Know PHP, but need to learn Drupal?

From our viewers:"I love buildamodule.com and often recommend it to people who are trying to learn more or are just starting out with Drupal 7 development."

"So far I am very impressed. I'm a new developer and I really enjoy how clear and well thought out these videos are so far. Thank you!"

For the developer, Drupal provides a framework of APIs that will let you do some pretty amazing things with minimal code. But, to use the APIs and utilities that come with Drupal, you need to be able to put a number of pieces together. To build a form, for example, you need to be familiar with the Form API, you need to know how render arrays work, you may need to get familiar with Drupal hooks, and to build dynamic forms, you also need to understand what's happening in the back end.

Once you know your stuff, building a form in Drupal is trivial. But, putting those pieces together the first time can be tricky. And that goes for any of the Drupal APIs.

If you want to become a Drupal developer, Build a Module.com is a great place to begin. Training companies are using Build a Module videos to enhance their in-person trainings, development shops are using it to train their developers in an affordable, reliable way. Technical departments in major companies and educational institutions are using it for ongoing education and reference. Why? Because it's comprehensive, it's well organized, and each concept or technique is split up into digestible, short videos, so it's easy to fit into any schedule. Chances are you're having to juggle learning with actual client or company work, and being able to squeeze in a couple of videos here and there can be invaluable.

Not only is Build a Module.com set up perfectly for linear-style learning, but it's a great reference library. Each video is clearly labeled so if you're looking to figure out something specific, you can do a quick search on the home page and pull up a list of tutorials to help you solve your problem.

Are you completely new to Drupal?

If you're new to Drupal in general, you may want to begin with the Build Your First Drupal 7 Website, which will take you through the process of building a fairly simple website from start to finish. Even though we won't stretch your abilities as a developer, it helps to understand how the interface works and what the critical parts are when it comes to piecing together a site from the front end.

Being familiar with this material will enhance your ability as a back-end developer because you'll learn much about how Drupal operates, what the key terminology is, and how to leverage commonly used modules and site building techniques that may actually save you work on the back-end.

Are you ready to dive into Drupal development?

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.

If you need to work with 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.

In this collection, 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.

This collection also includes several tutorials on using the Komodo editor for managing code and working with templates.

Need to modify the look and feel of your site?

If you feel comfortable with basic Drupal development and 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. Even though you may not be a designer, 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 (which you have already), 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 with the theming layer like a pro.

Need to work with file or 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.

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!

Know PHP, but need to learn Drupal?

Are you completely new to Drupal?

Are you ready to dive into Drupal development?

Need to modify the look and feel of your site?

Need to work with file or asset management?

Mobile?