Part 2 of an 11-part review of Drupal 6 Themes. by Ric Shreves

If I were to describe chapter 2 with one phrase I would say, “Too much!” As I was reading it, I realized that it would have been better written as two chapters, not one. Using the table of contents, I counted the average number of pages in each chapter; the average chapter is 15-25 long. Chapter 2 is 39 pages long, which is 15-24 pages longer than the average chapter. You might be thinking to yourself, “Gosh Brian, why are you being so fussy?” Let me tell you why.

Chapter 2 completely ended my moment and enthusiasm for completing this book. I had set a goal to read this book at a pace of one chapter per day. Pretty reasonable, don’t you think? Well, I wasn’t able to finish Chapter 2 in one sitting, or two sittings… rather it took me three sittings over three days to finish it! In general, I prefer books that have a regular rhythm. And, when it comes to educational books, I prefer the information in small chunks, not large ones.

I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Here is an outline of Chapter 2:

Finding Additional Themes (p. 31)
Installing and Additional Theme (p. 35)
Configuring a Theme (p. 40)
  - Theme-Specific Configuration Options (p. 40)
  - Color Picker (p. 42)
  - Enable/Disable Page Elements (p. 43)
  - Logo Settings (p. 44)
  - Shortcut Icon Settings (p. 45)
  - Global Configuration Settings (p. 45)
Managing Modules and Blocks (p. 47)
  - The Module Manager (p. 47)
  - The Blocks Manager (p. 49)
    - Configuring Individual Blocks (p. 51)
      - Block Title (p. 52)
      - User Specific Visibility Settings (p. 53)
      - Role Specific Visibility Settings (p. 53)
      - Page Specific Visibility Settings (p. 53)
    - Adding PHP to Blocks (p. 54)
Theming in Action: Dressing up Garland (p. 56)
  - Set the Color Scheme (p. 58)
  - Set Page Elements (Toggle Display Settings) (p. 58)
  - Upload Logo (p. 59)
  - Global Site Information (p. 60)
  - Enable Modules (p. 61)
  - Manage Blocks (p. 62)
  - Add Some Dummy Content and Links (p. 64)
  - Set Access Levels (p. 65)
  - Create a Custom Block (p. 65)
  - Set Block Visibility (p. 67)
Uninstalling Themes (p. 68)
Summary (p. 68)

On Page 47, there was a rather unnatural shift from talking about themes to talking about modules. Considering the first half of the chapter was able theme configuration, they probably could have done a better segue to modules and blocks. Or, better yet, group that portion (pg. 47-55) with the latter half of the chapter that talked about modules and blocks (pg. 61, 62, 65).

The chapter did a poor job with explaining how to do some the exercises. It was like certain portions of the chapter were an afterthought and written in a completely different frame of mind. It made overly-optimistic assumptions about the reader’s level of understanding. This was apparent on pages 64 and 65 with the “Add Some Dummy Content and Links” and the “Create a Custom Block” section.

Chapter 2 Grade Card:
Content Usefulness: B+
Content Organization: C-
Spelling & Grammar: B+ (1 spelling mistake)
Hands-on Practice: B+
Code Examples: A+
Overall: B

Next up, Working with Theme Engines.