Front End Drupal: Designing, Theming, Scripting (Developer's Library) [Paperback]

To properly orient this review, I should start off by saying that I know Drupal theming pretty well, so my take on things may be a bit different from someone who is totally new to theming. I've also taught a lot of folks though, on every part of the learning curve, so I can appreciate what it means to get some of this stuff to click for people. The book tells you at the start that you shouldn't be a total Drupal newbie. This book is about getting Drupal to look the way you want, but it expects you to bring some basic skills to the table. Now, that said, the first few chapters do take the time to get you oriented with Drupal; so if you are rusty, you get a refresher, and if you are cheeky and like to scoff at "prerequisites," you at least get a toe-hold of the basics before being whisked into the heart of it all. So, off we go.

As I started into it, the first thing that I noticed was that this really is not about "just" code. I was expecting to get dumped right into some hacking and instead, you are given some good groundwork first. While the first two chapters would be the stuff I'd normally skip, I'd advise reading them, especially if you are new to Drupal or dynamic web sites in general. If you are a know-it-all, then I suggest you at least skim the headings and make sure you actually know what you think you know. The first chapter covers a lot of the basics of WTH are you even doing when making a website. These are generally good things to think about and go through even if you aren't theming. Stuff like, what kind of content are you really going to need, how do things need to be listed, who will be using it and how? The chapter walks you through the questions and talks about them from a Drupal perspective. You really should think about your site before you dive in willy-nilly. After you get your head into the proper space about what you are building, chapter 2 covers tools. This covers the gamut from a CCK and Views refresher, to cron and using version control. Basically, it is packed with a really complete checklist and you'll save yourself time and frustration if you take some time to go through this chapter and get yourself comfy.

Chapter 3 is where you start to learn about Drupal themes themselves. After a bit about how to install and configure existing themes, you get to make your first theme. It walks you through multiple ways to get started; using a contributed theme, making a theme from scratch, upgrading a theme from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6, or even how to convert a theme from Wordpress or Joomla!. I was surprised to find some of this more "advanced" stuff like upgrading or converting so early in the book. I would have expected it to be in the appendix instead, especially since some of the things it refers to haven't really been covered yet, or are really not likely. Not many people start with theming by upgrading a theme from 5 to 6, but they definitely would want a handy reference for it later if they need it. On the other hand, I can see that covering how to move from another system would be a more comfortable way for some people to start off. One thing that would be nice for those sections is to provide more detailed references right there (e.g. a link to the [...] theme upgrade or variables docs). That way folks can come back to that chapter later and use it as a more one-stop shop for that kind of work later.

Once you have the basics down, the next few chapters take you into the major building blocks of themes by looking at the overall page (and things like blocks, taxonomy, search, etc.), as well as getting into content (nodes, CCK and Views). This is the nitty-gritty of what all these template files are for and how to crack them open and get them doing what you want. Sprinkled in here is a section on getting images into your content. It doesn't really do the full pointy-clicky work, but it does point you off to the various techniques to look at, like Image vs Imagefield.

Related to content, but in a whole chapter of its own (rightly so), is a really nice guide to working with Drupal forms. Output is great, but what about those pesky input forms that are the workhorse of administering your site? Again, this chapter has solid code examples and explanations, along with more module discussion about things like WYSIWYG editors. From there the book goes on to cover other important things like users and profiles, with a bit about controlling various things in this realm with regards to things like permissions and spam. The admin interface chapter is very module heavy and looks largely to modules that can make your admin's life a little easier, with some theme tweaking thrown in for good measure. Definitely a very pointy-clicky chapter more than codey.

With all of the aspects of your site humming along nicely, the rest of book takes you into the wonderful world of JavaScript and the Drupal flavor, jQuery. These chapters leave the pointy-clicky behind entirely. Here you will plunge into an overview of JavaScript and then on into fun things you can do with jQuery, from hiding and showing elements on a page to playing with AJAX. It is an intense few chapters packed with lots of info. You can also grab sample code from the book website, [...], to play around with to help get a feel for it.

