DNN Creative Magazine for DotNetNuke

Making use of the jsTree Control in DotNetMushroom RAD for DotNetNuke

andyadmin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 10:30:00 GMT

In this tutorial we show you how to utilize DNM RAD’s abilities to utilize the inbuilt jsTree control to create functional jQuery based tree menus.

Working with Lists in DotNetMushroom RAD for DotNetNuke

andyadmin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:10:00 GMT

In this tutorial we show you how to utilize DNM RAD’s abilities to utilize pre-defined and custom lists for use within an application, this technique can save you hours of time that would otherwise have been spent creating tables and forms for entering list data.

Creating an Events Calendar for DotNetNuke using DotNetMushroom RAD

andyadmin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:50:00 GMT

In this tutorial we walk you through how to create a Calendar Application for your DotNetNuke website using DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer.

The calendar application will have the ability to add events via a form and then display them in a calendar.

Creating Charts Using DNM RAD 1.3 for DotNetNuke

creativehost — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:19:00 GMT

In this tutorial we show you how to create charts using DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer.

The new version of DNM RAD provides a simple to use but advanced control to create charts in a DNM RAD application. We walk you through step by step how to create the source tables followed by a line chart, a bar chart and a pie chart.

DotNetNuke User Registration Module Using DNM RAD

andyadmin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:27:00 GMT

In this tutorial we explain in detail how to create a user registration module using DotNetMushroom RAD. We show you how to create a User Registration Form in DNM RAD and automatically insert these user credentials into the DotNetNuke Users table.

New Features in DNM 01.20.00 for DotNetNuke

andyadmin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:58:00 GMT

In this tutorial we look at the new features of DNM RAD and walk you through how to create a new data source, creating a linked table, creating a direct query and we preview the new color coded editor in DNM RAD 1.2 for DotNetNuke.

How to implement a News Carousel Using DotNetMushroom RAD and JQuery

creativehost — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:34:00 GMT

In this tutorial we demonstrate how to create a News Carousel using the DotNetMushroom RAD Module, JQuery and the JCarousel plug-in.

This article is a continuation of the How to Implement Paging using DotNetMushroom RAD. We will be adding some new forms into the News Application using the DotNetMushroom RAD Module. Using JQuery and the JCarousel plug-in we will implement two News Carousel designs.

How to Implement Paging Using DotNetMushroom RAD

creativehost — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:22:00 GMT

In this tutorial we demonstrate how to add paging functionality using the DotNetMushroom RAD Module. We cover how to create, setup the properties, style, and add multiple paging controls to the same form.

This article is a continuation of the How to Style the News Application Built with DotNetMushroom RAD article. We will be adding paging controls to the News Application using the DotNetMushroom RAD Module.

Language Resource Files in DotNetMushroom RAD Applications

creativehost — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:50:00 GMT

In this tutorial we demonstrate how to make use of Resource Files using the DotNetMushroom RAD module for DotNetNuke in order to provide Multi Language functionality to the Forms.

This article is a continuation of the How to Implement Multi-Language Using DotNetMushroom RAD article. In the previous article, we discussed how DNM RAD handles Multi Language Data within Forms. However, in this article, we will be setting up the News Application to make use of Resource Files in order to provide Multi Language functionality to the Forms.

How to Implement Multi-Language Using DotNetMushroom RAD

creativehost — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:26:00 GMT

This tutorial demonstrates how to implement Multi-Language functionality using the DotNetMushroom RAD Module.

This article is a continuation of the How to Style the News Application Built with DotNetMushroom RAD article. We add Multi-Language features to the News Application via the RAD Module.

DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (RAD) is a new application builder for DotNetNuke. It was launched at OpenForce Europe’09. The scope of RAD is to allow a user or developer to build an application which is made up of tables, queries, and forms.

How to Style a DNN News Application Built with DotNetMushroom RAD

creativehost — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:17:00 GMT

This article is a continuation of the "How to Build a News Application with DotNetMushroom RAD" article . We demonstrate how to style the News Application via HTML and CSS.

The objective of this article is not a tutorial on HTML and CSS styling but rather on how HTML and CSS can be applied through the DotNetMushroom RAD.

DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (RAD) is a new application builder for DotNetNuke. It was launched at OpenForce Europe’09. The scope of RAD is to allow a user or developer to build an application which is made up of tables, queries, and forms.

How to Build a DotNetNuke News Module with DotNetMushroom RAD

creativehost — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:14:00 GMT

DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (RAD) is a new application builder for DotNetNuke. It was launched at OpenForce Europe this year. The scope of DNM RAD is to allow a user or developer to build an application which is made up of tables, queries, and forms.

This is a quick start guide to using DNM RAD. In this article we demonstrate how to create a table for news items, create a form to insert or edit news records, and display the results in another form.

