new book, Drupal for Dummies, is now available. My intended audience is non-technical, so if you’ve got a friend who wants you to build a Drupal site for them, this might be worth mentioning to them. The companion Web site, http://drupalfordummies.com was created using only the information presented in the book.

About the Book

Like other books in the for Dummies series, Drupal for Dummies is for beginners. As my publisher puts it:

Everyone has to start somewhere. Before you can go about modifying the Drupal code base by writing PHP scripts and creating your own custom themes, you first have to download Drupal, install the LAMP stack; organize and create your site’s content; apply templates, get your first site up and running, and administer the site.

That’s precisely what Drupal For Dummies shows readers how to do, and much more Designed for non-programmers, Drupal For Dummies shows readers how to take advantage of everything in Drupal that is ready to use, including modules and third-party templates. For those readers who have been tapped to administer a Drupal site designed and programmed by a third-party developer, Drupal For Dummies provides the plain English instructions necessary to make changes across the site, manager user access and privileges, and many other high-frequency administrative tasks.

Topics Covered

• Start here — find the free software and get simple solutions on things like setting up a database and installing Drupal on a Web host
• Who’s in charge — manage an administrator account, establish rules, and control site users
• What’s on your site — create, manage, and edit your content, and decide whether to allow comments
• Where’s your region? — work with themes and regions and manage menus
• Open forum — create a site with a blog and forum and set up appropriate security
• Stay current — keep Drupal up to date, monitor activity on your site, and locate new modules and themes to use
• Cover your bases — maintain your database, back it up, and know how to restore it
• Move up — see how Drupal can build a robust site that interacts with other sites and how to set up an online store with Ubercart Read the rest of this entry »