Drupal 8 for Absolute Beginners

Drupal 8 for Absolute Beginners is your definitive guide to starting from scratch with Drupal even if you have little web knowledge. This book teaches you the basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP in relation to Drupal, so that you can begin to use this popular CMS with all of its features.

You will first learn how to set up and customize a basic blog using Drupal, one of the most powerful and popular content management systems available today. From there you will learn the basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, and apply this knowledge to create your own custom Drupal module. You will learn how to build, style, and add functionality to your own Drupal module from scratch. You will then use Drush to apply a theme to Drupal, customizing everything to your liking, before publishing your work to the world. The book also covers some more advanced topics that beginners often ask about, such as getting set up with Git and using source control, using MySQL to interact with a database, and a guide to getting up and running with Linux.

Rarely has all the knowledge required to start with Drupal been collated in one place as it is in Drupal 8 for Absolute Beginners. You need no prior knowledge of the web, only a desire to learn. The book is fully supported by video material on the author’s website. Start your Drupal journey with this book today!

What you’ll learn

• Written for beginners to Drupal and web programming
• Learn what Drupal can do and how you can master it
• Use all of the common web technologies in conjunction with Drupal
• Create and apply a theme to your Drupal site
• Start your journey into more advanced topics, such as Git, MySql, and Linux

Who this book is for

The book targets anyone wishing to learn either basic web technology, Drupal, or both, and in particular it shows how basic web technologies fit into working with Drupal.  Even if you know basic CSS, HTML, and JavaScript many fall short on learning how to tailor Drupal and extend Drupal with these basic skills.  The book can elevate the reader to be able to land a great first job in the Drupal community after learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, PHP, MySql, and Linux.  The book also is great for the business community trying to understand the power of open source.  It’s important as a business person to know what tools are available to solve problems.  The Drupal community has many unfilled job openings, as programmers, support persons, UX experts, sales people … after reading this book the reader will be able to wow those interviewing them with their in depth knowledge of how much Drupal can do.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Installing Drupal
Chapter 2: Site Building: Building Drupal Sites Without Programming
Chapter 3: Getting Started with HTML
Chapter 4: Creating a Basic Drupal Module with HTML Output
Chapter 5: A CSS Primer for Drupal
Chapter 6: Adding CSS to Your Drupal Module
Chapter 7: A JavaScript Primer for Drupal
Chapter 8: Adding JavaScript to Your Drupal Module
Chapter 9: A PHP Primer for Drupal
Chapter 10: Adding PHP-Generated Output to Your Drupal Module
Chapter 11: Creating a Drupal Block Programmatically and Basic MySQL Usage
Chapter 12: Theming Your Site Part 1: Theme Functions and a Twig Primer
Chapter 13: Theming Your Site Part 2: Creating a Custom Theme and Subtheme
Chapter 14: Working with Forms and Creating Custom Forms
Chapter 15: Using Git to Manage Your Source Code
Chapter 16: Advanced MySQL Primer
Chapter 17: Linux
Chapter 18: Publishing Your Site to a Production Linux Box
Appendix A: Other Ways to Install Drupal
Appendix B: Basic Linux Commands