A few months back, I was sent a review copy of Drupal 5 Themes by Ric Shreves from Packt Publishing. I have been thumbing through it since, and despite some odd editing I have found it to be very easy to read. The examples strongly illustrate concepts through out.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters which reinforced concepts that I already grasped providing very basic Drupal management and configuration and discussing what makes a Drupal theme. It goes on to illustrate setup and configuration. Chapter 3 looks at Theme engines--in depth for PHPTemplate and then touches on other engines. Chapter 4 explores style sheets. Chapter 5 looks at intercepts and overrides. Chapter 6 covers modifying existing themes using Zen primarily as the example theme. Chapter 7 explains the process to create a new theme from scratch. Finally Chapter 8 covers forms. Each chapter has a concise summary that re-iterates what was learned in during the chapter.

I appreciated that some effort was put into explaining how cascading operates in CSS--a touch that will definitely help folks who are new to the sphere and made following parts of the book much more accessible.

There is a form to download a copy of the sample files in the book. When you put in your request, an automatic email will be sent to you--be patient, it will take a few minutes for it to get to you. The email will contain a link to a ZIP file containing the files.

Interestingly, there wasn't any information on two tools that I was taught back in the days of 4.x--CCK and Views. This seems to me to be an oversight given the prevalence of sites using CCK and Views.

This book is terrific for a beginner who is getting his or her feet wet in Drupal theming. It makes for a strong reference for themers with more experience as well. I've got to say, that it has inspired me to dig deeper into the theme layer of Drupal and has provided me with insight that helps me to understand what our themers at work are engaged in.

All in all, I enjoyed the read and can recommend it. Now onto Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6!