DotNetNuke 5 Quick Start Guide - 6 Free Videos

creativehost — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:45:00 GMT

In this free video tutorial we provide a quick start guide to using DotNetNuke 5.

This tutorial will help you get started using DotNetNuke without getting into all of the finer details, once you've got to grips with this tutorial you can then explore the other video tutorials on DNN Creative Magazine and those tutorials will help you to get the most from your DotNetNuke portal.

The videos contain:

Video 1 - Introduction, Configuring and Securing Admin and Host User Accounts
Video 2 - Introduction to Admin Functions, How to Add a Module to the Page
Video 3 - How to Add a Text / HTML Module to the Page
Video 4 - How to Install and Configure the Links Module
Video 5 - How to Use Containers and Skins in DotNetNuke
Video 6 - Logo, How to Create Pages and Move Modules

Total Time Length: 59min 15secs

How to Install a Core Module in DotNetNuke 5 - Free Video

creativehost — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:42:00 GMT

In this Free tutorial we demonstrate how to install the DotNetNuke Core Module Extensions in DotNetNuke 5.

If you have used previous versions of DotNetNuke and you are wondering where the core modules have moved to, or if you are a beginner to DotNetNuke and would like to install the additional free core modules that come as default with DotNetNuke, this tutorial will provide all of the information you need.

Video 1 - How to install DotNetNuke Core Modules in DNN 5

Demonstration of core modules location in previous versions of DotNetNuke
DotNetNuke 5 extensions
How to install available extensions
How to install multiple DotNetNuke core modules at the same time

Time Length: 2min 46secs

How to Install a Module in DotNetNuke 5 - Free Video

creativehost — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:34:00 GMT

In this free tutorial we demonstrate how to install a standard module to DotNetNuke 5.

There are many modules available to extend the functionality of your DotNetNuke website, some of the modules require you to purchase them from websites, such as snowcovered.com and there are also many free modules available as well.

In this tutorial we demonstrate how to install a module using the Install Extensions method and also how to auto install a module using FTP.

The video contains:

Video 1 - How to Install a Module in DotNetNuke 5

Time Length: 11min 16secs

How to Install a Skin in DotNetNuke 5 - 2 Free Videos

creativehost — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:25:00 GMT

In this free video tutorial we demonstrate how to install skins and containers in DotNetNuke 5.

If you have used an earlier DotNetNuke version, the installation has changed slightly, or if you are a beginner to DotNetNuke this should help you get up to speed quickly.

The videos contain:

Video 1 - How to Install a Skin in DotNetNuke 5
Video 2 - How to Test a Skin, How to Auto Install a Skin

Total Time Length: 18min 14secs

LogicSpectrum DotNetNuke Website Design Interview

Richard Wootton — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:40:00 GMT

This is part of the How did they build it …? series of interviews.

This is an email interview with LogicSpectrum who have created these two sites:

http://www.germanera.com
http://www.logicspectrum.com

Subjects covered:

Design
Use of Flash
Menu modification
Modules used
Content structure

Dark Ritual - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

Richard Wootton — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:53:00 GMT

Dark Ritual is a free, tableless, fixed width, XHTML compliant website. This skin comes with 2 layouts in 2 versions:

Index 3 pane skin with text header
Index 3 pane skin with logo
Admin 1 pane skin with text header
Admin 1 pane skin with logo

It also comes with 3 containers:

h1 title
h2 title
transparent, no title container

Lazy Days - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

Richard Wootton — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Lazy Days is a free, tableless, W3C-compliant website design.This skin comes in 3 variations:

index – a 2 pane fluid skin
index_sub_menu - a 2 pane fluid skin with a sub menu
1 pane – a 1 pane fluid skin, suitable for the administration area in DotNetNuke

It also comes with 6 containers:

h1 title gradient
h1 title
h2 title gradient
h2 title
h3 title
transparent no title

Zenlike - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

Richard Wootton — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Zenlike 1.0 is a free, lightweight, tableless, fluid W3C-compliant website design. This skin comes in 2 different types:

index_with_logo - uses the logo from the admin menu / site settings
index - uses text for the site header which you can edit in the skin files

It also comes with 5 containers:

h4 title box
h4 title no bot line
h4 title with bot line
top pane h3 title
transparent no title

Bitter Sweet - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

Richard Wootton — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Bitter Sweet is a free, tableless, fixed width, XHTML compliant website design. This skin comes with 2 layouts in 2 versions:

Index 2 pane skin with text header
Index 2 pane skin with logo
Admin 1 pane skin with text header
Admin 1 pane skin with logo

It also comes with 3 containers:

h1 content pane
h2 right pane
transparent, no title container

Greenery - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

Richard Wootton — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Greenery is a free, tableless, W3C-compliant website design. This skin comes with 3 variations

greenery – index (main skin)
greenery – index_submenu (main skin with a sub menu in the right pane)
greenery – admin (single pane skin for use with admin pages)

It also comes with 2 containers:

h1 title
transparent, no title container

Internet Sharing – Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:59:00 GMT

This free XHTML / CSS website template is available to use without any limitations. It can be used on a non-commercial site as well as on a commercial one.

