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What It Takes to Skin a Web Site
Mastering the art of skinning requires developing a few strong areas before tackling huge projects, and many newcomers are disappointed with their results when taking existing static templates of complex-looking sites and then trying to turn them into a complex-looking DotNetNuke skin. Strong HTML skills are a must to create complex skins. Many people blame the difficulty of working with DotNetNuke skinning when in fact, many of the problems associated with the way the page displays are due to a lack of understanding of how HTML works in the first place.

Pages that lose their formatting when adding content would in fact lose their structures if they were in a static HTML page. Sometimes the nesting of tables and how modules behave with tables embedded in a page may have a slight influence, but overall, the most common mistakes when creating a DotNetNuke skin are common HTML errors. However, developers who don't know HTML but who know code might not pick this up, and if a designer hasn't learned some of the functionality of DotNetNuke, he or she might not recognize this as being an HTML error either until learning more about the behavior of DotNetNuke modules within an HTML holder.

Skinning - The Scale of Talent Required
The five golden skills needed to create a fantastic and workable DotNetNuke Web site are:

• Good DotNetNuke skills
• Strong CSS skills
• Strong HTML skills
• Good XML Skills
• Good graphical skills

Which Is Best?
There are two distinct branches of opinion in the DotNetNuke community. Some believe that the best way to develop is the HTML method, with the files always being available for updating and those with even the lowest level of experience can make changes. However, by offering that solution to clients, it doesn't always go as planned because many of the changes that their clients wish to make involve understanding XML, which can be more complicated than HTML itself and beyond the realm of most novice designers. This relates more to the menu functionality where advanced knowledge of the CSS elements and property behavior are required.

Most experienced developers/designers tend to work in the most efficient method, which is using the ASCX controls where all of your functions and code reside within the skinobject code, and the page can be either worked on locally and refreshed or simply using FTP, uploaded to the skins folder.

It's a matter of personal preference to choose your ideal design method, but I've found it easier to establish what changes your client will probably want to make and design the skin accordingly, so they can either replace images, or quickly find the code in well-commented CSS code and make changes themselves.

Summary
The following points summarize the merits of the DotNetNuke skinning tool:

• DotNetNuke skinning is a powerful tool that combines the talents of both developers and designers.
• Its ability to totally separate code and UI management mean that each party can work independently with confidence, knowing that the integrity of his or her work is not going to be compromised.
• Developers who embrace the knowledge of designers when developing modules and further enhance their own product by allowing seamless, attractive integration of their modules into a DotNetNuke site will reap the rewards in the future, because the expectation of users these days is that it also must look good.
• The skinning engine, although always in development and improvement, is well designed and extremely advanced in its offerings for developers and designers alike to further enhance by developing skinobjects to increase functionality, but keep it dynamic.
• To start skinning your DotNetNuke Web site, there is documentation already written, but simply opening the default skins in the install shows you a zipped file ready to update, an ASCX example, an HTML and XML example, and it's an excellent starting point.
• Start with a simple project and get the feel of how it works, and enjoy the small successes first before embarking on larger, more complex tasks.
• If integrating custom written solutions for clients, enhance the visual appeal by working with a skinning specialist who understands the audience, the platform, and the developer.
• Most of all, spend time becoming familiar with DotNetNuke. Like any other application, it needs and deserves the time to become familiar with it to reap the benefits that it will give you.

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