Drupal for Dummies

Leigh Beighley

Do you need a good basic instruction guide to get you started working with Drupal? If you have programming skills you won't need this. If, like me, you're comfortable in html and a little java script, like me, Drupal for Dummies will be a very helpful book. If you have no web design experience at all, this book will get you going. It might be difficult to understand what Beighley means with the information to set up your web services provider, but I believe you can work through it. It will be good to choose a very supportive provider. Beighley gives a good list and sites where the new user can go to do their own research.

After following through the introduction and set up of Drupal, Beighley quickly takes you through some administration needed for the site, then directs you to set up your first content page. If, like me, you want to see something quickly, this is great. I did some copy and paste from one of my pages in this site and set it up in Drupal. I now had a web page that looked good and allowed comments to be added after my reviews. That is something I've wanted to do for years but haven't had the knowledge to set it up. Now you, the web designer, can see some success.

From there, Drupal for Dummies helps you learn about User Management. This allows you to set up user rights for different people as well as set up your own administrative account. I was easily able to work through the directions to set up a new user and tweak the administrative function, then slid on past that chapter.

From there the book goes into creating and managing content. Beighley uses her own website http://drupalfordummies.com as examples and shows how it changed as she changed around components. At this point I started experimenting. I want to keep much of the look of my current site, but expand on functionality and available interaction. So I looked at blocks and modules and themes and started tweaking.

I don't dare start working on my new site (which won't be ready any time soon) without Drupal for Dummies right next to me.

When Beighley turns her attention to more robust sites, I have trouble. All though the book she has offered many available resources, especially online, for working with Drupal, it falls short at the end. If I were looking only to create a blog type site or store front, it might be OK. But neither of those are exactly what I want. I know what I want but not necessarily the right terms. I go through the forums at http://drupal.org as suggested by Beighley. I have started working past this introduction manual.

I have found that it's easy to get lost in "Drupal world" when trying to get things done. I may have to look for a book at the next level.

Drupal for Dummies is a great and easy way to start working the the Drupal web site software. It could use some easy to find pointers or list of resources for expanding to the next level.