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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
Rating:  -
I read about half of the book. Lots of details that don't have to be there. All I wanted to learn was how to edit joomla not how and why it works. I just signed up for a service that works for me and easy to edit. No if you like studying and reading, this is for you. I actually should read the rest just so I know how to use it.
Rating:  -
Who is the Book for?
Joomla 1.5 site administrators. There are a couple of chapters on designing a template, but the bulk of the book is for people that want to learn how to manage and run their own Joomla websites. For professional Joomlers, its the kind of book you can provide to clients and save yourself some support emails.
Strengths
* Barrie's writing style is easy-to-read and flows well.
* Thoroughly illustrated. Especially in the early parts of the book, theres an illustration on every page.
* The book is comprehensive - at over 420 pages, it clocks in at twice the size of some other Joomla guides.
* There's an accompanying support forum for follow-up questions.
Weaknesses
* It was written before the stable launch of 1.5 so things mentioned in the book have changed slightly.
* The book does contain affiliate links
Overall Impression
This book is a quantum leap forward over Barrie's previous "Joomla! Admin Manual". How do I know? His previous book had a lot of the same flaws as my SEO Book when it was first published. It was a collection of blog posts rounded out into a book, with a lot of the normal problems of self-publishing including typos and substandard organization.
Barrie has worked hard on making this new book much better and enlisting the help of a professional publishing company has clearly paid off. "Joomla! a Users Guide" is 50% longer and has replaced the bloggy-style with slick text and clear organization.
Rating: -
I am of two minds about this book. As a Joomla beginner but long-time geek, I found it necessary to acquire something more substantial than online documentation and forum posts to make the transition to a content management system. I bought this book after much nosing around (including the reviews here), and I do have to credit it for answering most of my newbie questions and getting me incrementally closer to Joomla competence. I learn a little more each time I dig through it, so yes, I would say I got my money's worth.
As a writer (a few technical books and lots of articles), however, I am reminded of the biggest problem with technical writing: material generated by someone highly conversant with a topic can too-easily fall into the trap of speaking the language of the field... forgetting that beginners are trying to make sense of it. The author obviously knows his stuff, but even as a geek I found many of the chapters confusing and never did get what I would call a clear grasp of organizational principles. The net effect is that each new article I add to my site involves a bit of experimental poking-about until the menus reflect the structure I want, and there is a sort of surprised delight when a download extension works the way I expected.
I don't think Joomla is really that hard, and it is exactly what I have needed to break out of a 15-year habit of hand-editing HTML (resulting in a sprawling site that breaks many rules of stylistic consistency and modern standards). But someone really needs to capture the fundamental CMS paradigm with absolute clarity, present it in a way that lets the reader build an internal model of the system with her own application in mind, and then introduce the tools non-trivially... with good examples and meaningful graphics. Maybe someone has done this already, but I have not found it.
For a Joomla expert, all this is unnecessary, of course, and that's part of the problem with books about software tools. Identifying the target audience is the first problem when starting a book, and holding onto that all the way through a long brain dump can be particularly tricky. I don't think this book is very consistent in that department, even though it certainly helped me get started and triggered enough "aha!" moments to get me past the "hello, world" stage. But my non-geeky, blog-literate partner bogged down completely in the early chapters, so I don't think it really works for a true beginner.
Admittedly, stepping someone through a sprawling system that can take just about any form is a very tall order, for there is no obvious beginning-to-end sequencing (and there is plenty of allure in the esoterica). But I believe it could have been done much more smoothly and linearly: the essential truths about menu structures and the role of modules vs components vs plug-ins, while all stated in various places, require quite a bit of digging and re-reading.
Rating:  -
Very good for getting up and running with Joomla, covers all the basics of configuration and utilization of the standard parts. Goes into some of the template customization, but doesn't explain in detail the PHP functions (you would have to know PHP to do anything more than follow the basic directions).
The companion website (JoomlaShack) is EXCELLENT.
Rating:  -
I have found no way for the person with no Joomla experience to go through this book without getting "stuck". You know, when the results don't match the instructions? This happens when, in Chapter 4, the user must download and install the sample files in SQL form. There is a website that has the download files, but the passwords don't match what you put in when installing Joomla, thus, you have to go wandering around the site to find said login information.
When posting a question on the website forum, it takes days (if ever) to get a reply. Not very helpful when you're in the middle of a problem. What you DO find all over the forum is an advertisement touting the author's service to build and host a Joomla website for you! If I wanted that, I wouldn't have invested in the book to begin with.
This is my first ever review of a book at Amazon, and I have ordered and read many instructional web tutorial books which have all fulfilled their promises. This one disappoints, especially in the "support forum" department.
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