The skin contains six content panes:

Top pane
Content pane
Content left pane
Content mid pane
Content right pane
Right pane

And also comes with 6 containers:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
h3_lowercontent_panes
h3_right_pane
transparent, no title container

Curiously Green - Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:46:00 GMT

Curiously.green1.0 is a free, lightweight, tableless, W3C-compliant skin. This skin comes in 2 different types:

with_logo - uses the logo from the admin menu / site settings
no_logo - uses text for the site header which you can edit in the skin files

It also comes with 5 containers:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
transparent, no title container
box (a highlighted container)

FreeStyle – Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:42:00 GMT

FreeStyle is a free XHTML compliant pure CSS skin. This skin comes in 2 different types:

index_logo - uses the logo from the admin menu / site settings
index - uses text for the site header which you can edit in the skin files

It also comes with 4 containers:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
transparent, no title container

Summer Breeze – Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:39:00 GMT

Summer Breeze is a free XHTML pure CSS skin. This skin comes in 2 different types:

index_logo - uses the logo from the admin menu / site settings
index - uses text for the site header which you can edit in the skin files

It also comes with 4 containers:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
transparent, no title container

Andreas 09 – Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:35:00 GMT

Andreas 09 is a free XHTML/CSS skin. This skin comes with 3 different layouts and 7 colours:

3 panes
2 panes with the side menu on the left
2 panes with the side menu on the right

It also comes with 4 containers, they are automatically styled depending on the pane you insert them into:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
transparent, no title container

Andreas 01 – Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin

creativehost — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:31:00 GMT

Andreas 01 is a free XHTML/CSS skin. This skin comes with 3 different layouts:

3 panes
2 panes with the menu on the left
2 panes with the menu on the right

It also comes with 4 containers:

h1 container
h2 container
h3 container
transparent, no title container

How to select DOC TYPES in DotNetNuke 4.4.x - Video

creativehost — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:58:00 GMT

In the latest version of DotNetNuke 4.4 .x, a new function has been introduced which allows you to change the DOC TYPE of a document directly within a skin. This is essential for CSS skins.

The video covers:

How to switch DOC TYPES in DNN 4.4
Preparations
Viewing the current render mode
How to create a doctype.xml file
How DotNetNuke uses the doctype.xml file
Testing the new skin
Confirming standards compliance mode and quirks mode for the skins installed on the portal

Time Length: 9min
How to select DOC TYPES in DotNetNuke 4.4.x

How to fix the [DROPDOWNACTIONS] token bug in DotNetNuke 4.4.1

creativehost — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:51:00 GMT

In previous skinning tutorials, when working with pure CSS skins, we recommended to remove the Solpart Menu from a container and to use the [DROPDOWNACTIONS] token instead as it provides a performance benefit.

In the latest version of DotNetNuke 4.4.1 there is currently a bug with the [DROPDOWNACTIONS] token. There is however a simple fix ...
How to fix the [DROPDOWNACTIONS] token bug in DotNetNuke 4.4.1

Free DotNetNuke CSS Skin - 'Simple Red Leaf'

creativehost — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:47:00 GMT

(Updated March 2007 for DNN 4.4)

The aim of this skin is to provide a clean, simple, search engine friendly and accessible skin.

The layout is created using just CSS (no tables) and makes use of CSS for styling the fonts, menu etc.

The skin takes advantage of the features that CSS layout designs provide:

Accessibility, Flexibility, Print View, Search Engine Friendly, Small File Size, Browser Compatible, etc.

Reducing the DotNetNuke CSS file sizes

creativehost — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:46:00 GMT

(Updated March 2007 for DNN 4.4)

This tutorial outlines how you can reduce the overall size of your CSS files and therefore the page load time of your DotNetNuke portal by editing the CSS files.

It is possible to reduce the default.css file from 17K to 12K by using CSS shorthand techniques and editing the code so that it passes the W3C CSS Validation Test.

Example free CSS file included for download.
Reducing the DotNetNuke CSS file sizes

Software Piracy - A Small Business Epidemic

creativehost — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:53:00 GMT

Are you aware of the licenses for your DotNetNuke modules and skins? You may be using a module or skin illegally without realising. This article highlights the typical licenses used in DNN along with how protecting a modules code can help to sustain the DotNetNuke development community for the future.

Software Piracy – A Small Business Epidemic

Blogging - What is a blog?

creativehost — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:31:48 GMT

Information to help you get started blogging, from content, marketing, categories, RSS feeds and examples.

