Designers/themers

What you will learn from this book

• Understand Drupal theme structure and terminology
• Configure raw HTML in a Drupal environment
• Populate Drupal themes with dynamic content
• Learn how to customize the search result page and how to add regions to your home page
• Discover the best practices and conventions of using Drupal to speed up your development

In Detail

Drupal’s theme layer, and the themes that use it, are responsible for the look and feel of a Drupal web site. Themes have the final say and ultimate control over almost every aspect of each page. Good themes consist of all the same elements that you would find on any reputable web site, including standards-compliant XHTML markup, CSS, and JavaScript. How it all comes together is what is so special and what makes Drupal themes so flexible and powerful.

Premium Drupal Themes is a practical, hands-on guide filled with clear, step-by-step examples which shows you how to create Drupal themes using HTML. This book will show you the best practices and conventions that you should adopt and utilize so you can change the way Drupal looks using HTML without wasting energy digging through Drupal’s code.

Starting with the essentials including Drupal terminology and Drupal theme structures, this book will show you how to configure raw HTML in a Drupal environment. You will learn about the Drupal template variables and also how to populate a Drupal theme with dynamic content. You will also discover how to customize the search result page and how to add regions to your home page. This book will help you familiarize yourself with the theme engines and will help you learn about the core of Drupal’s theme rendering system. Finally, you will learn how to create your very own Drupal theme that will take people’s breath away!

Approach

Filled with practical, step-by-step instructions and clear explanations for the most important and useful tasks. A step-by-step guide filled with recipes that will show you how to create your very own Drupal themes using HTML.

Who this book is for

This book is great for developers who are new to Drupal. It is assumed that you have some experience in HTML, PHP, and CSS. You’ll need a PHP (LAMP/WAMP) environment to install Drupal. It is also assumed that you know how to install Drupal. Some familiarity with CMS will be useful but is not essential.

What you will learn from this book

• Configure your Drupal site to run imports of migrated content using the Feeds module
• Run an import of migrated content using Feeds module and a Feed importer
• Package your configuration using the Features module
• Utilize the Migrate module and its benefits
• Migrate blog posts from WordPress to Drupal
• Upgrade your Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7
• Configure the Feeds Tamper module to preprocess your Feeds imports
• Run additional imports using the Feeds modules to update and add new data and content to your Drupal site

In Detail

This book will show you how to migrate your content into the Drupal content management system. You’ll start by building a content type in Drupal to hold your migrated content. You’ll then import your content into Drupal using the Feeds module. In order to be able to easily use them again and again, you will also learn the best methods of maintaining and packaging migration configurations.

In "Migrating to Drupal 7" you’ll learn how to quickly package your legacy site’s data into a format that’s easy to import into Drupal. You’ll then build a content type to hold migrated data in Drupal. To save time and hassle you will learn how to import content into Drupal using the Feeds module. You’ll then get a brief introduction to the Migrate module and its powerful features.

With this guide you’ll also learn how to upgrade your Drupal 6 website to Drupal 7 in short, simple steps. You’ll also learn how to package your configuration code in Drupal using the powerful Features module.

In "Migrating to Drupal 7" you’ll start by collecting your current site’s content and packaging it up into a CSV file so you can easily import it into Drupal. You’ll then build a content type to hold your migrated data and content.

Mastering migrations using the Feeds module will be the next invaluable tutorial before you get a closer look at the Migrate module’s powerful features. You’ll then upgrade your Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7 and use helper modules to help run the upgrade faster and with less hassle. This book will then take you through the process of migrating CCK-based Drupal 6 fields to Drupal 7 using the Content Migrate module.

Using the Features module you will then package up our Feeds importer and content types into code to help you to build an easily maintainable and flexible Drupal website with.

Approach

Written in a friendly and engaging style with practical tutorials and step-by-step examples which show you how to easily migrate your Drupal 6 or WordPress site to Drupal 7.

Who this book is for

"Migrating to Drupal 7" is for anyone interested in how to move content from an existing website into the Drupal content management system. Both novice and advanced Drupal users will gain practical hands-on knowledge in how to migrate content into Drupal using this book. You will become experts in using the Feeds module to migrate content, and in packaging your code using Features.

Note: This edition is out of print. The 2nd edition of this book is now available; contains all of the content of the first edition, plus Drupal 8 content.

If you’re a web programmer new to Drupal, this book shows you which programming techniques you can use—and which you should avoid—when building custom web applications with this content management framework. Drupal has its own set of programming principles that require a different approach, and many programmers make mistakes when relying on skills they’ve used for other projects. The guidelines in this book help you through the transition by demonstrating which programming practices conform to the “Drupal way,” and which don’t.

If you’re familiar with PHP, you’ll quickly learn how to take advantage of the powerful Drupal API.

• Get a complete overview of Drupal, including Drupal core and add-on modules and themes
• Learn Drupal’s basic programming principles, such as the ability to customize behavior and output with hooks
• Discover common Drupal programming mistakes—and why hacking is one of them
• Explore specific areas where you can put your programming skills to work
• Learn programming tips and tools to help you perfect and debug your applications

See the original announcement about Pro Drupal Development’s release in the Drupal news section.

Publisher’s description:

Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems in use today. With it, you can create a variety of community-driven sites, including blogs, forums, wiki-style sites, and much more. Pro Drupal Development was written to arm you with knowledge to customize your Drupal installation however you see fit. The book assumes that you already possess the knowledge to install and bring a standard installation online. Then authors John VanDyk and Matt Westgate delve into Drupal internals, showing you how to truly take advantage of its powerful architecture.

You’ll learn how to create your own modules, develop your own themes, and produce your own filters. You'll learn the inner workings of each key part of Drupal, including user management, sessions, the node system, caching, and the various APIs available to you. Of course, your Drupal-powered site isnt effective until you can efficiently serve pages to your visitors. As such, the authors have included the information you need to optimize your Drupal installation to perform well under high-load situations. Also featured is information on Drupal security and best practices, as well as integration of Ajax and the internationalization of your Drupal web site. Simply put, if you are working with Drupal at all, then you need this book.

• This book is written by Drupal core developers.
• Drupal architecture and behavior are mapped out visually.
• Common pitfalls are identified and addressed.
• Chapters provide regular discussion and reference to why things work they way they do, not just how.
• Features a foreword by Dries Buytaert, Drupal founder.

See the original announcement about Drupal 5 Themes’s release in the Drupal news section.

Publisher’s description:

This book is the ideal introduction to theming with Drupal 5. If you want to create a striking new look for your Drupal website, this book is for you. Starting from the basics of theme setup and configuration, you will learn about the Drupal theming architecture and the PHPTemplate engine, and then move on to modifying existing themes and building new themes from scratch. Included is a complete guide to the various style sheets and themeable functions in Drupal 5, making this book a valuable resource to even experienced theme developers.

About the Author

Ric Shreves is a partner in water&stone, a web development company that specializes in open source content management systems. He works primarily as a consultant and business systems analyst is currently on extended assignment with Peace Dividend Trust. He lives in Bali with his wife Nalisa, one dog, two cats, three turtles and a mind-boggling number of fish. First and foremost, I thank my loving wife Nalisa for her support and patience. It would also be remiss of me to fail to acknowledge my friend (and editor at ComputerWorld) Stefan Hammond, who provides more than a modicum of support and encouragement—together with much-needed reality checks.