Posted By toddmain on 22 Jul 2007 7:52 PM
Hey Terp, I'm new to DNN as well, just starting. Mind if I ask you some questions?
How long did it take you to get this far?
What did you buy vs. build (modules, skins, etc.)?
What were some of the biggest challenges you had?
Just asking for some friendly pointers and real-world just-in-time advice.
It's taken longer than I would like to admit, as I am coming into DNN with no ASP.net, JS, VB, SQL, C#, C+++++
No experience whatsoever, so I struggle to do any sort of customization and get it to do what I want it to do. It's taken me more than 100 posts in the DNN forums, too.
My next project should go much more smoothly, as I am learning my way around. I went into this with no real game plan either, but will wire-frame the site out on paper next time...pages to include..contents for each page...an itemized list of exactly what the site will have on each page, etc. I can't even stomach how many times I added a page, spent time playing with it, then had a better idea. The database is a perfect case-in-point and still haven't decided how I want to do it, so half finished (I have the dynamic action events done, though, but not without validation issues).
As far as modules, I tried a myriad of free modules, but few did what they were supposed to do. I used John Mitchell's Page Blaster (
free, but also offers a more powerful version I am going to spring for in the not-too-distant future) for the http compressions; I bought the skin ($80 clams, which is more than I wanted to spend and probably would get a cheaper one next time and learn a bit more skinning); I bought a forms module from Datasprings (Dynamic Forms, which does what it is supposed to do. I was waiting for the XMod 5.0 release, but given the delays, I could no longer wait.
Ventrain had a few modules that worked and use their content rotator and child links on my test site and will move live soon...added their messenger system to the forums page, which also works as advertised. I signed up with one of their hosting affiliates, so got all those for free...
Biggest challenge is the SQL/database wired up to my forms...figuring out how to get the data in and out...validations...regular expressions...al foreign to me. Installation wasn't exactly plug-and-play, either, which is led me to Lee's site...couldn't have got it working properly without the videos. Basically, I struggle with everything except dropping the module on the page and adding content...from webconfig entries to editing files using VS 2005...has been a difficult road for the newbie.
Also, a big time-sink coming into this new was the early stages and learning the functionality of all the core modules..would watch some of Lee's videos, then create a development page and dropped ever single one on the page and played...and decided whether or not I had a use for it. The ones I thought I could use, I would play around and try to get it to do what I wanted to do...so most of my time has been spent learning the core software, which is why I hope the next site takes a couple of weeks, given that I now know enough to be dangerous (but still don't know what I am doing). ;)
I also wasted a lot of time pingging around from topic to topic with no real plan; one day I am researching how to create static privacy and terms pages (got them created, but still need to figure out how to hard code the link in the skin) and the next spent with SEO research...then would bounce to compressions and site performance...then the next day spent trying to figure out how to move the captcha in the registration (when you enter the code, then select a region, the post back will reset the page and thus reset the captcha, requiring you to enter the code again, which bugs the hell out of...removed it, as never figured it out). In short, I had no plan, which was the biggest lesson learned.
For the next project, I plan to:
1.) Clean install of DNN
2.) Do the XHTML and other clean-ups per Lee's video.
3.) Get the DNN shell ready to build on
4.) Wire frame the site on paper; figure out the navigation, internal link structure, etc
5.) On each wire frame, I will write my title, keywords, description, and contents for the page (again, all on paper first)
6.) Once the site is done on paper, I will then start the build knowing a little more than the last time.
I am also trying to develop a proverbial toolbox of core modules and commercial modules I'll use on each site...so can install the barebones core modules, my commercial ones needed, the skin, and try to cut down on the number I install, play with, remove, etc...so I can hit the ground running on each subsequent site with minimum 'playtime.'