Practical Liferay is a non-technical book that explains the capabilities of Liferay and how to create a portal using its out-of-the- box components. It provides an idiots introduction to what a portal is and then takes you through the various admin screens and how to use the applications/portlets available. It does not discuss how to develop portlets and just briefly mentions how to extend Liferay with hooks.
I don't recommend this book because:
- Already outdated – Although the book was published in 2009, it covers Liferay version 5.1 and there are already 2 newer releases (5.2 and 6.0) available. There are enough differences between the versions that make the step by step instructions useless.
- No depth – The book provides little insight into the design or features of the Liferay that you can't pick up by exploring Liferay itself.
I think this is more equivalent to a Liferay for dummies and suited more for non-technical administrator who wants step by step instructions on getting a portal setup – of course it doesn't cover how to do this end to end. I would recommend starting with the guides Liferay provides: the Liferay administration guide and development guides.
