So the Dnn Platform has been nominated in both the Best Free .NET CMS and Best Open Source .NET CMS categories in the 2014 People’s Choice CMS Awards and I am proud to say that my vote counted and the DNN Platform got the rewards that it deserves!
Why did I vote? Well it’s pretty simple…..
For my business idea the DNN Platform (DotNetNuke when I started) fitted my needs perfectly. Why?, well here’s the check boxes that needed to be filled for my business idea:
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Based on asp.Net and a programming language that I knew
I have always programmed with Microsoft technology, I started programming using Visual Basic on my ZX81 with a black and white portable TV I got for Christmas one year and that got me hooked.
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A good stable CMS
This is always one of the first things people look for, stability of the software then the future of the CMS. I did my research into what was available, looked at the community and its plans for the future to find out that if I start to use the software would it grow in the future or just leave me in the same position, again, having to look for another solution. DNN had what I was looking for, stability, a good community, and future plans to make the CMS better.
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A good eco-system
I didn’t want to spend time at the beginning creating solutions for my clients, either the CMS had the functionality already ‘out-of-the-box’ or there was a good eco-system of developers creating solutions for every need. I saw that the Dnn Store (SnowCovered at the time) was filled with skins/themes and modules.
I also found CodePlex and the DNN Forge where open source modules were being developed and given back to the community. This was a good thing, having an open source CMS and also skins and modules that I could have a look at to see how they were built helped to speed up creating solutions to my client myself.
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If possible, a framework/cms that is portal based
I wanted to be quick to build the sites for my client and I didn’t really want to create a database, install the CMS and then configure it every time a new site needed to be create. Because the DNN Platform is portal based it allowed me to rapidly create sites without the hassle. It also saves time and money in a big way.
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Easy to style and extend
There is no point in investing time and effort if you have to rely on other people to create what you need therefore to make sure you can offer what the clients want, it was important that the system was easy to extend and style.
Creating skins for Dnn became a breeze to do, there was/is a good standard skin to look at and many tutorials on the DNN site for reference. Module development took a bit more time until DAL2 was introduced, There is even a module creator installed as standard in the CMS!
The list goes on but one thing was obvious : the Dnn Platform was checking ALL the boxes for me, the choice was made!
After making the choice of what to use I found myself asking questions and advise in the DNN Forums and DNN Community Exchange, very quickly, something became very apparent…
The DNN Community cared!
You ask a question you get a friendly person that has also made the same choice as I did and they try their best to give you answers and advice to your problem! I also found that this was done out of kindness, no financial gain, no power tripping, the community answered back because they care about the users and the DNN CMS.
Now after many years of using the DNN CMS I find myself trying to do the same, where possible answer someone’s questions to help them out, just like the community did for me!
In the DNN Community there is always one word that is used : “Contribute”, it doesn’t matter if you are a rocket scientist or a window washer, if you are able in any way to contribute back to the community like they did for you, you should! It all counts, just like your vote!
So now you know (in short) why I voted for the DNN CMS for Best Free .NET CMS and Best Open Source .NET CMS and I’ll vote again in the future.
Every vote counts and if you love using the DNN CMS just like I do I think you should contribute back to the community by voting as well!