DNN Websites Problem Design Solution Review
Most introductions of technical books establish the ground rules for structure, techniques and methods used to convey the material and usually touch on intended audience and potential prerequisites. Easy read, right? Well, not so with DotNetNuke Websites Problem – Design – Solutions by Tracy Wittenkeller. The intro of the latest DNN book by Wrox, a division of Wiley Publishing, reads like a 2nd draft and brings a whole new meaning to the question of how many times one can refer to “website solution” in a matter of 3 pages without coming across as a broken record. Incoherent and choppy writing blurs the distinction between Design and Solution and left me wondering if Wrox editors ever laid eyes on these pages.
You may say “who cares about the introduction anyway,” but I would like to argue that the first few pages set the tone of what’s to come and therefore have a direct impact on reader’s motivation to further explore the material. And it’s not entirely about the introduction, that’s just what struck me first. It’s the degree of negligence and attention to detail that I’m struggling to comprehend.
But regardless, here is how the book fares overall.
The Good
- Presents a detailed walkthrough of using Adobe Photoshop for image slicing, preparation, and organization for the purpose of DNN skin development.
- Stresses the importance of proper skin and container file naming conventions.
- Features comprehensive coverage of FCKeditor in regards to CSS configuration and application.
- Shows how to take advantage of module layout templates to further customize module user interfaces.
- Devotes a whole chapter to “Customizing with CSS” and addresses common misconceptions in regards to default.css, portal.css, skin.css, and container.css.
The Bad
- Covers DNN basics already covered in numerous other books.
- Displays ignorance towards search engine optimization (SEO) and how it plays into a “professional website solution.” Not even the page title, description, and keyword fields are accurately covered.
- Disregards objectivity by making misleading statements such as “Data providers are available for several different database products, and more data providers are becoming available frequently."
The Ugly
- Degrades web standards as “buzz term” and expresses total disregard for semantic markup by advocating the use of html layout tables and spacer images.
Certain sections in the book lead me to believe that this is not the book Tracy set out to write. More often than not it seems that he was “pushed” into Wrox’s Problem – Design – Solution series simply because it was the right “marketing thing” to do at the time. I feel confident to say that Tracy must have realized that at the DNN 4.x stage, there is simply no need for another book detailing DotNetNuke installation, another skinning overview, another chapter on working with pages, and more of the same coverage of DNN’s role-based security model.
What I was looking forward to when I first read the abstract of Tracy’s upcoming book was a guide that goes beyond the DNN basics; a book that truly goes “under the surface” of DotNetNuke by showing how to fully take advantage of DNN’s rich feature set by “gluing” all relevant pieces together to arrive at a professional web presence for individuals and businesses alike. In my eyes, such a book would have been a logical follow up to Professional DotNetNuke 4, Beginning DotNetNuke Skinning and Design, and other books that laid the foundation for anyone interested in utilizing the DNN web application framework.
In no shape or form do I mean to discount Tracy Wittenkeller efforts and intentions to provide a valuable resource to the DNN community, but a combination of mediocre writing, subjective tone, and disrespect for modern web development principles moves DotNetNuke Websites Problem – Design – Solutions to the bottom of my bookshelf.
Have you read the book? If so, how does it rank in your DNN library?
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