Slashdot Mirror
Joomla! 1.5 Beginner's Guide
TimKrause writes "I just recently received Packt's new Joomla! 1.5 Beginner's Guide by Tiggeler. If you're new to Joomla!, this is one of the best titles out there in terms of helping you get started with your first (perhaps second or third) Joomla! site. Tiggeler does a nice job covering all of the basics: everything from downloading and installing Joomla on a server, configuring it, and confirming the installation to working with and then removing the sample data that Joomla provides. The book lives up to its promise by including a chapter that promises the reader they'll have a site up and running in about an hour. Based on my own experiences, I suspect that, for most intermediate developers, Tiggeler is right; for beginners, expect to take a little more time." Read on for the rest of Tim's review.
Joomla! 1.5: Beginner's Guide
author
Eric Tiggeler
pages
380
publisher
Packt Publishing
rating
9/10
reviewer
Tim Krause
ISBN
1847199909
summary
If you want to build and maintain your own web site, the Joomla! Beginner's Guide is perfect for you.
One of the challenges that I observe with many new Web developers is struggling to understand how to develop enough sample content for one's site in order to make adjustments to the site template, and define it's structure, before adding remaining content and functionality. Tiggeler actually does a nice job carefully moving back and forth between creating content, and giving it structure. In doing so, it's also important to note that this book isn't about theory, or just reading, it's about doing. Every section includes a "Time for action" that walks site owners through doing what was explained on their own site. For more adventurous site owners, there's also a "Have a go hero" activity that is much less directed, and which provides additional (but appropriate) challenges.
Tiggeler starts out with the basics of downloading and installing Joomla. If you're going to use this book, you'll either need Web hosting (preferably Linux) or the expertise to install a flavor of XAMPP on a local computer. Either aren't necessarily difficult (most Web hosting offers 1-click installation of Joomla, making it as easy as a click of a button), but require thinking about Web design differently than with static HTML pages.
In any Joomla! book, there are a couple of must-haves for me, and Tiggeler does a nice job discussing them. The include: SEO, metrics and site security. Under site security note that JoomlaPack has been replaced with Akeebo Backup. It's the same great functionality, but with a new name (and a new subscription-based version that offers enhanced options). It's important to note here that Tiggeler is not only thorough in covering the basics, but often provides more advanced direction, and discusses any of the more technical issues which a developer might run into when installing a component, for example.
The book also includes screenshots that make it very easy for the reader to follow along. In fact, I found myself trying out a number of things on my own site as I read. The screenshots and directions were all accurate and correct.
Once you get comfortable with everything Tiggeler has to offer, including the very basics of component and module installation and configuration, I'd recommend that you turn to some of Packt's other titles, like Joomla 1.5 — Multimedia by Walker for additional guidance on learning the more detailed ins and outs of specific types of components. Joomla Cash is another option, and discussions key e-commerce components like VirtueMart.
Nevertheless, what sums this title up best for me is Chapter 4: Web Building Basics: Creating a Site in an Hour. I was suspicious at first, but am confident that with Tiggeler's guidance, it's quite possible to build your first basic Joomla! Web site in about an hour. That's an excellent premise, and the book delivers on it well.
If you're looking for a beginner to intermediate book, there aren't many other alternatives available. O'Reilly has a titled called Using Joomla! by Severdia and Crowder, that was published earlier this year. At the time, I was pretty impressed with it, but I think readers will find Tiggeler to be both more direct and more focused in his approach. For example, Severdia and Crowder devoted a chapter in their book to Joomla 1.6. It was interesting, but largely academic given that 1.6 is still in beta and not something most of us will be working with.
I teach Web Design, including a course on Web Content Management Systems (Drupal, Joomla and WordPress) and have literally read dozens of these types of books in the past year or so. I also teach a capstone course where my students create Joomla-based sites for local non-profit organizations. We have completed sites for nearly 100 clients in the past two years. Currently, Joomla 1.5 Beginner's Guide is what I recommend to new Joomla! site owners. As a result, I also will begin using the same book in class starting next semester so that students are familiar with what their clients will be reading.
Tim Krause is an Assistant Professor of Computing and New Media Technologies at the University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point. He writes regularly about Joomla and Web Content Management systems.
You can purchase Joomla! 1.5 Beginner's Guide from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Tiggeler starts out with the basics of downloading and installing Joomla. If you're going to use this book, you'll either need Web hosting (preferably Linux) or the expertise to install a flavor of XAMPP on a local computer. Either aren't necessarily difficult (most Web hosting offers 1-click installation of Joomla, making it as easy as a click of a button), but require thinking about Web design differently than with static HTML pages.
In any Joomla! book, there are a couple of must-haves for me, and Tiggeler does a nice job discussing them. The include: SEO, metrics and site security. Under site security note that JoomlaPack has been replaced with Akeebo Backup. It's the same great functionality, but with a new name (and a new subscription-based version that offers enhanced options). It's important to note here that Tiggeler is not only thorough in covering the basics, but often provides more advanced direction, and discusses any of the more technical issues which a developer might run into when installing a component, for example.
The book also includes screenshots that make it very easy for the reader to follow along. In fact, I found myself trying out a number of things on my own site as I read. The screenshots and directions were all accurate and correct.
