Drupal 7 Book for Web Developer

July 17, 2013 8:15 PM

I'm a software developer by trade, primarily in .NET and web technologies. I know my way around HTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery. I am building a new website for a church from the ground up, and I feel that Drupal is a good choice for the CMS.

I am looking for a book that can provide practical examples of building a Drupal website from scratch. Theming, blocks, modules, and how to put it all together. If you can recommend a book or an online resource with useful information, I would be grateful.

I have checked out Drupal.org, and some of their stuff is useful. I'm having a hard time finding "from scratch" tutorials with examples, however.

I am not looking to be talked into using a different CMS. Thank you!

posted by DWRoelands to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

I've worked with Drupal developers who recommend the book Pro Drupal Development -- there's an edition called Pro Drupal 7 Development. You might also want to check out this previous AskMe asking for free online Drupal resources for beginners (a few comments in that thread also refer to the book).
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:13 PM on July 17, 2013

Do you anticipate needing to code custom modules? The default install is pretty capable as I recall, and they have a fairly extensive repository of third-party modules you can drop in. Setting up a Drupal site and playing around with it and looking at the official docs and module repository is pretty much how I learned to work with it. I'd recommend doing that anyway so that you can get some sort of server that you can test with before you deploy it to a real one.

I'll admit, it's been a while since I've actively maintained a Drupal site, but it didn't feel overly complicated, and from what I know they've been making a lot of investments in making it even easier to install and get up to speed in.
posted by Aleyn at 10:17 PM on July 17, 2013