Ok, so long review already, but there is definitely a lot of stuff in here. I expected a "theming" book and got more than I bargained for. At times some of the things that had more to do with modules and configuration would surprise me, but then again, the front end of a website is more than just the theme, it is all of the pieces that play a part in both look and feel. So, while I found it surprising, I don't think it is off-base and honestly for people who are new to Drupal this is a freaking gem. Don't think that this is only for newbs though, not at all. This is a serious book, made for grownups, and it expects you to be able to extrapolate from examples and make use of the references you've been given. To my mind that is the only way to really learn this stuff. The chapters give context, some conceptual framework, and points to the standard references, but then it dives straight in to real examples, and they aren't namby-pamby. Some examples are definitely doing some interesting stuff, but the great thing is that each part is explained step-by-step. This gives newbies some hand-holding while allowing more advanced folks to just get down to it and see what they can really do beyond the basics. Overall, a great book, jam-packed with lots of learning. Congrats to Emma and Konstantin for producing another great book in the Drupal library.

Having never developed a Drupal theme (but being proficient in HTML/CSS/jquery), I found this a rather hard book to follow. It felt like the book really wanted to be a book about front-end drupal, but ends up spending quite a lot of time talking about abstract framework concepts, back-end features, and configurations (I recognize these are part of creating a user experience, but why the book choose to start with them is beyond me).

Chapter 3, the actual chapter on drupal themes was even more bizarre. There was perhaps maybe five paragraphs on making a theme. The rest is dedicated to talking about other subjects like converting themes from other CMS's and previous versions of drupal and whatnot.

The book feels more like "A Guide to Drupal 6 For People Who've Used Drupal 5 With the Stock Settings and Want To Know How To Customize It" than "Front-End Drupal".

I was hoping for a book that was more along the lines of "JQuery In Action" -- a book that is both readable and reference, and a book that is logically laid out from basic to complex.

This book is what Drupal books ought to be, and uses the same method as other great Drupal books. I could say it takes Drupal's presentation layer apart and puts it back together again, but that would be insufficient. What it does is take the Drupal presentation layer apart in gradual stages... and has you put it back together again. It reveals the seven veils of the mystery through actual practice, and puts you in control with the tools you really need to be effective at every juncture.

And the book deals thoroughly with the domain it purports to cover, and doesn't get sidetracked. The spotlight is on web design, but it is brutally honest about what you really need to get the most out of Drupal. As a result there are incursions into other areas the professional web designer really needs to deal with. There is even an example Drupal PHP module, but the book is careful to explain that it is not a book on building modules for Drupal, and recommends the books that are for the benefit of the reader.

For example, in Chapter 1, the book dissects the Drupal presentation layer starting with its high-level business objects: the page itself and the content, and their parts, on the one hand, the concept of lists of content, page design and layout, the forms of interaction with a web page and how to guide the user to the successful completion of their tasks, where the page lives in terms of code (XHTML, CSS, browser and server based scripting languages, and a special mention of Javascript. And finally the question of the workflows you will be dealing with on a day to day basis in the course of web design work: other designers, programmers, clients, and of course the site visitors themselves.

In successive chapters, the book offers an ever more detailed and rich path towards becoming a professional. You sit in the driver's seat and find out what it feels like. First of all, a thorough tooling up with all the tools themers really need, like Firebug and where to find language references, an introduction to Drupal terminology, but not just the terminology: it is a knowledge transfer process of all the parts that make Drupal what it is, and how to use them, complete with a short list of must have modules and why. It even goes into a howto on setting up scheduled tasks with cron.

Drupal themes themselves are treated thoroughly, what they are, how they work, how to use them, how to migrate themes from WordPress and Joomla!, and even from Drupal 5.x to Drupal 6.x.

Then the book delves deeper and deeper, so that the reader user gets into the nitty gritty of semantic data presentation and layout through page templates and node content templates, and how this relates to the styling of each element with CSS, including the thorny question of dealing with images.

Front End Drupal deals with something you will be hard put to find in one place anywhere else: the question of how to deal gracefully with Drupal forms. Some amazing stuff for everyone to learn here, from styling to enormous usability enhancements you can drop into your own work. I would say just this section alone is worth the price of the whole book.

And finally, javascript in general and jQuery in particular: I was impressed with how useful that part of the book is. For example, a whole jQuery based Javascript component (a horizontal scroller) is developed step by step, a truly fascinating guide. A good, meaty awareness building concrete real-world example that is a four-lane highway, which, although it doesn't go everywhere, practically saves you the price of a separate book on that subject.

And of course you are equipped on how to fit in ready made jQuery plugins onto the look and feel of a site you are designing also.

I can't say enough good things about this book. It reflects the knowledge and long-time experience of two hard-working and generous professionals. If you are only going to buy two or three Drupal books, make sure this one is always handy while you are working.