I know blogs and generally love just how much Google love they get. As a general rule blogs gets indexed more than websites simply because the content is updated more regularly.
Moving to DotNetNuke met me with a big problem, I wanted the capabilities of DotNetNuke and the ability to blog in a manner that I was used to. With wordpress I had the option to move my plugins around on the page, DotNetNuke allows this however I did have to hunt long and hard before I found a module that did exactly what I wanted to.
First lets talk about the problems that I faced with the other modules, given that there are only about three modules worth speaking about on the snowcovered marketplace it won't take long to cover :)
My first option looked ok and being the cheapest I knew that it wasn't going to be great, however it did allow for modules to separated up into different containers. However one thing it lacked was a search function that allowed the user to search the blog without having to leave the page. I was used to this function and wanted the results to be on the same page that I was searching from. The demo seemed "ok" but the lack of response from the developer didn't go down well with me. That was called the Post It Blog module and is priced at $40.
Next on my list and at a much higher $130 I found a module called Live Blog. Although I found a demo and it was easy to download, the thing that put me off the module right away was that the entire module was built into one and made it extremely difficult to work into my theme and customise. Instant Uninstall!
Finally I found a module called SunBlogNuke. Instantly impressed.
Installation starts with the usual "Install as an extension" type of install and the current version works with all instances of DotNetNuke.
Once installation is complete you then add the SunBlog module to a page, this populates the page with a number of related modules that you can drop into any container you choose. This type of setup is extremely flexible and allows you to customise your blog to your liking.
The first thing I wanted to know before even digging into the backend, was just how pretty I could make the front end. For the novice there is a small selection of themes that styles the blog in a minimalistic kind of way, and in my case fixed a few alignment errors that came when I first dropped the module onto the page.
The good thing about the built in themes is that they do not take over the site with design, but rather add to the current theme. The more experienced designer can go to the desktop modules folder and have a play with the theme css or create their own, something that the developer encourages.
You can check out our demo blog here.
I liked that fact that the code was well written, it was very easy for me just to plant my own code in all the right places to get the look and feel I wanted.
The SunBlogNuke blog module is a multi blog module that allows you to create multiple blogs under multiple authors, this is perfect if you have a big organization and have different departments where information shared is quite varied. As a result of this the different parts of the module come with many options for you to play with.
The categories module lets you pick from which blog the categories are being selected via the options, for me this was never a big deal as i only have one blog but it's very useful to have!
The search was a huge selling point for me. I am used to seeing the blog search results on the blog page.
The meta section is where all the backend action happens, and allows you to create and edit posts as well as organize your blog.
The backend of the blog is very organized with a place for everything. Statistics are prominent and allow you to see how many page views you have on each post. Also on the main page you can find your most recent comments and any draft posts you may have to finish as well as a section to make a "quick post".
Along the top we have a navigation section to allow us to create, edit or delete blogs, change blog settings which includes general, writing and reading settings, adding a new entry (although you can do this on the blog home page), change comments settings, manage blog users, edit categories, manage tags, customization settings and migration settings.
Each of these settings allow you to do everything you would expect with a normal blog and if you are a seasoned blogger you will feel right at home.
To be honest I have really only touched on the elements of the SunBlogNuke Blog module, however I can say with honesty (I have tested them all) that SunBlogNuke is the most flexible and user friendly module of the bunch.
Priced at a very reasonable $99.95, you can get this module fitted to your skin like a glove in no time.
The SunBlogNuke website also come with a huge variety of downloadable guides and videos to help you along the way. I will also be posting some tutorials to get you started with this awesome module.
By Hayden Tomas