Drupal is a powerful tool for building amazingly scalable websites quickly and simply. The use of multimedia in Drupal has posed challenges to many users and developers of all abilities. Drupal Multimedia addresses the main questions regarding how to implement video, image, and audio content in a way that is elegant for the developer, as well as the end user. The language of the book is straight to the point, and provides a framework to practice building an assortment of multimedia sites using a variety of modules in the context of test or example sites.
I have used many of the modules that Aaron Winborn makes use of in the book and have had my own difficulties them. It is very helpful that he dissects each module and describes, in detail, what configurations work best and also provides code to make modules work differently or better. This information will save you time in trial and error and fills in the gaps sometimes present in the existing documentation of these modules.
Changing the way items are displayed is not always a simple task in Drupal. Drupal Multimedia tackles display overrides over the course of an entire chapter. It is important to know where to go to change the CSS of your page, and what modules and tools are best implemented to determine which theme functions and CSS information to alter. This by far was the most understandable treatment of theme overrides that I have read. The language is clear, and takes one step at a time using Firebug for Firefox and the Developer Module for Drupal.
Drupal Multimedia is an excellent book for anyone who needs to have more control over media in their Drupal websites. If you have any question about how to use or extend available contributed modules, this is your book. If you want to be able to tweak your theme output in your media site, get this book. Drupal Multimedia is a needed reference that is a powerful resource for the Drupal user.
Nicole Bluto
Drupal Developer and User
L.A. Drupal Member
Comments
Rewriting the book w/ the Drupal Dojo
Aaron and some of the other media gurus have been working on some major improvements over the past few weeks and we've created a Media Ninja Class to facilitate collaboration and get others involved.
As producer of this class, we can definitely count on some media-centric sprints and events happening on a local level.
Gus Austin
PepperAlley Productions
Gus Austin