There are scads of amazing technologies available to help you build a better Web site. The problem lies in finding the right tools for your needs, and then learning how to use those tools. For users interested in Joomla!, formerly known as Mambo, Building Websites with Mambo A step by step tutorial from Packt Publishing is designed to help with just that.
First a little back-story: Joomla! is an open source dynamic PHP-based content management system with a Web interface. Once installed and configured, you can use it to manage articles, blogs, and other information on your Web site. It is skinnable, so you can also create a site that is uniquely yours. Some people are using Joomla! for personal sites, some for job and project tracking, and others for commercial Web sites.
Joomla! came into being after a core group of developers split from the Mambo project. They continued on developing Mambo, but had to change the name, hence Joomla!.
Now back to the book: Building Websites with Mambo A step by step tutorial is a 231 page book designed to help you get started with Joomla!. It covers the basics and works its way through to more complex topics. It includes chapters on installation, customization, extending Joomla!is functionality, and more.
Each chapter is organized nicely, and includes plenty of screenshots. Where necessary, it also includes code samples. If you are unfamiliar with MySQL installations and remote installation of software, you may want to look for someone to help with the initial setup instead of relying on this book.
Although the installation chapter includes good information, Joomla! can be a bit intimidating to install for the novice user. Luckily, many Web hosting services offer one-click installers so that you donit have to worry about the technical details.
The biggest issue I found was that even though the title says that the book is a step by step tutorial, thatis not how the book flowed. It covers lots of useful information, but donit expect to start at the beginning of the book and have a walk through on setting up your site. I considered it more of a reference that I can look to when I need to figure out how to do something specific with a Joomla! site.
The Bottom Line
Building Websites with Mambo A step by step tutorial is a great reference for new users looking to get familiar with Joomla! and to enhance their Joomla! siteis features. A step by step tutorial it is not.