Will Strohl's Blog

I need to get back on track with having a blog post ready for each and every DotNetNuke module release I make.  In this case, I definitely wanted to make it a point to have an update here in the blog.  There have been 4 different releases of the Content Slider module since this module was first made available two months ago.  As it turns out, there is a lot of demand for this module.  After all, there have already been over a thousand downloads so far.  Not bad for being in the wild for 8 weeks.

I love to see success in any shape in the DotNetNuke community and ecosystem.  I especially love the successes that we see in user groups.  I blogged about an up and coming user group in Charlotte, NC not too long ago.  They have been experiencing incredible growth for a niche topic user group (as all DNN user groups are).  I knew then that it wouldn’t be long before I would find myself in Charlotte presenting at the Queen City DotNetNuke User Group (QCDUG). 

We hopefully all know by now that there is a contest going where several people have submitted entries to try and win the honor and title of being called the DotNetNuke SUPER Fan for 2011.  I cannot express to you how jealous I am about the fact that I myself cannot participate, but I do get a but of satisfaction of seeing the entries and interacting with the world’s biggest fans of DotNetNuke.  Unfortunately, today I get to talk about a late entry.

The time has come…  Many of you have seen and been part of the buzz leading up to and after the announcement of the DotNetNuke SUPER Fan Contest entries.  There are entries of all kinds. There are images, websites, videos, and more.  There are evangelism examples, parodies, a rap, and even marriage announcements.  If you wanted to voice your opinion and tell everyone which contest entry is your favorite. today is the day…

It was nearly a month ago for the first official release of the Disqus Module for DotNetNuke.  The initial releases focuses on just getting some minimal functionality out there to gauge interest in the module, and to attempt to get a deeper knowledge of Disqus itself before the deeper levels of integration were attempted.  Well, that time has come…  Welcome deeper integration!

It has been such an overwhelming task to have to keep all of the entries for the DotNetNuke SUPER Fan Contest under wraps.  There really are some very creative and simply outstanding entries for this first run of the contest – even some surprises!  We’ve had entries from some people that you probably would know, and some new people as well. 

I was speaking with another member of the community about general DotNetNuke stuff, and the conversation turned to modules.  It was mentioned that there wasn’t a single known open source module that offered the ability to integrate content sliders or banner rotators into your DNN website.  There are of course a ton of ways to implement such a feature.  Snowcovered has numerous modules that allow you to do this.  So, I decided to create a nice and easy one for the Forge.

It’s been a month since I first announced the user group contest for DotNetNuke World.  This is actually two contests in one.  First, all DotNetNuke user groups are encouraged to compete to get the most members to register to attend DotNetNuke World.  The other contest involves the members of the ODUG trying to get the most referrals to register for the conference.  Both contests have some amazing prizes.  Here is an update of who is in the lead right now.

Do you LOVE DotNetNuke?  Do you find yourself running to DotNetNuke events, or jumping to the front of a line just to get a DotNetNuke t-shirt?  Have you had the uncontrollable urge to take a picture with the logo, put the logo on something, or meet and greet with some of the most well-known folks in the DotNetNuke community?

You may or may not be aware of a highly useful and engaging third party comment platform called Disqus.  Disqus was created and founded in 2007 to allow websites to replace their comment engines with one that offers a much simpler and socially enabled alternative.  With features like single sign on, centralized comment management and viewing, enhanced spam controls, consistent cross-site standards, and being able to use the same comment identity and information across multiple sites, it’s a no-brainer to want to use Disqus as your comment engine of choice.  So, I chose to build a module to integrate it into DotNetNuke.