I’ve started building websites using DNN recently. There’s been quite a learning curve, but there’s some amazing tools and resources which have made life a hell of a lot easier for me. So here’s a shout out:

• nvQuickSite is a brilliant little tool which makes firing up new installations of DNN a breeze
• nvQuickTheme (from the same people) is a great place to start when building a new DNN Theme or Skin
• OpenContent (by Sacha Trauwaen) is a brilliant module for building structured content in DNN. If, like me, you’ve spent a lot of time working with SharePoint, you can think of OpenContent as Content Types, Lists and the Content Query Web Part, but a hell of a lot nicer. As much as I loved XSLT, I don’t miss it using it – I can choose between Handlebars and Razor here, depending on how complex things need to get. I’ve used it for all sorts of stuff – from news feeds to video galleries and “meet the team” modules.
• Matt Rutledge’s Yo DNN Generator has come in really handy for building new DNN modules from scratch. Same is true of Chris Hammond’s Visual Studio Templates.
• The DNNConnect group on Facebook is full of really helpful people who know DNN inside out.
• Aderson Oliviera’s Youtube Channel and Open Friday initiative.

I’m sure there’s more I’ve forgotten. I feel pretty proficient with DNN now, but I couldn’t have got there without the help from all of the people and tools here. Thanks y’all.