You can easily hook into the validation process by implementing [`hook_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id)`][1] or it's cousin [`hook_form_FORM_ID_alter()`][2]. There you can inspect the `$form` variable, find out where the array of validation functions is, and perform `array_unshift()` on it.


You could also use the form alter hooks to modify the [`#required`][3] property of your title field, therefore preventing further validation errors down the line.

Don't forget that in order for your `array_unshift()` operation to be successful, the form needs to be passed by reference to your hook, or else you would only be modifying a local copy of the form variable. It's very easy to forget adding the ampersand `&` in front of `$form` in the hook implementation. i.e. ...`& $form`...


  [1]: http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/modules--system--system.api.php/function/hook_form_alter/7
  [2]: http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/modules--system--system.api.php/function/hook_form_FORM_ID_alter/7
  [3]: http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer--topics--forms_api_reference.html/7#required