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DotNetNuke Skinning How-To: Buy a Commercial Skin

Last Updated 11 Jun 2008


After reading “Are you sure you want to buy that module?” by Will Morgenweck at ActiveModule, it inspired me to write my own version of some sort that similar to it called “Are you sure you want to buy that skin?”.

When doing a search in Google for commercial skins, you might end up at some landing pages (if you lucky enough to see one) with the skin that you’re looking for. However, not everybody gets there in the first try.

Shopping for skins isn’t quite an easy job. It’s similar to taking your computer to BestBuy and have them “helped” with some issues when you don’t have much knowledge about it. The Geek Squad are probably speaking G(r)eek to you and you’ll be leaving the store paying whatever they told you to.

Well, no more wandering around for the right skins when you don't quite know what you're looking for. In this article, I’ll share eight things that you should know before buying a commercial skin. There are more aspects to consider when buying skins, but this article should cover simple ideas for the general audience. So if you happen to do some DotNetNuke skin shopping in the near future, I hope this will help.

  1. Web Standards Compliance (Recommended)

    Table-based designs are bad (if you need further explanations, please feel free to Google it at your own leisure). Use standard compliance skins (XHTML/CSS design) to keep up with the modern technology. It helps to expand your site to wider target audience as well as less maintenance headaches in the future.
  2. Cross-browser Compatibility (Recommended)

    Do some testing on at least more than two browsers. Launch IE6, Firefox, Safari (available for PC as well), and Opera to see if the skin is actually tested across browsers. Don’t take sellers words for it. You should see it in action before making purchase. Some people might choose to disregard other browsers and platforms, but it only hurts your bottom lines.
  3. Search Engine Friendly (Recommended)

    Fancy flash isn’t search engine friendly. Although it looks cool and provides some nice animations, but to search engines, it means nothing unless proper techniques are applied. When you’re not an expert, you should ask if their DNN skins are optimized for search engines. Stay away from fancy embedded media.
  4. Do They Dress to Impress (detail-oriented)? (Recommended)

    That’s what I learned back in college. It doesn’t mean that you have to have a fancy design to call it a great skin. The design should be clean and easy to access. Pay attention to small details to see if there are any faults around the pages when doing testing across browsers and platforms.

    The beauty of design is in detail.
  5. Source File (PSD files)

    Whether you know how to use Photoshop or other graphic applications or not, it is always a state of mind that you have the graphic source file for the design in case you might want to make minor changes to the skin. With the source file provided, you don’t have to turn to the seller or any other skin designers for help with modifying the colors of your DotNetNuke skin. You can always have somebody else to work on the source file you bought to update the design.
  6. Support

    Do you really need it? If you are a small business owner (or beginner to DotNetNuke skinning), support for the skin changes is definitely a nice add-on. However, commercial skins are pretty much something you buy and install on a site. It’s not likely to break (unless during installation) so support isn’t something that you really need.
  7. Graphics

    Be sure to understand that when buying a skin for your site, you are looking for something generic in the market that best suits your business. So stay focusing on the peice that will best represents the message you're sending to potential clients-- a DotNetNuke skin design, NOT the graphics.

    Almost all skin designers include fancy graphics on their demo skins to create bells and whistles. However, without those graphics, does the site hold together in a way that you’re expecting? Look beyond the skin, those images might not make sense with the content on your website.

    When buying a skin, you build your site based on your business purposes. Reusing the fancy images provided by skin designers without having an understanding of the purposes will lead to no value. Your content delivers one thing and your graphics portrays it differently. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. Use it wisely.
  8. Diversity (Skin Combinations)

    Don’t be lure by the number of skin combinations that you will get. What you really need is something that works and fits perfectly to your business purposes. Having 2000 skin or 3000 container combinations doesn’t help unless it satisfies the criteria you set for.

Next time when you’re looking for new DotNetNuke skins, be sure to talk to the sellers before making purchase. It only gives you the benefit of getting the exact design you’re looking for.

Got any good experience? Please feel free to share!

