While I have been designing / coding Dot Net Nuke skins for the past 6 or so years, there are still days I learn something new or figure out a different method in skinning DNN websites that makes the coded / designed Dot Net Nuke custom skin work even better and look even more original. With DNN we, the developers grow and so does Dot Net Nuke. It seems whether you’re searching for some DNN skin templates or you want to hire a firm to build your own custom skin, often times people feel that all DNN sites look the same. Well, I’ll I have to say to that is, open your creative mind, nearly anything is possible, a DNN site can look like any way you want it to. Skinning DNN websites is nothing more than stripping out all the content that is unique to each page and only using design elements and DotNetNuke Tags that will appear on every page. When done correctly, you can build your website using DNN the way it was meant to be built. While in my first few years working and designing DNN skins, I also felt that every site I was developing had a similar look and feel. Well those days are over, I have adapted as many others have to; opening my mind to making anything possible while designing a DNN skin and using the Dot Net Nuke Content Mangement System Framework the way it was constructed to be used.

Truly the best DNN skins are developed in such away, that the content dictates how the website looks; the skin is just the frame work and basic template for the guts that really create the overall look and feel. It’s crucial to design your skin using a core CSS file and XML file that control the key look and feel of site wide elements. More often than not, the designers / users that can’t control precisely how a DotNetNuke site looks, have either overlooked a CSS file that is stirring up their problems or have a lack there of, the necessary components in the core CSS file that are needed to precisely control a DNN sites layout, look and feel.

About a month ago, a very large client contacted us with a bitter taste in their mouth of DotNetNuke and their many frustrations over the past year with this CMS. Within our first conversation that day, I had quickly realized how poorly their DNN site was constructed. Within a matter of 3 hours after they had contacted me, I had already spoken with every key member involved in the company from the owner to CEO, to CIO, and to the uneducated DNN developer they had hired that left this bad taste in everyone’s mouth. To say the least, they were ecstatic with the information I had provided them, as they felt they were stuck in the “disaster” DNN world due to the custom module they paid for that ran their entire business. They soon realized the “disaster” was not DNN. The “disaster” was their developer. A month after the intital meeting, they had launched their new fully developed operational DNN site that they couldn’t be happier with. It was bringing them $400,000+ in revenue each month.

For the past 3 or so years, we have positioned ourselves as top DNN skin developers for small to enterprise level businesses all across the world. Probably 10% to 20% of the jobs we recieve for Dot Net Nuke cusotm skins, is a customer looking for someone who can fix where their previous DNN developer (aka skin expert) left off. Whether it’s because the two parties couldn’t communicate properly, the DotNetNuke developer just didn’t know enough about DNN to skin the customers current requests, or because they coded the skin in an incorrect and sloppy manner. It’s important to understand that DNN is very flexible and when developed in correctly, it’s an amazing open source Web Content Mangement System and complete web solution for many types of businesses big or small. Keep the Dotnetnuke community and Dotnetnuke CMS growing; develop wisely, correctly, and effieciently, and DNN will be here for a long time. Contact Us Today for a free quote and become part of the DotNetNuke revolution!