Blogging - What is a blog?

Blog Promotion - ‘Blog and Ping’ what is it anyway?

creativehost — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:15:24 GMT

How to promote your DotNetNuke blog using the blog directories and 'blog and ping'.

Blog Promotion - ‘Blog and Ping’

How to improve a DotNetNuke module (The Blog module)

creativehost — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:45:05 GMT

This article explains how to make changes to DotNetNuke modules varying their look-and-feel, as well as adding some fundamental behaviour. Explanation is done by example of the Blog module.

How to improve a DotNetNuke module (The Blog module)

DotNetNuke and Multiple Portals

creativehost — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:40:06 GMT

The portal system in DotNetNuke is one of its most powerful features. In this article we outline how the DotNetNuke portal system works and how it can save you money on your hosting bills.

We cover:

Standard Hosting Method
DotNetNuke Multiple Portal Method
DotNetNuke Portals, Parent and Child
Administration of Portals
Host control: Premium modules, skins, disk space

DotNetNuke and Multiple Portals

DotNetNuke Portal Considerations

creativehost — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

(When to use Multiple Portals / Parent / Child or create a new DotNetNuke installation)

To help you consider which type of portal you should create, or whether you should create a new DotNetNuke installation, we have created a PDF mind map diagram which you can download for free.

DotNetNuke Portal Considerations

How to Install DotNetNuke 4.3.x with SQL Server

creativehost — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 04:49:42 GMT

After completing this tutorial, you will have successfully downloaded the Install zip file, created a website, created the database and login for MSSQL 2000, setup the web.config file to work with the database, added an object qualifier (a prefix for all of your table names in the DotNetNuke database), and set up the installation so that you can do multiple installs of DotNetNuke.

In short, you will have a running DotNetNuke website that is ready to build out.

How to Install DotNetNuke 4.3.x with SQL Server

Using XMod with Active Forums to select Avatars

creativehost — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This tutorial explains how to enable registered users to customize their forum profile by selecting an avatar image from a selection of images stored in the portal files.

This is achieved by combining the ActiveForums module with the XMod Module. The tutorial outlines how we combined the two modules to work together.

Using XMod with Active Forums to select Avatars

How to Quickly Edit Module Titles and Text in DotNetNuke 3.3 and 4.3 - Video

creativehost — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 07:48:07 GMT

This free video tutorial demonstrates a new shortcut in versions 4.3 and 3.3 of DotNetNuke which enables you to quickly edit module titles and text in the Text / HTML module.

How to Quickly Edit Module Titles and Text in DotNetNuke 3.3 and 4.3

Introduction to Google Adsense, how to easily monetize your website

creativehost — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:01:39 GMT

In this article we give you an introduction to Google Adsense and provide some tips and resources for getting the most from Adsense on your websites. These tips will help you to improve your click-through-rate (CTR) and therefore your Adsense earnings.

Introduction to Google Adsense, how to easily monetize your website

Semantic code and header tags within DotNetNuke skins

creativehost — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This tutorial discusses the use of header tags and semantic code within DotNetNuke skins.

Using header tags can increase accessibility, enabling for instance speech browsers to understand the content of your pages, as well as the added benefit of enabling search engines to easily index your content. Header tags allow search engines to identify the topic of your website page, which should improve your search results.

The overall theme here is to allow various browser types / search engines to easily understand and interpret the content within your website pages and to create semantic code.

We analyze 5 pro websites for their design techniques and then apply these techniques to a DotNetNuke skin.

This tutorial is available as a 40 page PDF book.

DotNetNuke Skinning Toolkit

creativehost — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The Free DotNetNuke Skinning Toolkit is an additional resource website that has been created by DNN Creative Magazine as issue 10 of the magazine.

The 98 page Skinning Toolkit demonstrates all of the skin classes within DotNetNuke so that you can easily view, search and learn how to style the various elements within a DotNetNuke skin.

In particular learn how to style the Solpart Menu, TreeMenu, Module Settings Menu, FileManager, Wizard, Main DNN classes (breadcrumbs, login links etc.)

Introduction to CSS and inheritance in DotNetNuke skins

creativehost — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

One of the regular problems skin designers come across when creating their own skins is un-explained styles appearing in their designs.

This tutorial explains the various CSS files that are used within DotNetNuke and how inheritance works between each of the CSS files for styling your DotNetNuke skins.

Once you understand inheritance you can reduce the amount of code required to create a DNN skin and therefore decrease the load time of a page.

Free example CSS files are included for download.

The SolPart Menu Uncovered

creativehost — Tue, 02 May 2006 07:52:04 GMT

Contrary to popular knowledge, the SolPartMenu provides full capabilities for options including root menus, child menus, vertical displayed menus and more. Knowing these flexibilities exist leads the designer into better and more adaptable website skins, as well as more robust and friendly navigation systems not ordinarily realized by most DNN users.

