DotNetNuke? Overview
DotNetNuke? is a portal content management system (CMS) ideal
for creating any type of website from commercial web sites,
corporate intranets and extranets, online publishing portals, to
a personal blog.
DotNetNuke? is provided free, as open-source software. It allows
individuals to do whatever they wish with the application
framework, both commercially and non-commercially.
The Static Website Problem
So you?ve created your static website using Dreamweaver,
Frontpage, or programmed it manually in HTML?
Your next job is to promote your website and keep it up to date
with lots of fresh content that the Search Engines love.
You soon discover that keeping your website up to date with the
latest news and articles is a lot of work, within a few months
your website becomes out of date and the site becomes a complete
headache to maintain.
CMS ? The Benefits
Using the DotNetNuke? Content Management system enables you to:
?Login to your website from anywhere in the world and update
your content live ?Quickly and easily publish articles, images,
documents, news, important information and more ?Save Money ?
Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) you no longer need to pay a
webmaster to maintain your site ?Support for an unlimited number
of content contributors (ie. Give permission to members of staff
to login and update certain sections of your website) ?Easily
change the look of your entire web site with just one click
using skins ?Extremely extensible admin interface to add and
move content, panels and more. ?Security - Every element of your
website can have specific security settings applied to allow or
deny users from seeing, editing, or administering the different
parts of your site
Once you have used DotNetNuke?, you will not look back - your
old web design programmes will gather dust!
What do you need for DotNetNuke??
To run DotNetNuke? you need to use a web hosting package that
provides ASP.NET and a Microsoft SQL-Server database.
The DotNetNuke? Community
An advantage with DotNetNuke? being open-source software is the
vast number of users out there. There are many developers
contributing in the form of improving the DotNetNuke? core code
and ?modules? which provide extra functions to your website,
such as photo galleries. There are designers creating ?skins?
which you can use to change the graphics of your website, and
there is also a central forum area where you can ask DotNetNuke?
related questions.
This community is rapidly growing by the day and it demonstrates
how DotNetNuke? is the web of the future.
Where do you get DotNetNuke??
You can download the DotNetNuke? code for free from:
http://www.dotnetnuke.com simply register with the website to
gain access to the downloads. How do I learn DotNetNuke??
There are many resources out there supplying documentation,
videos and tips from installation and programming, to web design
using DotNetNuke?.
You do not need to be a programmer to use DotNetNuke?; the
hardest stage is installing DotNetNuke?. This is just a matter
of uploading the correct files to your hosting provider and
setting up your SQL database. DotNetNuke? will then
automatically install when you open your website.
All you now have to do is add the content!
Beginner Resources
To see the functions of DotNetNuke? in action, there are two
free beginners? guides available from DNN Creative Magazine:
An Introduction to the principles of DotNetNuke?
http://www.dnncreative.com/Tutorials/Introductiontotheprincipleso
fDotNetNuke/tabid/75/Default.aspx
and
DotNetNuke? Quick Start Guide Video (25mins)
http://www.dnncreative.com/Tutorials/DotNetNukeQuickStartGuideVid
eo/tabid/73/Default.aspx
About the author:
Lee Sykes is the Director for DNN Creative Magazine He is a web
designer specialising in DotNetNuke? websites.
DNN Creative Magazine is a monthly on-line magazine providing
tutorials, reviews and tips for web design using DotNetNuke?.
http://www.dnncreative.com
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