Recent Comments

While I agree with most of your points, I'm going to take issue with point 1, "table based skins are bad." Tables are better for columns. Current implementations of CSS simply do not do columns well. While I'm well aware you can replicate columns by using floats and a variety of hacks for different browsers, using tables is much cleaner and consistent.

Since DNN has a great skinning architecture, you don't need to change your site layout using css changes alone. Your skins will be cleaner and more robust if you implement columns (such as left pane, content pane, right pane) using tables. CSS floats are great, but they were never intended to be used as full height columns.

Posted By: David O'Leary on 18 Jun 2008

Very nice piece, thank you. Here's my 2 cents, though:

  1. Tables are not bad. Excessive/exclusive use is. Nesting 10 tables is ridiculous. But, until all browsers will pass acid test with scores higher than 80, XHTML designs will continue to surprize visitors. And, so, many times a combination of CSS/tables payouts are a healthier solution.
  2. Cross-browser testing is a must, not an option. Unless you are creating a site for a specific browser, you have to make sure it looks fine in all major browsers. Also, you didn't really mean IE6, right? IE6+, I am guessing... :)
  3. Flash banners/intros are not bad, either. Search engine bots ain't gonna get much from them, but they will from the rest of the site. What SHOULD be noted, though, is an impact on load and impact on a subsequent visits from the same user - are they going to get annoyed at that intro loading every time they come to your site? AND - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - NO AUDIO!!! At least without a very apparent way to turn it down or off. It's completely obnaxious to force some ridiculous music on a visitor.
  4. Doesn't that depend on the site's goal? Fashonista site shouldn't look like a business site... Photographer's site most definitely need to impress a visitor with a good taste and bells'n'wistles (within reason, of course). Bank website, on the other hand, will look silly with much of fancy graphics...
  5. Having original artwork might be important. Really depends on the needs and the actualy design. For example, if they are including some banners with people on it, I definitely need to be able to replace those photos.
  6. Having support as an option is nice, although I never need it yet. One thing for sure, however, if the designer not respoding to help requests, I don't want that product, most likely. Not caring about your reputation is a bad sign...
  7. Yes!
  8. I find this one to be pretty useless most of the time. Most sites are not going to change color from page to page (or from section to section). And if you used it once on one site, you'll probably not going to want to make another site that will look the same if not for color difference. Given a choice, I'd rather pay less for one color version with a few layout options than getting 10 different colors... But, that's a whole different discussion. :)
Posted By: Vitaly Kozadayev on 19 Jun 2008

Thank you both for putting out the time to comment on this entry. While both of you made some valid points to the table-based design, I think it will be best to determine by the industry experts in web designs. It means read more and learn more about the subject matter.

Vitaly. I guess you're missing the point in number four. I agree with your comments, however, my point about it is skins don't have to be graphically appealing, it just have to be detail-oriented. If you wish to implement fancy design in skins, it should work fine even in a small detail. I've seen numerous commercial skins out there have broken menu across browsers, yet still putting up for sale.

Posted By: Cuong Dang on 20 Jun 2008

I'm going to assume that your first comment about a necessity to learn and read wasn't meant to be obnoxious. After all, we all must read and learn all the time...As far as the missing point... if you wanted to say that buyers shouldn't be taken by the pretty pictures as they don't guarantee properly created skin... Oh, now I get it...

Posted By: Vitaly Kozadaye on 03 Jul 2008

Vitaly,

I'm not saying your points about tables are wrong. I strongly believe in Web Standards just as I do in DotNetNuke. That's why I'm still using them and applying them to my everyday projects.

We're not here to argue the benefits of whether using tables or CSS-based layout approach. We're here to offer something that non-technical audiences can understand when buying a commercial skin.

I'm glad you revisited the site though :-)

Posted By: Cuong Dang on 03 Jul 2008

It's a pure eye pleasure to revisit your sites, Cuong...Congratulations on your dnnGalery.net debut - a 100% excellent example of what a site should look like. Please, keep them coming!!!

Posted By: Vitaly Kozadayev on 16 Jul 2008

Vitaly,

Thanks for the kind words and your support!

Posted By: Cuong Dang on 18 Jul 2008