Some people will design the functionality of their site around the built-in capabilities of the extensions that are available.  Others will determine the functionality they need for their site, get extensions that are close to their requirements, and then customize the the extensions until they get exactly what they want.  This book is a must-read for the latter group.

Joomla! 1.5x Customization is the type of book I would not read cover-to-cover.  I skip around to the chapters and sections that are relevant to me.  The first chapter and a half I skipped over, which discusses web architecture, the skills needed to customize Joomla, and setting up a local environment (eyes glazing over).

That being said, there are some very juicy chapters which answers the questions everyone asks when building a site.

The first thing every newbie asks is how to modify their template.  It's in here!  Most readers will want to jump straight to this section.

SEO, marketing, promotion, and tracking your site's statistics are the next things on most website owners' minds.  And how to make money from your site? Here are some good explanations of how this works in the real world.

Having a plan and goals are essential to building a website.  (Would you start building a house without a floorplan?)  While I would not have expected a planning discussion in a book like this, I am glad to see it here, as it is a step in the process that is mostly overlooked and not always valued.

While I have my own set of "Essential Extensions" that does not exactly match the author's, this list and the instructions on how to use them will be extremely helpful to the newbie.

Overall, I recommend this book as an essential handbook for both beginner and intermediate Joomla! developers.

If you wish to order the book, please note that Joomla! is a part of Packt Publishing's Packt Open Source Royalty Scheme. For every Joomla book Packt sells, they pay a royalty directly to the Joomla! Project. In addition, electronic copies of Packt's books available on www.packtpub.com.