Frank Stepanski said
Drupal is becoming the standard in open source CMS (Content Managment Systems) today and Drupal has just (or will very soon) the latest release to version 7. There are some interesting new features in this new version but the basics are pretty much the same from the previous version (version 6.x).
Learning Drupal cannot be rushed and really needs to be understood in steps and depending on what steps are taught, it can make it easy or alot harder to really understand the power of using Drupal. The author Todd Tomilson does a great job of explaining Drupal to beginners the right way in terms and examples that can be easily understood and used in student's own work and projects.
The book first goes into the basics of the core of Drupal and its components and then managing content. Teh different content types and url pathing is discussed as well. Then the author goes into managing users and permissions and then the somewhat difficult topic of taxonomy. After that the author goes into how to develop the look and feel of you CMS website with menus, themes and modules. These topics are the building blocks of any Drupal site and are covered in detail with really nice examples.
The rest of the book covers more intermediate topics such as views, panels, etc. And then the author goes into a really interesting case study (chapter 15) and really shows a site from start to finish. I really liked this part because it gives you the steps on how to create your own site and you can follow along after you already have a good understanding of Drupal.
The author overall does an excellent job of bringing up the newbie to Drupal up to speed and getting them ready to create their own dynamic CMS website.
A great buy and highly recommended.
S. Grow said
I have just started learning Drupal and found this to be the best book for me.
K. Fosson said
As a new Drupal user I found Beginning Drupal 7 to be very useful for learning the basics.
Some of the features I found most helpful:
-Detailed instructions for installing Drupal
-Well organized chapters about the basic elements of a Drupal site
(e.g. menus, users, blocks, themes, etc..)
-Author suggestions for modules
-A detailed case study to explain the process
-An appendix about integrating social networking
The book didn't go into too much detail about custom themes or e-commerce, but there were chapters for each. Overall a great starting point for newbies!
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