Today marks a new day in Geogad’s open source adventure.  The day when I broke down and realized that I needed a book (a really physical paper book) to figure out Drupal.  I am certain that Drupal has a great community of people and a very active forum, but their documentation leaves a bit to be desired when you are a beginner.  The main issue is trying to sort out the meanings of their special vocabulary and how it corresponds to what you ultimately want to do with the site.  

My personal breakdown came in the form of Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress by Robert T. Douglass, Mike Little, and Jared W. Smith. I feel privileged just to have this book.  It seems to be the only Drupal book for sale in a 25-mile radius of the San Jose area.  I gave up with the libraries.  It seems that Drupal has not gotten on their radar screens yet.  I scanned through the book at the bookstore and have managed the get through the first few pages since getting back to my computer.  So far it is just what I needed.  Clear and easy to understand.  

The only points that I don’t understand at present are why they include phpBB and WordPress.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know that phpBB and WordPress are great open source solutions for building forums and blogs.  In fact, this blog is powered by the mighty WordPress.  But Drupal is supposed to include modules for forums and blogs. Are they not up to the standards of WordPress and phpBB?  I guess I will understand better as I read more.  

Stay tuned and wish me luck!  

Technorati tags: Drupal, Open Source , phpBB, WordPress