In its relatively short life, Drupal has had a tremendous impact on the landscape of the Internet. As a web content management system, Drupal has enabled the creation of feature- and content-rich web sites for organizations large and small. As a web application framework, Drupal is changing the way that people think about web application development. When I experienced the power of the Drupal platform for the first time, I knew that it was something more than just another content management solution. When I saw how easily and quickly I could build feature-rich web sites, I shifted gears and focused my entire career around Drupal.

I’m often asked the question, “What is Drupal?” The short answer is Drupal is an open source web content management system that allows you to quickly and easily create simple to complex web sites that span everything from a simple blog to a corporate web site, a social networking web site, or virtually anything you can dream up. What you can build with Drupal is limited only to your imagination, the time you have to spend with the platform, and your knowledge about Drupal’s capabilities—which is the impetus behind this book.

As an open source platform, Drupal’s community is constantly improving the platform and extending the functionality of the core platform by creating new and exciting add-on modules. If there’s a new concept created on the Web, it’s likely that there will be a new Drupal module that enables that concept in a matter of days. It’s the community behind the platform that makes Drupal what it is today, and what it will become in the future. I’ll show you how to leverage the features contributed by the community, making it easy for you to build incredible solutions with minimal effort.

The very act of picking up this book is the first step in your journey down the path of learning how to use Drupal. If you will walk with me through the entire book, you’ll have the knowledge and experience to build complex and powerful Drupal-based web sites. You’ll also have the foundation necessary to move beyond the basics, expanding on the concepts I cover in this book.

Learning Drupal is like learning every new technology. There will be bumps and hurdles that cause you to step back and scratch your head. I hope the book helps smooth the bumps and provides you with enough information to easily jump over those hurdles. I look forward to seeing your works on the Web and hope to bump into you at an upcoming DrupalCon.

I will end on a note of carefree abandon—learn to steal! Once you’ve learned the pieces of the puzzle and how to combine them, there is very little new to invent. Every new idea you discover is a mere permutation of the old ideas. And ideas are free! Every cool feature discussed on TV shows or presented in the brochures or web sites of commercial HA companies can be taken, adapted, and implemented with the information presented here using very little effort. And then