If you’re not familiar with DNN, it’s worth a gander at http://www.DNNSoftware.com. This site (PBSD’s website) is a beautiful DNN implementation. It is responsive, meaning that it will format itself correctly on any size screen or device – try it yourself – make your browser the shape and size of your smart phone, and watch how it transforms into a user-friendly mobile site!
The real power of DNN for us as programmers and solution providers, is that it provides a nice platform based on Microsoft technologies (.Net and SQL Server) — which is the main technologies supported by our company. The real power for our clients that use it are the CMS (content management system) abilities – you don’t have to know HTML and other web technologies to create and update world-class websites! Everything is menu-driven. Easy.
At Palm Beach Software Design, we have created several DNN websites that provide awesome functionality through the creation of new DNN Controls (modules) that can be dropped anywhere on the page for instant functionality over and above a simple billboard website.
One such page is http://www.SCRC456.com – my motorcycle riding club. We had a need for a web page that could easily be managed by one or more of the club officers, and none of them were “web editors” previously – which means they required an easy to use interface to create articles, post pictures, and manage forums and the photo gallery. These features come straight out of the box on a fresh DNN install, so for this they only needed a few hours of training to get rolling.
Once the page was setup and working as they liked, they came to us with additional, custom needs to manage their online contest called “Florida A-Z” where they are supposed to get a picture of themselves with their motorcycle in front of a city sign or building for each letter of the alphabet. Once they had a picture, they would login to the site, and upload the picture to the selected letter of the alphabet, for example, I took a picture of myself and bike in front of the Boynton Beach City Hall, and uploaded my picture to the “B” slot. When all the letters of the alphabet have a picture for a single user, the contest is over. We ended up building several DNN Modules to handle this requirement – one for the display of the results, one to display the picture when selected, and then a management module to restart the contest and clear the results. The management control was then dropped onto a new page in the site, that only allowed Admins to view and edit, and the other modules were dropped on other pages that were also only allowed to be used by registered users.
DNN provides a great platform for web-based applications: a great security model, SQL Server Integration, a Microsoft .Net programming platform, social media integration, and community in the form of Events, Forums, Announcements, Blogs, etc.
We can convert any website into a DNN site, and help lower your web management costs. I would love to speak with you about how we can incorporate DNN into your company, and make your life easier. Please give me a call at 561-572-0233 and let’s chat about your next big project!
