The final skinning tutorial is complete!

My head has not exploded!

Have I remembered everything I have learned since the beginning?

Yes I have, probably? I really don’t know until I try it out. So, now all I have to do is decide on weather I want to try convert a skin on my own or try and make my own skin from scratch?

All I can say is watch this space.

TFB

Jen

Fanfare please!

I have finished! I have converted an XHTML template in to a DotNetNuke skin! (With the help Lee from DNN Creative Magazine)

AM I proud of myself?

Yes I am!

Only one more tutorial to go! Yay!

BFB

Wow this tutorial goes in-depth!

I think my brain might be reaching capacity now! Even though I’m pretty sure my head will explode, from everything I have learned, I still keep on going? I think it’s the accent that is urging me to continue, or maybe it’s because I’m so close to finishing?

Either way, nearly there!

But first bed!

Bye

I seem to be using the Web Developers Toolbar quite a lot in these last few tutorials, and I’m happy to say I’m getting the hang of it.

Today I styled the content in the containers of my new skin to match the original Andreas 01 skin.

That in itself was an accomplishment so on that note…

TFB

Ah the return of another old friend!

The House of Nuke Menu is the centre of my troubles again today. I really think it has it in for me. Again it all went wrong, and again it was me that messed it up. I just think it’s the bane of my skinning life!

Nevertheless, I got it working (eventually) and Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!

So, it’s just a short blog today. (The house menu has worn me out!)

TFB

Jen

Creating a DotNetNuke skin from a XHTML template!

Now this is something I’ve been looking forward to.  I had a sneaky peek at this when I first downloaded all the tutorials, just to see what I would be working up to, and it seemed pretty daunting to say the least. But, after the first couple of videos it all seemed to fall into place with the exception of my old friends, colon and semicolon.

I really do need to take more care!

So, now I have put colon and semicolon in the right place I have decided to put Jen (that’s me) into bed.

Nite!

Jen

Hello!

So that’s one more tutorial finished! I now know everything I need to know about Search Engine Optimized Layouts in CSS Skinning. (Well, I know it now, will I know it next week is a different story!)

My new mouse configuration helped me a great deal in that last tutorial so I think it will be staying that way for now!

The skinname.css technique was really clever, made making multiple skins so fast and easy, I would never have thought I be doing things as advanced as this 2 months ago. I feel like I should be getting a certificate at the end of this! (I still think listening to that British accent helps.)

I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming source code now?

Time for bed!

Bye!

Hi! (It’s been a while since I said that!)

Well, I really am enjoying this tutorial. Using the Web Developer’s Toolbar is great. It really helps to see the skin change as you edit the CSS live. I will definitely be using these techniques when I come to make my own sites and skins.

I did have I few teething problems at first, I must admit, but they were mostly due to my inability to copy and paste properly. So, I had to retrace my steps and copy and paste again.

I have also reprogrammed the extra buttons on my mouse to perform the copy and paste functions. Seemed like a good idea seeing as I am always using them.

Ok, it’s that time again.

Bye

Back once again with the Search Engine Optimization!

I really liked this tutorial, mainly because you can see the final product being used on the DNN Creative website.

The other thing I really liked was the fact that I was able to pre-empt some of what was coming next.

The tutorials follow on so well from each other that I found I was almost keeping up with the video as it played. (The only thing holding me back was my incredibly bad typing!)

In all honesty I don’t think I would have been able to learn this much, this soon from a book.

TFB

Jen

Today I watched a couple of tutorials about the Web Developers Toolbar.

How clever is that?

I spent a good hour playing around with the CSS editor on this toolbar and made possibly the worst looking mess of a website ever. But at the same time learnt so much about how the CSS code worked.

I’m back!

And I have completed the tutorial on CSS Containers for the red leaf skin in one sitting! This was very much like the previous tutorial on creating containers to me.

Although the containers were styled in a totally different way, to the other tutorial, they were styled similar to the Pure CSS skin. So, like the skins and containers made with tables were similar, so were the skins and containers made in Pure CSS.

That’s all I have to say about that!

Jen

It’s true!

I didn’t do anything!

I went out instead!

A girl has to party sometimes!!!

CSS Skinning will resume soon!

Bye.

The final part of the CSS Skinning tutorial has been another eye opener for me. I didn’t realise there was so many different browsers for the internet. I also didn’t realise how different the look of your website can be between the different browsers.

Again, this was so well explained, I knew exactly what was going on and could appreciate the effort and trouble of making your website look the same across the various browsers.

So, that’s my first DNN Pure CSS Skin in the bag! All I need to do now is make some containers to finish it off.

BFB

Jen

So, it’s all about the House of Nuke menu today!

I took my time with this part of the tutorial as I find the house menu confusing. Mostly, I find the class types for the menu the most difficult to understand. Although the tutorials explain it so well I still think I might get the different classes confused when I come to make my own skin.

Yes I know I have down loaded the videos to watch whenever I need too but I still took notes, just so I could remember in Jenny terms what the difference between ‘#HouseMenuNav ul’ and ‘#HouseMenuNav li’ was.

By the end of this tutorial my menu had changed so much from the original boring list at the side of the screen.

I really didn’t think I would enjoy this as much as I have been.

Bye.

OK, so today I started my pure CSS skin with a XML file and HTM file and I have now started a CSS file from a blank page!  I also have found out all by myself (with help from Wendy) why my house menu wasn’t displaying my sub pages. Apparently it just doesn’t for some reason.

So, I made a second home page and moved my subpages on to the new page. Now when I view the website in progress, the house menu displays all my pages properly, minus any styling that should be there. (I haven’t got that far yet.)

TFB

Jen