Drupal: Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, And Community Websites

Interesting book about an interesting subject produced in an interesting way.

Although YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), I am one of those who at times prefers a book in my hand to the screen on my desk. Usually the same, or at least similar. information can be found on the web. I recently needed, or at least wanted, a custom "block" to handle Google search on our web page - http://ls.net/

A "module" had been published on this matter and we use it to render the Google AdSense tower on the right. But the Google search link didn't do what I wanted - search results within the context of our website. A Google search for "drupal google search" produced the usual excess number of hits (111,000) and the top entry was the entry I was already trying to implement.

When Drupal doesn't do what you want, either out of the box and via a downloaded module, a custom block is in order. A Google Search for "drupal custom block" produces 61,700 hits and I lose enthusiasm quickly digging through the results.

A quick look through the Table of Contents locates "Adding Blocks" on page 92 and in minutes I am off and running dropping the code generated by the Google AdSense setup web page into the Add Block feature of Drupal. The books example is simple. The code snippet is not relevant to my current project but it is easy to conceive of replacing it with the Google code.

There are hints here. I scanned this book for a couple of hours after I received it from Chapters Bookstore in Galax but not with the attention it would take to remember much except "I think it's in there somewhere". It is not exciting prose and certainly not a book that offers the secrets of the Universe. Still it is a useful reference work for someone who is interested in building websites with a CMS (Content Management System) in particular - Drupal. Its purchase makes senss after you make the decision to try Drupal for yourself and before you get to the head banging stage.

The book is a product of a UK publishing company, Packt Publishing, that "prints to order". When you order this book, the shipping order is sent to the appropriate branch printing facility (Memphis in this case) and your copy is printed, There is no inventory, thus you are unlikely to every find this book on the shelf of you local book store and any book store for that matter. Your copy is literally "hot off the press".