Need to learn Drupal but don't have the time?

From our viewers:"I like that the individual videos are so short, easy to tuck in a video when needing a break from other work."

"I gave you a shoutout at our recent [city name] DUG meetup. Someone mentioned [other video provider], but I made the comment that your videos cover a better set of technical info for D7 with great short videos that are easier to take time to watch. I think I learned about you by word of mouth at DrupalCon Chicago. I was blown away when I saw your site."

If you've got a day job and maybe a family (and maybe even a life), then you're probably finding that setting aside the time to learn Drupal just isn't happening as fast as you'd want.

Well, I designed Build a Module.com specifically with you in mind. Here's what I mean:

Each video is short and focused, usually from 2-10 minutes long. This means that if you used two 10 minute breaks a day to watch the videos, you'd be halfway through our biggests collections within a month.
The site tracks which videos you've completed, so you can easily mark progress even if you're watching videos irregularly over a long period of time.
The tutorials are in video format, which gives you enough context so that even if you don't have the ability to follow along on your own site, you can absorb a lot of the content anyway. I know a lot of our viewers watch videos when they're traveling.

Because they videos are split up so cleanly, it is easy to quickly refer back to concepts that you might need a refresher for later on. You can even build a custom playlist of important material to review the next time you're able to sit down and plug away at a few videos.

If any of that sounds like it helps solve the time issue, then read on to learn about the content. There's a lot of it becauase in Drupal, there's a lot of material to cover. But I guarantee that you won't find a source that will help you learn more efficiently than the video collections on this site.

Are you completely new to Drupal?

Despite it's name, Build a Module.com is an excellent resource even if you're totally new to Drupal or web site building in general. The Build Your First Drupal 7 Web Site collection contains over 200 videos (11 hours) to take you through the process of building a fully functioning Drupal web site from the ground up.

As you may have discovered already, Drupal is fairly deep. If you have a difficult time wrapping your mind around Drupal, you're not alone. Because it solves so many of the problems that site builders of all levels face, it means there is a lot of functionality to get familiar with, and a lot of moving pieces that all connect in unique ways.

A great way to begin to understand Drupal is to just dive in and start building a site, clicking around and trying to figure out how everything works. But an even better way is to look over the shoulder of an experienced site builder and watch them accomplish common tasks like building a contact form, adding new menu items or adding new fields to a content type.

Need to learn how to code for Drupal?

If you're comfortable with Drupal from the front end and are ready to dive into development, the Drupal 7 Development Core Concepts collection is the best place to begin. Both the Working With Files in Drupal 7 and Drupal 7 Theming Essentials build on this core set. We start the collection by building simple modules to get a feel for how a module is structured, and then step through several practical examples that leverage Drupal's various APIs and data types.

For example, we build a page view tracker for users (leveraging the Database API, blocks and the menu system), we add autocomplete to the default search form (using hooks and the Form API) and demonstrate how to control user access and work with nodes and node displays. The collection wraps up with an extensive chapter on working with jQuery and JavaScript that shows you how to work with jQuery, integrate dynamic content loading with Ajax and lots more.

Need to modify the look and feel of a site?

If you need to learn how to adjust the look and feel of Drupal, then the Drupal 7 Theming Essentials collection is a great one to dive into. In it, we walk you through a ton of practical theming techniques, including how to override the page, block and node template files.

We build a theme from scratch, create a sub-theme and show you how to completely override an existing theme. Knowing how to translate a design to a theme is a tremendously useful skill, and one that's particularly challenging because it requires basic PHP development skills, comfort with CSS and HTML structures, and a clear understanding of Drupal's theming layer. By the time you get done with this series, you'll be able to work on the theming layer like a pro.

Need to work with files and asset management?

The Working With Files in Drupal 7 collection is a comprehensive set of videos that walk you through how to work with file management in Drupal, building on a number of the concepts and techniques demonstrated in Drupal 7 Development Core Concepts. Specially, we cover how to deal with uploaded files, how to track file usage in a database, how to use the private file system to restrict usage to certain files, and how stream wrappers work.

To demonstrate these concepts, we build a simple image gallery with both managed and unmanaged files (if you don't know what those are, you will after you watch the videos!). If you're going to be building modules or components that deal with files, this is a critical collection to review.

Need to develop in Drupal 6?

The Drupal 6 Development and Tools collection covers much of the same material that the Drupal 7 Development Core Concepts collection does, but for Drupal 6. We walk through how to build a simple module, how to build forms using the Form API, how to work with JavaScript files write secure code. We also show you how to automate the testing of your site with Selenium and SimpleTest, and show you how to use a PHP debugger.

A membership is an affordable way to get access to the entire video library, streaming on the Build a Module.com site. You get access both to the existing video tutorials and new ones as they come out, and new videos are usually added every week.

As a member, you also get access to other resources, including:

Automatically tracking which videos you've completed
Downloadable source code to follow along
The ability to build playlists of videos you want to track

Memberships start at just $23 / month.

If you'd like to view the videos offline or want to view them at a higher resolution than you see on the site, then purchasing a download is a great option. Downloads can be imported into any media management software, like iTunes, to sync with tablets (they look great on an iPad) and other mobile devices.

Downloads come in Standard and High Definition formats. The Standard format is what you see streaming on the site. It's a perfect resolution (960 x 600) for mobile devices. The High Definition format is recorded at full resolution (1280 x 800) and at a much smoother frame rate, so it's nicer when using a computer monitor to view.

DVDs contain both the Standard and High Definition formats of the videos, so you can use them freely on mobile devices AND high-resolution monitors. They also include the resource pack on-disk (with free upgrades available on the site) so they're an all-in-one package. A DVD is also nice for a hands-on library, since you can easily stack it next to your other reference material.

If you have a slow or unreliable internet connection, a DVD can also save you some trouble since the downloads can be rather large.

DVDs are also shipped for FREE worldwide!