How To Build Web Portal With Dotnetnuke

DotNetNuke (DNN) is an open source Web application framework written in VB.NET. At the core of DotNetNuke is the content management system (CMS). DotNetNuke CMS is extensible, and it can be used to create Web portals. DotNetNuke allows you to completely customize the look and feel of a Web site through the use of DotNetNuke Skins and Modules. Web designers can create excellent user interfaces that integrate with the principal Web site application and create a visually appealing Web site for their customers.

There are about a dozen basic DotNetNuke Modules contained in the core DotNetNuke CMS. More modules are available for download from the DotNetNuke Web site. Some of them include blogs, forums, e-commerce applications, photo galleries, newsletter, etc. More modules are being contributed by the open source community and commercial DotNetNuke developers. Modules can be installed without any additional programming. They can be easily added, edited, deleted, or moved from one page to another. Once installed, they integrate with the rest of the contents. Also, they are completely integrated with the site security and internationalization settings.

More than 50 DotNetNuke Skins are available for the designers. A Skin is a professional graphic design with which the appearance of a site can be changed dramatically without changing the existing content and application functionality in the Web site. The DotNetNuke Skin consists of basic HTML files along with placeholders for content, menu or other features. Support files such as images, style sheets, and JavaScript, are also available. This architecture allows Web designers to design Skins without requiring any specialist knowledge of ASP.NET. Many pre-built templates are also available.

Content management integration is made easier with DotNetNuke framework. Administrators can add pages to their site. Page content and functionality can be changed with the help of the modules. DotNetNuke features a role-based security module by which it defines the roles of a user to that particular page or a module. This feature ensures that only the permitted user is dealing with the site and controlling the tasks.

The DotNetNuke Web site can have user’s own domain name. The framework supports more than 30 languages, so you can create the Web site in your own language. There is provision to use banner advertisements. The Vendor tab enables administrators to add vendor profiles, upload banners and track ad views. This way, it helps Web site owners generate additional revenue.

By: shilpi c

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Shilpi is associated as Internet Marketing Manager with IDS Logic, an outsourcing company in India providing DotNetNuke Skin and ecommerce solutions.