I was recently given the chance to review a book written by Daniel Chapman entitled Joomla! 1.5x Customization. I have to say I was impressed with level of detail it goes into yet still remains accessible to a broad spectrum of users. The book helps those who are very new to the world of building websites by giving a brief introduction to the various underlying web technologies and languages behind Joomla! which whilst is by no means a definitive guide to them provides the basics required to understand the rest of the book.

                Throughout the book the reader is guided through all the steps needed to run and monetize a website. By using a real world example website the reader can clearly see how each step is helping them to improve or configure their site. Many books neglect to do this and instead the reader is just given the steps with no real insight as to how they help. All the stages needed, from planning the website to installing and configuring through to the promotion and tracking of the website, are covered leaving no need of other resources. I appreciated how the author realised that not all needs of a website can be fulfilled with the prewritten modules and code already out there and that for any successful site a reasonable amount of customization will be needed. All code that was used was clearly explained and easily understood with complete notes.

                I would highly recommend this book to both beginners and experienced users of Joomla! as it covers such a wide range skills and techniques. Overall it is an invaluable resource that is complete and concise written in a clear formulated manner.

                Joomla! 1.5x Customization by Daniel Chapman can be purchased from Packt Publishing in both eBook and paperback forms. A sample chapter can be found here .

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