So far this tool is made for WordPress, Drupal & Joomla, but has an HTML export as well. I've seen a lot of requests on their forum to add a DNN output, but we'll see what they do.

For $130 (and some elbow grease to scrub the HTML for DNN conversion) it looks like it might be a pretty cool tool for those of us who are "creatively challenged" but still what to take a stab at making our own skins.

You can download a trial version at www.artisteer.com. The trial is not time limited, it just stamps "TRIAL" all over the page.

What do all you "professionals" think?

Hello,

That's interesting, I have not tested it, but have looked round the site and read the reviews, this one is interesting:
http://www.topnotchthemes.com/blog/...od-be-true

You should be able to convert what is output into a DNN skin - check out this tutorial:

• How to create a DotNetNuke CSS skin from an XHTML template – part 1
• How to create a DotNetNuke CSS skin from an XHTML template – part 2

Please note that Artisteer has released support for DotNetNuke today (Beta).
It now exports ready to use DNN skins.

http://www.artisteer.com/?p=news

Thank you,
Paul Hudson
Artisteer Team

This is a very interesting announcement!

I'm loving this tool! I have some concerns with menu placement, but in 15 minutes of playing, I'm wowed! Let me be the first to request a review/walkthrough.

It would be great if you could give a review!  I suspect that you probably know more about it right now than any of the rest of us.

And, if you have created a DotNetNuke skin with it, please give a link, or even upload the skin here so that others might see it.

Hi,

I personally don't use DNN (yet), but created a few sample DNN skins (each took less than 10 minutes) if anyone would like to try. Hopefully they will work as this feature is still in Beta .
The skins include "ReadMe.txt" with basic instructions that mention an additional menu module, also provided below.

Sample 1: http://www.artisteer.com/support/DNNSample1.zip
Sample 2: http://www.artisteer.com/support/DNNNeonLights.zip
Sample 3: http://www.artisteer.com/support/DNNSimpleDesign.zip
Sample 4: http://www.artisteer.com/support/DNNWeb20.zip
Menu Module: http://www.artisteer.com/support/ArtMenu.zip


Paul Hudson
Artisteer Team

I suggest to use follow free PHP IDE - Codelobster PHP Edition for Drupal, Joomla and WordPress coding.

Hello, I've been using DotNetNuke for more then 3 years now. Allthough DNNCreative and the skinningtoolbox have been a tremendous help, i find Artisteer a most welcome solution to quickly develop very professional, great looking skins with a lot of room for customization. Sure, for the more "demanding ones" among us there is allways the possibility to tweek the skins. Nevertheless it saved me hours, if not days in developing skins in just a month i have been using Artisteer. Oh, forgot to mention: they do now support DotNetNuke export. Version 2.3.x offers skins with 18 (!) panes! If you only need 3, you can not tell the difference.... "a must have" i say for everyone who needs to create a skin. I even woull'd say: "you can't live without" if you create skins on a regular basis!

We've given Artisteer a a try and were very impressed at first look.

If all you want is a nice looking, simple website, then this tool is worth a look.

I'm not an expert, but it does have some limitations for which I've not found easy solutions:

1) No [LOGO] support. The logo that is on the skin is a background image and does not link back to the home page.

2) Very limited layouts for content. Basically 1 or 2 Columns.

3) No vertical menus. (reportedly on the way)

4) No import mechanism. Any changes outside of Artisteer are orphans.

For the moment, we've stopped using it except for very simple sites. An even for those we usually tweak the skins after exporting them.

Hi Bill,

I Agree with you that Artisteer has some disadvantages if you are a DotNetNuke skinning expert.
However, I believe this is the second release (currently version 2.2) with support for DNN, and they are doing a outstanding job!

And like you said: improvements are on the way!

Today i use Artisteer extensively for basic skinning.
Where needed i tweak.

the Logo support you are talking about is very easy to come by:
1. open "page.ascx"
2. look up < div class="art-Header" >
< div class="art-Header-png" >

I have tried Artisteer. IMHO it's a great help even for generating a starting point for more complex skins.
Static BG images, container icons, color selections, rounded corners, shadows, etc.. very impressive. Even if you were to take a generic design and 'pimp' it with your flash elements, and vertical menus this handles 80 - 90% of your coding. I give it a thumbs up..