The Barry North Joomla Book makes an excellent reference and a very good introduction to using and deploying Joomla. My only criticism is that it is printed in Black & White and most of the diagrams of screen captures were from color screens. The gray scale conversion often results in very faint diagrams.

The contents, however a clear and easy to understand. The author has chosen an excellent middle ground between too much detail for computer newbies, and too concise an approach for the gurus. I found it best to read it in conjunction with on line documentation, when I can make pencil or highlighter comments on the printed page and also use the hard copy book to read when I am away from the computer. It augments not replaces, on-line reference or tutorial material.

I have no hesitation to recommended it and am glad that I bought my copy.

Your book has given me all the tools needed to build my websites in a very effective manner. Your writing approach is very easy to understand and it's like as if you were sitting beside me and showing me all the steps.



You have taught me a lot with your book, and I just wanted to personally thank you.



Thanks again for the education...because of you, I was able to self teach myself Joomla!!!!!!



- Jeddy

excellent book that covers everything you would not find out anyway...

Barrie North's book has been an excellent primer and instruction manual to Joomla! His guide helped me create an excellent Joomla site, leading me to think not only about design and content. His guide showed that the structure of a Joomla site is just as important to its usefulness.

We need more books like this in other good stuffs. Perhaps, you should write one. Check this out when you decide to do it: http://www.lulu.com/content/983754

I ordered your book this morning and finished it this evening. In my 20+ years in the IT industry I have rarely experienced such a finely crafted, relevant and information-packed book. I'm new to Joomla, but not to CMS systems (We implement the top CMS for Fortune 500 clients) I've spent the last several weeks scouring the Joomla industry for solutions for my daughter's site. I'm accustomed to professional quality documentation, but, up until today, have not found anything coming even close to your book. It is truly outstanding. Within the first 15 minutes of cracking the book, I new I hit the goldmine. You have done a marvelous job.

There are quite a few books on Joomla out there, but face it, this is the only one you'll really need. Mr. North does an excellent job explaining Joomla in a way that's easy to comprehend, interesting and fun to read. Mr. North is a well-respected member of the Joomla community and has contributed greatly to the project.


Honestly, I've read almost every Joomla book out there. And when it came down to it, I only really learned Joomla from the tutorials on Mr. North's site, compassdesigns.net . Now, all of that information is present in one neat guide. Even at twice the price, it'd still be worth it.

Hey Barrie,

Great book! I find it quite helpful.

All the best,

Bobby Earnest

I have not received either of the two orders I had from Compass Design via Paypal. First order was 5-1-2007, 2nd order was 5-30-2007. via Lulu

What's happening with the orders?

Disappointed, Emily Diggles, PO Box 592, Bodfish CA 93205
No mail delivery at home. If sending by UPS, etc. 748 S. Alpine Bodfish.

G'day Barry,

I congratulate you on an exceptional piece of work! I've learnt more in just the few hours since I printed out the
Joomla Admin Manual than I was able to find out / learn in more than a week of trolling the internet - and I'm only at the close of Chapter #3 altho I was able to "skim" the content as I printed it.

Concise, well thought out and well laid out, without techno-babble, it is clear and easy to comprehend, should be a mandatory item in every library on the planet, and I have no hesitation in recommending your product to all and sundry.

In fact, as
Global Moderator for
Noah's Classifieds Unofficial Support Web site - Noah's Classifieds user to user support website and forums - I have amended my SIG FILE to include
Joomla Admin Manual.
If you were looking for a slogan or motto, I'd have to suggest "Excellence in Progress"


Most sincerely
Mal. P. Bailey, Secretary
Flinders Sub Branch,
National Servicemens Association of Australia
7 - 15 Walter Av
Mitchell Park
SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5043
Phone (618) 8357-6575 International
Phone (08) 8357-6575 Local
Email: malrota1@isp.net.au
Home Pages
http://www.flindersnashos.org/
http://www.flindersnashos.org/gazette/index.html

This book taught me everything I needed to know to build my first Joomla site. The manual is very thorough and thoughtfully written.

The author does not go into too much detail about installation and does not dissect Joomla. He refers readers back to the official Joomla guide. I had no problem with this, and found it easier to just focus on the minimum I need to know to get the job done.

I work with a marketing team, and I passed this manual down to them so they could personally add and edit the site copy. It saved me training time, and now we are all on the same page, working efficiently as a team.

I'd love to read an intermediate/advanced Joomla manual from the same author. My fingers are crossed that he'll put something out eventually!

This book is the most comprehensive Joomla guide I've yet encountered. It goes over almost every aspect of successfully developing and running Joomla based websites. It's easy to read, well-illustrated, and is a great reference even for experienced Joomla users.

This book is well worth buying. I'd say that between this book and his website's tutorials, Barrie North taught me how to use Joomla.

Most technical books aren't written by true teachers. And they're written in a style that's not user friendly.

This book is rare: very well written in easy-to-comprehend English. Excellent graphics and pullquotes to guide you along. Even a handy "The least you need to know" at the end of each chapter.

I can heartily recommend this manual to anybody who wants a firm grasp of the Joomla! CMS.