This article provides a deeper insight, as well as a few suggestions into the standard, yet not so well known, attributes of the SolPartMenu Skin Object.

DotNetNuke Quick Start Guide - 3 Video Tutorials

creativehost — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Version 2 released May 2006
Version 1 created August 2005

These free video tutorials are for beginners to DotNetNuke. They give you a quick overview of DNN with just enough information to get you going, without becoming lost in the full details.

These videos provides a foundation for getting started with DotNetNuke and will lead onto the other tutorials which provide more detailed explanations.

The DNN Quick Start Guide videos cover:

How to secure your DotNetNuke portal
Changing the passwords of the admin and host accounts
Explanation of the admin edit area, content panes and modules
Deleting modules from the Home Page
Inserting two Text / HTML modules to the page
Using the Text / HTML module to add text and images
Using the links module, adding links to the page
How to preview the DotNetNuke website
Using the image module
Changing the look of a DotNetNuke portal
Using Containers: Removing containers
How to change a container
How to change the skins for a DotNetNuke portal
How to change and upload a new logo
How to add pages
How to add sub menu and sub sub menu items
How to move modules around the page

Total Time Length: 40min 17secs

Tim O’Brien CSS Skin Design and Validation Interview

creativehost — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:31:39 GMT

This is part of the How did they build it …? series of interviews.

This is an email interview with Tim O’Brien from O’Brien IT who has created http://www.obrienit.se

This is an interesting website because it uses CSS for the layout of the website, rather than tables. At present, there are not many DotNetNuke websites that use CSS for the layout on commercial websites, so this is a particularly interesting website.

Even more interesting is that this site fully validates to the W3C standards. This is the first DNN site that I have come across that fully validates

Bad Practices when working with the Text / HTML module

creativehost — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This tutorial outlines what not to do when working with the Text/HTML module. We then outline the methods that you should use when adding content to the Text/HTML module.

This is a list of practices we have come across when beginners first use the Text/HTML module which you should try to avoid.

How to install the FCKEditor - Video Tutorial

creativehost — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This free video tutorial demonstrates how to install the FCKEditor. This editor can be used to replace the FreeTextBox editor that comes as standard with DotNetNuke.

The FCKEditor is a WYSIWYG text editor that allows you to add text and image content to your modules. The main module that you will use with the FCKEditor is the Text/HTML module.

I personally always replace the FreeTextBox editor with the FCKEditor as I find the FCKEditor to be more stable and reliable than the FreeTextBox editor. - Highly Recommended.

How to remove the Solpart menu from a container - part 9 – Video Tutorial

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:12:28 GMT

This is a continuation of our series on How to build a DotNetNuke website.

This video tutorial explains the simple steps for removing the default Solpart menu within a container and replacing it with a drop down list.

The main reason we need to remove the Solpart menu is because the Solpart menu is not compatible with a XHTML Transitional Doc Type.

We need to set up DotNetNuke to use a XHTML Doc Type so that we can successfully implement features such as:

Font-resizing
Pure CSS layout skins (no tables)

Time Length: 4min 13secs
Download Size: 4.2MB

How to Test a DotNetNuke Skin

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:42:55 GMT

It’s essential to test your DotNetNuke skin in a variety of configurations to ensure it is error free and compatible with as many browsers as possible.

This tutorial provides some of the key elements and tools that you can use to test your DotNetNuke skins.

Covering:

Images
Font Sizes
Web Developer Tools
Browser Testing
Validating Skins
W3C's Online Tools
Validating HTML via File Upload
Validating CSS via File Upload
Web Developer Tool and Conclusion

Browser Quirks, Standard Compliance modes and Doc Types

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:26:07 GMT

Quirks and Standards Compliance modes are the two methods that browsers can use to interpret your CSS. It’s one of the important considerations if you are implementing a pure CSS skin or using font-resizing techniques.

This tutorial covers:

Quirks and Standards Compliance modes
Switching modes
DOC TYPES Document Type Definition (DTD)
Which XHTML DTD is suitable for DotNetNuke?
How do we set DotNetNuke to use XHTML 1.0 transitional DTD?
Pros and Cons

The tutorial also includes a Default.aspx file for you to download so that you can quickly set your DotNetNuke installation to use XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

XHTML and best practice coding for skins and modules in DotNetNuke

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:13:15 GMT

This tutorial explains XHTML and how to improve your skin and module coding standards by implementing the XHTML rules. It covers:

Examples
Why bother with XHTML compliant code? What’s it all about?
How does this affect DotNetNuke?
The XHTML standards also need to be adhered to by module developers. Why?

And further resources.

Minimising and creating efficient CSS code in DotNetNuke

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This tutorial is intended for people who are familiar and comfortable with CSS.

