At Engage, we've really enjoyed using DDR menu for our skins.  It gives us a lot more control than we had before with the DNN menu (or SolPart before it).  One of the great features that we enjoyed was the ability to define a menu template using the Razor template language.  This gives us full access to C# code within the menu template, making it simple to do whatever we want the menu to do.  However, we ran into a snag when we started trying to update our sites to DNN 7.

I just got back from presenting at DNN World 2012.  It was a good time to see all of the folks in the DNN community who love DNN and are working to move it forward.  DNN 7 is shaping up to be a wonderful major release with some well thought-out user experience changes, some great professional features, and developer productivity features, and the introduction of the forth-coming Nebula product is one to keep an eye on.

I started off the conference by presenting on developing functionality using the Knockout JavaScript library. I've embedded the presentation below, and used some demos which are now hosted on jsfiddle: Demo 1, Demo 2, Demo 3, Demo 4, Demo 5

In addition to presenting, I was able to walk away from the conference with a couple of awards. I was presented with one of ten DotNetNuke MVP awards for community contributions, which was very special. I've heard the sentiment from a few others, but it really is humbling and surprising to stand on the stage with folks whose work and dedication you respect. I don't see myself belonging with that group, but I'm pleased that the kind folks at DNN Corporation have a different view of it. I'm excited to see who joins the MVP ranks in the spring (they indicated that there will be MVPs names twice a year), as there are still quite a few folks who really deserve the title.

So, in addition to that award, I was able to get up on the stage again (with the rest of the crew from Engage) to help accept the Site-of-the-Year award (non-profit category) for Visit Yellowstone. This site was a lot of work, and we're really proud of how it came together. It's great to be recognized for that work.

We were also really proud of Clint for winning the DNN SuperFan award (as well as being a fellow MVP). We were all rooting for him at the office; he is, without a doubt, the biggest, most active and genuine fan of DotNetNuke that I know. Overall, the conference was a really enjoyable and gratifying experience that we're looking forward to for next year.

We’re on the plane flying back to St. Louis from DNN World 2011. I gave a presentation titled DNN 6 UI/UX Patterns, discussing the form patterns introduced in the administrative modules in DNN 6 (the new look and feel that you immediately noticed after logging into your new DNN 6 site).  Many folks asked about seeing the examples that I presented, and they are available as a repository on github, at https://github.com/bdukes/DNN-World-Demos.  This includes a series of small, one-control modules that demonstrate the various parts and pieces introduced in DNN 6.  I’ve also placed the slide deck on SlideShare, (though the vast majority of the content was just demonstration, don’t be expecting a wealth of information there).  Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to give clarifications.