NAEDA.com
I just wanted to let you know what a fantastic job you did in getting the NAEDA web site and then the eNewsletter launched last week. They both look and function great. Your responsiveness to all the last minute requests and troubleshooting was excellent! You guys are the best!   

This version of Articles focuses on localization improvements, bug fixes for couple obscure issues, and improved XHTML compliance.   Read More...

A quick conversion of the DNN Banners Module to Tableless Display

We've been working on our first site that really makes heavy use of DotNetNuke's Banners module for displaying revenue generating ads. Today I was trying to get the banners module to work for a Newsletter piece (more on that later) of the site that has a very tight layout but the way Banners is implemented didn't allow me to do what I needed. Currently, the banners module renders banners in a table and the only way to add spacing between banners is by setting cellpadding and/or cellspacing. We needed a solution where we could ad space between the banners without adding space on the sides of the banners. This wasn't possible with the current implemenation (other than by adding whitespace to the banner images which we didn't feel was a good solution) so we needed another solution.

I could have gone in and made a couple quick changes to the banners module to get it to do what I needed but then, we would've have had to reapply the changes every time we upgraded the site.

Instead, I spent about 10 minutes creating a new module based on the existing banners module. Luckily, DNN makes this easy.

The change to the code is the easy part (though really it was all very easy). I just changed the RepeatLayout attribute for the DataList to "Flow" instead of the default "Table" and then added a class to the label within which the banner is implemented.

The more involved process was copying and renaming the files and class. In all though, it took less then 10 minutes to think up and implement this solution.   Read More...

Last week, we put a lot of effort into improvements to the search and RSS aspects of Efficion's Articles module. As part of that, we noticed that no matter how many times you hit the Re-Index content link on the Host->Search Admin page, the links never actually get updated. As we dug further, it became clear that to update the links used by DNN's search and RSS, you actually have to purge the search tables.

This has implications beyond our module so I thought I'd share the steps as a good practice to do every once in awhile on your DNN site to make sure you Search Results and RSS Feeds are linking properly.   Read More...

Version 4.2.2 of the Articles Module is now available.

Featured Improvements:

• Lots of improvements and fixes for Search and RSS (both DNN's global as well as Articles specific)
• Search Engine Friendly URLs
• Comment Moderation improvements
• AddThis integration for Social Networking and Social Bookmarking

Learn More...   

As most HTML aware folks know that when you paste content from Microsoft Word or Outlook for use as HTML, it includes all sorts of gobbledygook that clutters up your markup and overrides your CSS. Luckily, the fckEditor has a couple ways to handle this. If you're pasting from Word into the editor using IE, it pops up a dialog that gives you a chance to clean up the markup which is nice. If you're using Firefox you can achieve the same results by clicking on the special Paste from Word icon. But, there's an issue...   Read More...

Efficion converted GardenWalk's existing static site into a DotNetNuke site enable more dynamic content and to make it easy for GardenWalk's staff to make updates to the site. In addition,we:

1. Added a jQuery-based image rotator to the home page to highlight the massage styles offered to make the home page more dynamic
2. Modified the site's design to increase the space for content
3. Created new pages that feature specialty massage types they offer
4. Performed a variety of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to improve the sites rankings on search engines.

  Read More...

Lincoln Land Community College had a particularly complex navigation system that had to display lots of options and be populated from a file rather than the traditional DNN Navigation Provider. Efficion designed and implemented a custom Mega-Menu to meet LLCC's unique needs.

 

In addition, we helped them with a variety of their other more difficult challenges in implementing their skin.   Read More...

Failoni Consultants serves as a realtor in the St. Louis area. They needed a site where they could list their houses, apartments, and other services in order to attract business from potential buyers and sellers in St. Louis and throughout the country.   Read More...

A website and online store created for the Mount Pleasant Winery. The store was implemented using a customized version of the Catalook .Net Store. New features and functionality are still in the works.   Read More...

A site created for a new loft development in downtown St. Louis. The site features a virtual tour, photo galleries, data driven pricing and availability, a full featured registration and broadcast email solution, and lots more. Coming soon, a great interactive map for showing off the neighborhood!   Read More...

Version 4.2.0 of Efficion's Articles Module for DotNetNuke is now available. This release adds lots of features and fixes and sets the ground work for new improvements.

Key amoung the features are the new Comment Moderation features that let selected roles moderate comments before they go live. Another key change was reworking the architecture so that list templates can use Repeaters instead of just DataLists which will enable us to better make use of jQuery effects and much more. Look for new templates coming soon to show off our new capabilities.   Read More...

 

Just in time for the holidays, our latest site, Makaboo.com, let's you create custom embroidered gifts for babies, infants & toddlers. Makaboo is built on top of AbleCommerce and features a custom-built Personalization Engine, customized checkout workflow, top quality lifestyle and product photography, and lots of little touches to make the site the ideal site for creating perfect personalized gifts.   Read More...

CRMagnetics needed a new website that provided E-Commerce capabilities, backend integration with their existing inventory and pricing system, improved search engine rankings, intuitive navigation, and a modern and unique appearance. Efficion implemented CRMagnetics.com as a hybrid solution that combined DotNetNuke, AbleCommerce and jQuery to provide a rich and efficient experience for their customers.   Read More...

Efficion took over hosting, maintenance, and development of the Missouri Partnership website in September. Our main focus thus far has been on code cleanup, SEO improvements, bug fixes, and content management improvements. Going forward, we'll be implementing new functionality to help ensure the site is a key resource for promoting and discovering information about Missouri.   Read More...

Added for jQuery support and cleaner rendering

I'm working on a jQuery based rotator template for the next release of the Articles module. In order to do this properly, I needed to replace the DataList control that Articles usually uses with a Repeater control because the Tables rendered by the DataList weren't compatible (or necessary). Luckily, the nice clean architecture of the Articles module made it quite easy to make it so templates can use either a Repeater or a DataList.

This change will be included in the next release. It shouldn't have any impact on existing DataList-based templates.   

This release fixes an issue with the More Articles link. The Dropdown list that let admins select which page to link to wasn't populating properly.   

This is a very minor upgrade that fixes one issue with the new "Delete Comment" functionality, improves the styling of the edit and settings pages, and also does some code and markup cleanup in Comments.   

Version 4.1.2 of Efficion's Articles module is now available. This release includes a variety of fixes, improvements, and new features.

View the complete list of changes   

One of the under-utilized features in the DotNetNuke module development API is the ability to utilize DotNetNuke's built in Permissions architecture within your own custom modules.

Rather than having to write your own code to display a grid of available roles and special permissions, it's fairly easy to add your permissions to the existing permissions grid that usually just displays "View" and "Edit".

I found a nice article that gives a very good overview on how to do this
Extending DotNetNuke Module Permissions for Custom Modules