We look at some of the techniques that are available within CSS to minimise the size of our CSS stylesheets and to write more efficient code.

In particular focusing on:

CSS Shorthand
Grouping Classes
Colour Shorthand

– This is a good performance enhancement for any DotNetNuke skin.

Laurence Neville Website Design and Languages Interview

creativehost — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is part of the How did they build it …? series of interviews.

This is an email interview with Laurence Neville who has created two DotNetNuke sites: www.landmarkeducation.co.il and www.landmarkeducation.co.jp

We discuss how Laurence created these websites, in particular looking at the use of Languages within the sites. This raises some interesting issues, such as setting the text to display from right to left.

Creating a Skin Template - part 3

creativehost — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is part of the How to Build a Website in DotNetNuke series

In this tutorial we create a skin design template for beginners to DotNetNuke. We base the design of the skin on the standard skins that come free with DotNetNuke and demonstrate how you can adapt this skin to suit your own website.

Skin Design Considerations - part 2

creativehost — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is part of the How to Build a Website in DotNetNuke series

This tutorial looks at the skin design considerations for a music website.

We consider the main objectives for the skin and further considerations that we need to take into account when designing the skin.

Planning a DotNetNuke® website - part 1

creativehost — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is part of the How to Build a Website in DotNetNuke series of tutorials.

This tutorial looks at the planning of a music website.

We consider what our website aims to achieve and how we can use DotNetNuke to achieve our needs.

How to Build a Website using DotNetNuke®

creativehost — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is a new series of tutorials exploring how to build a website using DotNetNuke. The series will cover all of the steps involved, from the initial planning, skin creation, adding content, through to the promotion of the website.

Throughout the series we will be focusing on creating a music website with DotNetNuke.

Become a Better Web Standards Developer

creativehost — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Learning to develop web-sites using web standards is a bit like learning the guitar, it's fairly easy to get started but to master it takes years of hard work and learning. With the right approach you can become more efficient.

This article provides an introduction to web standards, accessibility, CSS, creating bulletproof websites, along with a list of useful resources to get you started.

How to upgrade DotNetNuke® from v3.x to v3.2 on a live website

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:59:05 GMT

This free video tutorial demonstrates how to upgrade DotNetNuke® from any version 3.x to the latest DotNetNuke 3.2 version.

The video walks you through the entire process of upgrading your DotNetNuke portal and comes complete with key notes to help you have a successful upgrade.

Time Length: 20:04 min
Download Size: 16.9MB

Installing DotNetNuke 3.2 to a website hosting provider

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:39:19 GMT

This free video tutorial demonstrates how to install DotNetNuke® 3.2 to a hosting provider. We demonstrate this using Server Intellect as our hosting provider (In a shared hosting environment).

Video 1 covers:

Configuring your hosting provider server (using Helm Control Panel)
Adding a website domain name
Using a domain alias (Temporary URL) (we use this while waiting for the Nameserver settings to take effect – approx 24 / 48 hours)
How to create a Microsoft SQL Server database
How to create a User and Password to access the SQL Server database
How to set which version of ASP.NET to use (1.1 or 2.0)
Downloading the DotNetNuke® code, extracting the zip
Editing the release.config file and creating the web.config file
Adding the SQL database connection string to the web.config file

Time Length: 15:42
Download size: 11.6MB

Video 2 covers:

Final checks to make to the server settings before uploading the DotNetNuke® files
How to find a free FTP programme
Uploading the DotNetNuke® files via FTP using AceFTP3
How to start the installation process of DotNetNuke® using a temporary URL
24 hours later configuring DotNetNuke® to use the actual URL
How to configure the portal aliases for DotNetNuke®
Final security changes you need to make

Time Length: 14:21
Download size: 10.8MB

How to adjust your Nameserver settings

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:24:01 GMT

Once you have bought your own domain name (ie. www.dnncreative.com) and your hosting package, you need to point your domain name from your domain registrar to your hosting providers’ servers in order to access your web page.

It's important that you do this as soon as possible as it can take 24 to 48 hours for the new settings to take effect across the internet.

In this tutorial we have purchased our domain name using 1&1.com and we are going to point the domain to the serverintellect.com servers.

Note: each domain registrar will adjust the nameserver settings in a slightly different way, but the basic principles that are demonstrated here will apply for all domain registrars.

How to add the Snowcovered.com RSS feeds to your DotNetNuke® portal

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:08:54 GMT

(and earn a 10% referral bonus!)

Snowcovered.com sell DotNetNuke® related products from Module and Skin developers. Snowcovered.com also provide a 10% referral bonus scheme. If one of your website visitors clicks on a link to snowcovered.com and makes a purchase, you receive 10% of the customer sales.

Following a request, Snowcovered.com agreed to create some RSS feeds so that I could easily display their latest products on DNN Creative Magazine and receive a 10% commission on sales.

