How Mastering Using Drupal?

I am known here as a "Drupal fanboy" (I prefer "Drupalist")

Drupal is kind of like the Asian game Go - it is very simple in its simplest form, but may have endless permutations.

Sometimes a little knowledge of PHP can help, particularly when a contributed module (not part of the core code) is misbehaving.

Notice that the Drupal website has a main tab for "Documentation" - and there you will find Getting Started - I recommend reading through this material, there are gems of best practices and tips that will save you headaches later.

Another separate site that can be of help is Mastering Drupal which has free video tutorials on some intermediate to advanced topics.

I have heard that the Drupal videos at Lynda.com are good too.

Finally, get yourself a local server like Xampp (for Windows) and start to tinker. Have fun. Ask questions here and at drupal.org (please be sure to search before you ask!)

IMO Joomla! is the evil cousin of Drupal, I have had bad experiences with it...

Thanks for your reply.

Please there is still something I need to know, such as:
- Do I need to know html before I start working with Drupal.
- Please can you tell me or suggest me a good book to start with drupal considering that I am a newbie.

Thanks

Thanks a lot.

HTML and CSS will be needed if you want to customize a theme or build your own theme. There are many existing themes to choose from, but you'll probably want a custom look for your site sooner or later.

It is good to have some understanding of PHP as well. Sometimes the solution to a problem (e.g. you want a particular function to display something differently) involves adding some PHP code to certain files. Usually you can find someone who's written the code that you can copy & paste, but even then it's useful if you understand it to some extent.

Mastering Drupal is a long learning curve. I've only dabbled with it a bit myself (I have one simple site set up - my partner maintains two other Drupal sites that I work on). Since you have a site to work with, the best thing to do would be to read the Getting Started guide on Drupal.org (twice if necessary), then install Drupal and start working with it. If you have specific tasks you need to do you'll have some sense of direction and you'll know what you need to learn next.

Thanks for replying my friend.

I've 2 things to ask about:

1) I've got three books:
a- HTML 4 for dummies, 5th edition.
b- Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS, WORX.
c- John Wiley & Sons - HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible, 3rd Edition.
Which one of them considered best for an HTML newbie guy like me, or if you know a better book please advise.

2) Which books from Drupal I can use? Please recommend me some of them as there are too many.

Thanks

I don't have any Drupal books, but still do the technical stuff on this site, which takes a reasonable amount of knowledge.

You should really just get a local development environment, be that XAMPP (as decibel.places recommended), an Ubuntu desktop, or follow our Web server tutorial. Then test Drupal out on that.

The biggest problem you'll face is finding your way around and getting used to the 'Drupal way'. This is why Wordpress and Joomla! are initially more attractive than Drupal: they don't have the up-front learning curve.

More importantly: the knowledge to effectively use Drupal cannot be gained from a book alone, it comes from practice. Maybe try using Drupal for a while, find the areas you're weak on and get a book that covers those subjects (or more than one book).

Thanks a lot and will follow your words

I've never used Drupal even once.
I am more of a Joomla fan..hehe

I'd like to add that if you are on a mac at home you can use MAMP to get your local server set up , and then load latest release of drupal there and play. Its the only way to learn. Also , Itunes carries lots and lots of podcasts on drupal . Mastering drupal as mentioned is very good. The podcasts on itunes will take you through the steps to getting a drupal website up . Be careful though , drupal is worse than twitter for consuming time its so addictive....
good luck

Hello

Sorry for posting in an old topic but I thought it could be better then starting a new one.

It was a while since I was here (really life is too busy with work, family, study ...etc).

Now I am on the track again for starting up my website (I hope to complete it this time).

Just one thing I did not realized it before which is the documentations in the Drupal website, I've got about almost all Drupal e books in the market and have most of them printed out and have 2 or 3 months free to do what I like at the evening (about 3 or 4 hours per day).

What I am asking about is is it better to follow the documentations in the main Drupal website or to follow e books?

I know and understand that you may say that it is a matter of preferences but the reason I am asking for is just one thing, does the info included in the documentations is comprehensive and considered the source for all e books in the market or e books may be more comprehensive!?

Thanks

Lullabot is a pretty good training solution as well

Drupal is mine one of interesting website which i visits most and uses its add-ons and themes which are very nice, their developer are really very creative.

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Hi,
I have also never used drupal. But now i think i can try it.Keep sharing.....

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Thanks a lot guys.