This invaluable reference guide for PHP developers extending or customizing Joomla! 1.5 is packed with expert advice and tips on all aspects of Joomla! programming illustrated by self-contained examples. The world's hottest open-source content management system, and winner of the 2006 Open Source CMS Prize, standard Joomla! does a great job managing website content; but its true power lies in its application framework, which facilitates creating sophisticated add-ons that extend Joomla! in virtually unlimited directions. If you've mastered the basics of creating Joomla! extensions using PHP, this book takes you to the next level, covering: best-practice design and coding for Joomla! components, modules, plugins, and other extensions; customizing page output; using JavaScript effects; using Web Services from within Joomla!; and ensuring your code is secure and error-free. A unique and comprehensive reference to the main areas of interest within the Joomla! framework is also included.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 10 Ratings

hardly "Mastering"... - 2009-01-22
Reviewer Rating:
Pros: gives some good overviews and dives deep into some concepts.
Cons: does not give adequate examples. It is definetly not an advanced book or "Mastering".

I returned the book.

Not the best for a beginner. - 2008-10-31
Reviewer Rating:
It's a good book. But it's got some short-comings that makes it not a complete reference for Joomla 1.5. The organization is a little bit fragmented. All the examples are snippets and are never complete listings. This makes it a difficult book to use for a brand new learning Joomla developer. If it was a complete reference tutorial, it being the only book that you would ever need, that newbies and experts alike could pick it up and gleam from it I would have given it a 5 stars. I would have given it a 4 if the Appendix that has a quick look up was clearer on what section your in and the section titles were more distinguishable. But it has produced a decent amount of answers to my periodic questions. It's a nice book to have but far from the only book you'll ever need on Joomla. So I gave it 3 stars.

Big puzzle - 2009-10-09
Reviewer Rating:
The author understands this subjects probably quit well.
He doesn't understand that the buyers of this book probably don't!
Explain the subject instead of show us how intelligent you are.

Must Have for Joomla Coders - 2009-02-27
Reviewer Rating:
Mastering Joomla 1.5 Extension and Framework -James Kennard

After whetting my appetite on LeBlancs book [Learning Extensions and frameworks], I decided to go further into detail. This book is not for the novice, but is for the experienced Joomla coder. That does not detract at all from its rich details on building your own extensions. Its explanations help you form new insight into how Joomla works at the core. This can only help you with at a minimum customizing Joomla.

It has already proved worth the price in the work I am currently doing in modifying Joomla components for more than one client. If you plan to do serious coding or need to know the inner workings of Joomla, you need this book.

Difficult comprehension, book is non-linear - 2009-02-26
Reviewer Rating:
I would not recommend this book for anyone wanting to develop Joomla!1.5 components, modules and extensions without first learning Object-Oriented PHP programming. While I do support Joomla!, I cannot support books written for it that are not meant for the average Joomla! user.
I do highly recommend it for Power PHP programmers not familiar with the Joomla!1.5 content management system. Prior to purchasing this book last year, I was more familiar with XHTML/CSS and not any server-side scripting language such as PHP. Now that I've learned PHP as a beginning web developer this book makes sense to me but only after reading and purchasing many PHP books.

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