Beginning Joomla! [Brossura]

This book does a nice job to get you up and running with a Joomla!-website (chapters 1 to 3), and then in chapter 4 nicely points your way in getting your own content organized and in place, but then, when it comes to questions like "How do I put related but different articles together in one 'page'" it lets you down completely. The way you use menu's to lay out a page doesn't get real attention, instead you only get an overview of the different manager screens, no explanation of the coworking of menu and module manager.
I expected this to come in chapter 6, but then the author moves to things like creating new templates, using extensions and other things that are surely interesting to know, but of more intermediate to advanced level. The beginners level however seems to be somewhat unfinished. I really have looked to see if pages where missing in my copy somewhere in chapter 4 or 5, but they weren't.
This book could have been so much better if the more advanced chapters where left for a second volume and that space was used for more info about concepts and real world examples. The books promises to make you from novice to professional, but you really can't get there if the foundation is too weak.

First off, let me state that I'm a complete beginner when it comes to making websites. I have very limited experience with HTML/XHTML, and no experience with PHP, MySQL, javascript, modules, etc. But with this book I was able to have a complete up and running website in a matter of hours. The author does a very good job of holding your hand and walking you step by step through the entire process of setting up Joomla! on your web server and customizing the site to make it your own.

I've looked at some of the documentation online, but a lot of it assumes that the reader has a more than cursory knowledge of numerous online processes. But Rahmel assumes that you have a shaky foundation of websites and instructs you accordingly. The book is also valuable in that it explains the numerous ins and outs of Joomla! where other documents fall short. For example, one of the templates I downloaded didn't call up the breadcrumbs module and I had no idea how to insert it into the template. The online documentation didn't help much, but luckily this book explained the breadcrumbs module and how to insert it. For anyone who is a newb to website design, this is the perfect book to get you started.

I liked Joomla and really wanted to get under the hood. Not necessarily covered in oil but proficient enough to take any template and make a really professional web site from it. Now I don't mean to be a naysayer but I bought this book owing to the praiseworthy reviews. I've been hand coding websites for ten years and have even built my own CMS using PHP and MySQL so I'll give my opinion for the sake of those who are about to buy based on what I feel are misleading rave reviews.

First of all, Joomla is a very powerful CMS, so in fairness to the author it would be very difficult to write a book which warranted five stars given the complexity of what this CMS affords one. However, I do agree with, J. W. L. Smits "doctor dream", and should have paid more attention to that review. The book will get you underway competently but when it comes to implementing a template and customizing it for your particular purposes look elsewhere - this book will not be especially helpful. By and large, it is for the novice, it simply is not for the professional. Hopefully a second or third edition will address information organization more clearly especially with regard to the many permutations Joomla offers for navigation. Afterall if your navigation misleads, your audience leaves the page rapidly. I think the editor should have helped Mr. Rahmel more closely, it seems rushed and frought with omission as if it were trying to remain under a certain number of pages. Adding the 'to Professional' onto the title tagline is clearly the publishers effort at entrapping a greater audience - poor form.

I've read the thing cover to cover and it really needs an overhaul in terms of informational hierarchy and content layout. Specifically, what constitutes an article, why does it fall under a certain category and where and what section that in turn lies beneath and why and how do I link an article under a category within a section - the fundamental stuff, I could go on. In summary, buy it if you know nothing about CMS's, for a beginner its a four star read and you'll have a CMS website in no time. For the rest of us, get back online and google the forums and or buy Barrie North's book, 'Joomla, A users Guide'.