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Textpattern Solutions: PHP-Based Content Management Made Easy (Solutions)
eBook Information
Textpattern Solutions: PHP-Based Content Management Made Easy (Solutions) Google Search |
User review Disappointing, for me. I'm afraid this book really does read like it had 5 authors. Yes, it's probably complete, which would suit those already familiar with Textpattern, as were most of the reviewers here. But for those wanting to get started with Textpattern I think it is badly written. And needn't have been. Maybe I'm in the minority, but if I'm trying to understand and learn a new technology (or find my way in a new city) I want to start with an overall picture first, then progressively zoom in,,. If you start feeding me details before I know where and how they connect and fit, you'll just confuse me needlessly. Page 2 Starts off well. `What is Textpattern?` Then follows a half page of bewildering text that for me, failed to expand on the 1 sentence description on the Textpattern site. I was relieved then, to see the heading on Page 6 `How Textpattern Works`. Great so far. The text then goes straight in to a half page description of the LAMP Platform. Then 3/4 of a page on Licensing. Licensing. I'm not saying that is not important. But please just tell me in the intro what is Textpattern and how does it work first, so I will know enough to care about the differences between a GPL and a BSD license! I'm afraid to say that the book holds many similar frustrations for me, and I fully agree with the previous reviewer. I expect to use it as a reference but it completely missed the opportunity to be helpful to a new user like myself. User review Great Book on Textpattern Extremely easy to follow and well written. My only problem was a lot of the times the illustrations or images weren't on the same page as their textual reference. Not a big deal, but I lost my place a lot while flipping back and forth through pages. This book is really aimed at beginners. Luckily for me, I was one. Since I purchased this book a few months ago, I've made three sites using Textpattern and they've all been a hit with my clients. The admin interface is superbly easy to use and I love the clean XHTML. So, in conclusion, buy this book if you're wanting a beginner's guide to Textpattern, but do not buy if you already know your way around as a lot of this content may be redundant for you. User review Good for beginners? For me, disappointing I'd have liked to give this book more stars, because I do love Textpattern, but I just didn't get enough out of it. I don't consider myself an expert, but I've been using Textpattern for a couple of years. I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but mostly what I got was a validation that Yes, I'm doing this-or-that correctly or the most efficient way. I didn't gain a lot of new knowledge or tricks, except for the (small) section on plugins. So this book might be good for Textpattern beginners, but even then most of the information presented is in the very complete Textpattern wiki, or elsewhere online. So I'm glad this book was published, to promote Textpattern, but for me it was a slight disappointment. User review Great resource Textpattern solutions is a great resource for those looking to learn how to use this excellent Open Source CMS. The example site (Buzzbomb) is not quite as linear as I would have hoped and doesn't quite function like you would expect a tutorial to, but I was able to follow along with a little help from the TXP forums. Regardless, the book serves as a great launching pad to get into the nuts and bolts of the cms and begin creating your own sites using TXP. It is also the only book out there on the subject, so the choice is either to use this book, or to muddle through the online resources (which you will need anyway). The book certainly cuts down the learning curve (which isn't that steep, really) and gives you the tools you need to start using the cms with more confidence. User review Poorly written book I have been reading the e-book version and I am very dissapointed with this book. I needed a simple CMS for a 3 page site, and wanted an alternative to Jooma! which seemed overkill for this. After doing some research I decided to use Texpattern due to its simple core, with this book as a guide. What can I say? The book is so poorly written that I am seriously considering to just use Joomla! The authors use a sample site approach to illustrate how to use Textpattern. This usually is a great approach to learning, except they do an aweful job of it. The illustrations are never on the same page as the explanations. And instead of a clear and concise step by step approach (install this file here, modify it there,,.), authors dwell into lengthy passages including jokes and useless analogies, that by the time you wake up, you realized you missed some vital step which always seem to get lost in this verbosity. Usually actual instruction is merely mentioned or not clearly indicated. In comparison, Building Websites with Joomla, is a much better text that makes Joomla! (a far more complex CMS than Texpattern) easy to understand. If anything, `Textpattern Solutions` has made a potentially easy CMS become a nuisance to learn. You will be better off reading the online documentation. Other books on PHP |
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