This tutorial demonstrates how to add your own referral ID to the RSS feed that Snowcovered.com provide and how to display this feed on your own website.

This tutorial uses the free News Feeds (RSS) core module. You do not need to purchase any modules to set this up.

If you use the Orizonti Nuke Feeds module, there are also templates at the end of the tutorial especially for Nuke Feeds.

Jagger, Google Analytics, and the Future of Search & SEO

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 09:44:11 GMT

Two big things have just happened in Google-land: Jagger and Google Analytics. Together, these two events may have changed the face of search forever.

Find out about the latest Google updates and the future of SEO.

Enabling RSS Auto-Discovery Aggregation in DotNetNuke®

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Firefox Live Bookmarks in DotNetNuke

Some RSS aggregators have the capability of finding an RSS feed on a web page and making it easy for the user to subscribe to it

An example of this can be seen in the Firefox browser, whenever the browser discovers an RSS feed, it displays an orange icon in the bottom right of the browser window.

If you click on the orange Firefox icon it will give you the option to subscribe to the RSS feed.

This tutorial explains how to enable RSS auto-discovery aggregation in DotNetNuke.

How to install a module to DotNetNuke®

creativehost — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This free video tutorial demonstrates how to install a module to DotNetNuke®.

This installation tutorial is the standard method of installing a module. Some third party modules require special installation procedures, so always ensure you read any additional installation instructions that are included with a module.

The tutorial demonstrates downloading the blog module from the dotnetnuke.com website and how to install it to your DotNetNuke portal.

Podcasting Interview with Scott Schecter

creativehost — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

An email interview with Scott Schecter from Schecter Technology Solutions discussing Podcasting, how it works, the benefits it can bring to your business and Scott's DotNetNuke® Podcasting module, NukeSyndicate.

The DotNetNuke® News Feed (RSS) Module

creativehost — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This DotNetNuke® Video Tutorial demonstrates the DotNetNuke® Core News Feed (RSS) module, covering:

Adding the module to a page
Selecting an RSS feed to display from moreover.com
Adding an RSS feed to the module
Uploading an XSL transformation style sheet to format the RSS feed

Time length: 6:01 min
Download Size: 4.4MB

Setting up the RSS News Feed XSL Stylesheet

creativehost — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Adding an RSS Feed to the standard DotNetNuke® RSS News Feed module is an easy process, the confusion begins once you have added the feed and your page doesn’t display in the way you intended. Quite often it displays the actual HTML tags rather than a nicely formatted page.

In order to display an RSS feed in the formatting you require; you need to use a XSL transformation file (named News Feed Style Sheet in the RSS News Feed Module).

This tutorial will allow you to easily set up the display of your RSS feeds. It provides 6 example XSL transformation files for you to download.

Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS - E-book Review

creativehost — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

An in-depth review of Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS e-book by Rok Hrastnik. Providing detailed information on each chapter and the information you will learn.

A review of this RSS book and an analysis of how it will help you to implement RSS feeds within your DotNetNuke® portal.

The 7-Step RSS Marketing Plan

creativehost — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

If you’re wondering how to get started with RSS marketing, here’s a basic 7-step plan that should provide some needed guidance. Use these steps as your personal RSS marketing checklist to get you started and help you see whether you’re on the right track.

The RSS Promise for Internet Users

creativehost — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

A look at the benefits RSS brings to the end-user.

These points are not simple enhancements, but important advancements that can fundamentally change how internet content is consumed. Furthermore, these points themselves prove why marketers need to start implementing RSS now!

To bring the point home, let us inspect some of the content services already powered by RSS.

Do Marketers Really Need RSS?

creativehost — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

The recent Forrester Research study, which claims that only 2% of online households in North America use RSS, took the internet marketing world by storm. Does this data really mean that marketers can still afford to ignore this channel?

Should marketers be interested in RSS now that so few online adults use it?

Is this the correct question to ask? Let’s take a look at the bigger picture …

RSS Works: Hard Metrics to Prove It

creativehost — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Marketers are constantly asking if RSS marketing works and if this can be proved.

We’re going to take a look at some real-life RSS metrics from real-life marketers. These will show you what kind of results you can expect to see from RSS.

What You Can Publish via RSS

creativehost — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Contrary to popular opinion, RSS is not only good for delivering content from your blog, but has much more marketing and publishing potential.

In fact, RSS can be used to deliver a great variety of content and content types. If you can break down your content in to individual stories or individual pieces, you can deliver it via RSS.

RSS Meets the Needs of Direct Marketers

creativehost — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Contrary to general opinion, RSS meets the needs of even the most demanding direct marketer, actually providing most of what e-mail marketing does, except for the strong push factor.

Most direct marketing reasons against RSS are in fact the result of inadequate understanding of RSS by most marketers.

