Ebook: Using Drupal

Drupal is a fast-moving target, so writing a book about it is especially challenging. These authors know what they are doing, as they are all long time Drupal jockeys, deeply involved with core development, the Drupal community, and with Drupal education. With six different authors, it's refreshing that they have been able to combine their points of view into such a well-integrated publication.

Content structure is what Drupal is all about, and the authors have also structured their book's content to make it easily accessible. After the first chapter, each is presented with the same sectional structure, beginning with a case study, a common real-world problem that Drupal might be asked to solve. This structure next leads to alternative implementation strategies, then focuses on the features of recommended modules. In their "Hands-on" section, the authors next show how to configure the modules. The chapters, each on a different case study, end with references to other modules that might further enhance functionality. Each chapter ends with a summation, including links to the modules discussed. In the course of describing solutions to the problems introduced by the case studies, the authors take the reader (with little redundancy) through many general aspects of planning and implementing a Drupal site.

The authors' choice of case studies makes the book particularly valuable, as they cover a range of very common content management situations, including: a job posting board, product reviews, a wiki, managing publishing workflow, a photo gallery, multilingual sites, event management, and an online store.

Site functionality is the focus of most of the book, but the last chapter addresses more the topic of presentation, in Drupal-speak, Theming. This chapter requires some knowledge of CSS, HTML and PHP to fully understand how to modify existing themes (of which there are many). There is reference to where you can learn more about these topics, as well as some code that you can copy, but the authors do not attempt to write a primer on web coding.

Before the index, the book ends with three Appendices. The first addresses Drupal installation and maintenance. The second gives advice on choosing and evaluating modules that you might want to use for your own purpose. Since many modules are contributed by users in the Drupal community, coding quality, bug fixes, etc. can vary considerably, and the user is well-advised to apply "due diligence" as introduced in this appendix. The third appendix is a list of modules and themes used in the book, along with where to get them and their source code.

Using Drupal is targeted at readers "somewhere between total newbie and computer science professor", and is a surprisingly accessible practical introduction to Drupal as a platform. The writing style is succinct but easy to read, without the cutesy fluff so often found in how-to technical writing for the masses. The presentation reflects the authors' continuing involvement in Drupal education and in the growing Drupal community.