Once you get comfortable with everything Tiggeler has to offer, including the very basics of component and module installation and configuration, I'd recommend that you turn to some of Packt's other titles, like Joomla 1.5 — Multimedia by Walker for additional guidance on learning the more detailed ins and outs of specific types of components. Joomla Cash is another option, and discussions key e-commerce components like VirtueMart.
Nevertheless, what sums this title up best for me is Chapter 4: Web Building Basics: Creating a Site in an Hour. I was suspicious at first, but am confident that with Tiggeler's guidance, it's quite possible to build your first basic Joomla! Web site in about an hour. That's an excellent premise, and the book delivers on it well.
If you're looking for a beginner to intermediate book, there aren't many other alternatives available. O'Reilly has a titled called Using Joomla! by Severdia and Crowder, that was published earlier this year. At the time, I was pretty impressed with it, but I think readers will find Tiggeler to be both more direct and more focused in his approach. For example, Severdia and Crowder devoted a chapter in their book to Joomla 1.6. It was interesting, but largely academic given that 1.6 is still in beta and not something most of us will be working with.
I teach Web Design, including a course on Web Content Management Systems (Drupal, Joomla and WordPress) and have literally read dozens of these types of books in the past year or so. I also teach a capstone course where my students create Joomla-based sites for local non-profit organizations. We have completed sites for nearly 100 clients in the past two years. Currently, Joomla 1.5 Beginner's Guide is what I recommend to new Joomla! site owners. As a result, I also will begin using the same book in class starting next semester so that students are familiar with what their clients will be reading.
Tim Krause is an Assistant Professor of Computing and New Media Technologies at the University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point. He writes regularly about Joomla and Web Content Management systems.
You can purchase Joomla! 1.5 Beginner's Guide from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Nevertheless, what sums this title up best for me is Chapter 4: Web Building Basics: Creating a Site in an Hour. I was suspicious at first, but am confident that with Tiggeler's guidance, it's quite possible to build your first basic Joomla! Web site in about an hour. That's an excellent premise, and the book delivers on it well.
Even less than that: install with default data, write up some menus, install a logo and delete all the default articles.
Bada bing bada boom.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
Joomla: much more preferable than the alternative, Hitlermla.
Should have including a phrase stating Joomla! is a combined content management system (CMS) and web application framework in PHP using MySQL back end.
Seriously, I've used several such systems over the past 12 years but never heard of Joomla!, so I know I can't be the only one who would have appreciated a phrase defining the thing
An article summary that assumes the reader is already familiar with the subject of the article?
On slashdot?
Say it ain't so!
this book is already obsolete, joomla 1.6 is almost ready to be released as stable, currently it's in a state of public beta testing (beta 2).
there are enormous differences between 1.5 and 1.6, menus are in different places, API has changed a lot (templates for 1.5 won't work for 1.6 without major changes) and so on.
root@127.0.0.1
Version 1.6 is in beta testing and should be stable in a few months (or less). Judging from the activity on the Joomlacode site, I'd bet sooner.
Anyone considering buying this book should wait a few months for it to be made obsolete by the release of version 1.6.....that way they can get it at a discount.
Seriously though, anyone considering buying this book should wait until they write the beginners guide for 1.6 which has radical changes and completely eliminates the legacy layer, as well as single level depth section/category organization.
"Lame" - Galaxar
It's Joomla. It's going to get hacked in a day after you publish your website. You don't need a book to make a standard Joomla site, you need a book to tell you how to secure it and how to apply patches breaking as little as possible.
http://www.google.com/search?q=joomla+viagra
If you can't afford to spend a LOT of time fixing the holes and understanding security in both Joomla and your web server, your site is going to get pwned quickly and utterly.
Step 1: Don't
Step 2: There is no Step 2!
Joomla is simply some of the best FOSS available.
I am an 'Average Joe C programmer' and have used Joomla to create at least 4 simple sites in under a weekend of work (including writing my own templates, and components).
My only complaint with Joomla has been that the CMS does not have automated way to download and install CMS/component/template/module updates (e.g. something like apt-get update/upgrade). Unless you keep on top of security patches your site is very likely to be cracked within a year in my experience. However, that said, if you keep on top of the updates the you're likely to save yourself a whack of work by using Joomla.
Joomla 1.0.x, and 1.5.x, have both been amazing and keep getting better IMOP! I look very forward to 1.6!!
Okay, seriously? How many Joomla book reviews do we need? (If you answered at least 6 in the last year including today's, you apparently win the Internets today.)
I'm on my crusty alone on this, but i'm always suspicious of a computer language who's name can't be typed without resorting to a shift-number-row character. And/or, why does one have to shout "joomla!"? (see also: C#, C++, Action!, Go!, @Formula...). perhaps it's time to fork Whitespace as "_@&$++_!" using only those characters...
That book -even the review of it- was way too verbose.
Here is everything any beginner will ever to know about using Joomla:
DON'T
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Nobody cares about Joomla!. There are books for "intermediate" Joomla! developers the way there are fingerpainting master classes. Stop posting this shit.
http://henriksjokvist.net/archive/2010/6/joomla-has-a-security-problem-the-benefits-of-centralized-contrib-hosting
Don't!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Seriously, don't use it.
You know how c developpers look down on c++ developpers, and c++ developpers look down on java developpers, and java developpers look down on php developpers?
php developpers look down the same way on joomla developpers.