Defining the Relations Between Blogs, E-zines, RSS and E-mail

creativehost — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Although RSS and blogs are slowly reaching mainstream, they are still missuderstood by most marketers in relation to each other and in relation to their relatives, e-zines and e-mail. How do these four really relate and what does this mean for your internet marketing strategy?

Working with Images in DotNetNuke®

creativehost — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This free tutorial discusses the various options available when using images within a DotNetNuke® portal.

What is RSS?

creativehost — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is an introduction to RSS. RSS is a technology that has the potential of overcoming many of the internet marketing challenges we are facing today and becoming a preferred tool to get 100% of your content delivered to your subscribers, as well as a tool to help you achieve top position search engine rankings.

DotNetNuke® and Http Compression

creativehost — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT

While not a new development, a tool which can greatly improve the performance of your DNN installation is referred to as HttpCompression.

HttpCompression refers to a method of compressing data sent from your server then passing that data to the client browser where it is decompressed on the fly. Thus increasing the display speed of your pages by sending less data across the pipe.

DotNetNuke® Hosting

creativehost — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:34:53 GMT

A question which always pops up in the asp.net forums is what is the best hosting provider for DotNetNuke®?

We have created an area in the forum, just to allow the DotNetNuke community to post up their current DotNetNuke Hosting Providers. Underneath this post, everyone who uses the provider can then add their own comments.

Once the list has grown large enough, we will pull all of the data together and make it easily readable in a spreadsheet or pdf. – Of course this will be a free resource for the community.

Keywords Research Free Guide - pdf

creativehost — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

If you are using the wrong keywords, your website will be lost in cyberspace and reaching the top 10 from a search result in Google will be a mere dream!

Here is a free 75 page guide produced by Wordtracker.

Having read through it in an hour, it is an invaluable resource.

How to Optimize an Image Before Uploading it to Your Website - Video Tutorial

creativehost — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:48:38 GMT

This free video tutorial is a beginner’s guide to preparing images for a web page.

Adding images to a web page makes the page more interesting, visually attractive and appealing to the eye.

If you do not prepare an image correctly before uploading it to your website however, you are likely to lose visitors because the page will take too long to download.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Made Easy Free Guide - pdf

creativehost — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

What’s the last question you ask when you are creating your DotNetNuke websites?

How do I promote my website to the Search Engines?

I have the privilege of being able to offer all of our registered users, a free 90 page guide called “Search Engine Optimisation Made Easy” by Brad Callen.

This guide alone is worth $67 and with permission from Brad, he has allowed us to publish it on the DNN Creative Magazine website.

I have personally used this guide extensively and found it to be a wealth of knowledge covering all aspects of Search Engine Optimization and Promotion.

Efficion Consulting Articles Module V3.1.5 and V3.2 Beta for DNN 3.x - Review

creativehost — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is a Free independent review of Efficion Consulting’s Articles Module V3.1.5 and V3.2 Beta for DotNetNuke® V3.1 by Lee Sykes.

Alongside the review are 9 Flash Video Walk Throughs / Tutorials totalling 41 minutes to demonstrate the modules features and possible uses.

Throughout these nine videos we work through practical examples of using the module with a music website.

Module Details

The Articles module is basically an extension of the core's Announcements module. It adds several useful features including: listing can include an automatically thumbnailed image, article archives, searching, and Article details with Rich Text Editing (or option to link to Internal or External Page).

Features:

Rich Text Editing: Users can create content through a Rich Text Editor
Search: Users can search all articles in the portal
Archive: Users can view all articles by clicking on the More Articles... link. Alternatively a custom link can be input to display a particular page or subset of articles
Images: An image can be displayed for each article. Thumbnails are automatically generated based on a configrable MaxWidth parameter
Featured Articles: allows users to mark an Article as Featured and the Article List has an option to display only featured articles
Admins can choose which fields they want displayed in the ListView
Site Wide option: The Article List can display Articles from anywhere in the portal, not just articles specific to the module in which they were created
Incorporates Efficion's Categories Module to allow for filtering by category

DotNetNuke® Quick Start Guide Video

creativehost — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:47:08 GMT

This free video tutorial is for beginners to DotNetNuke®. It gives you a quick overview of DNN with just enough information to get you going, without getting bogged down in the full details.

The DotNetNuke Quick Start Guide video covers:

Securing your website

Adding and moving modules, including the:

Text/HTML module
Links module
Image module

Changing the Skin and Containers of your website

Uploading your logo

Adding pages

An Introduction to the Principles of DotNetNuke®

creativehost — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:40:45 GMT

These are the basic principles covering how a DotNetNuke® website works. Essential reading. It will help you gain a better understanding for operating your website and offers an explanation for the following terms:

Skins & Content
Database Driven Content and Pages
Modules & Content
Containers (Module graphics)