (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

I read this book yesterday in about 1/2 hour while sitting at the cafe in B0rd3rs. It could be a useful intro to Joomla for a novice or non-technical business user. It scratches the surface of about every topic related to Joomla and building or running a web site, but it has very little detailed information. The chapter on Joomla's weaknesses was interesting, but other than that, most of the information is available on the Joomla, PHP, Apache and MySql sites.