Hmmm…maybe one size smaller…
Jun 242005
Jun 222005
The Skinergy controls suite has been released and is available to registered users of Speerio.net from the Downloads page. It’s a good idea to review the Skinergy website at http://skinergy.speerio.net as it contains detailed information on usage.
I am off to pursue some skinergy of my own considering it’s my wedding anniversary today. 
Enjoy!
The Skinergy suite is almost ready for release. I had some trouble with the Control Panel, but it turned out to be a scripting issue with IIS. Delayed things a bit, but the demo/documentation site is almost ready. Check it out at http://skinergy.speerio.net.
I will release the package this evening after returning from my daytime cruise so my wife and I can celebrate our second wedding anniversary.
Jun 202005
I have a profound dislike for Newsletters, mostly because I receive too many unwanted ones. Unsubscribing is risky enough, so my current solution is to have a Thunderbird filter that tags the message as spam. Works quite well.
As a business owner, I do have to think about marketing though. I have resisted sending out email Newsletters to-date because that would be quite hypocritical of me. I have been toying with the idea of a rich RSS Newsletter of-late and I think this is the approach I am going to take. RSS Newsletters have significant benefits over traditional email campaigns:
1) 100% permission-based…you don’t get to see it unless you consume the feed. None of the quadruple opt-in with triple permission acknowledgement and the kitchen sink required for email.
2) ZERO cost and reliable … no error-prone sending process using email software that somehow always finds a way to fail.
3) Minimal effort … create the Newsletter, post it and you are done.
4) General trackability … no covert email beacons and the like. If someone views it, you know it.
Interestingly enough, I had an email correspondence with Christoph Richner, the creator of the free Raccoom XML framework which I use in all my modules. I respect Chris’ development skills as the Raccoom framework is way better than any RSS code I have seen anywhere, including DotNetNuke. I think Chris and I may collaborate on making the Speerio NewsWire module into something quite interesting. One feature that will be in for sure is RSS Newsletters. I will post again once I have more detail.
I am quite excited! I am putting the final touches on my Speerio “Skinergy” suite of tools for DotNetNuke.
After the DotNetNuke site was launched with the new skin and the usability controls for adjusting text size and layout width, I got a flood of emails asking for the controls. Since the Core Team wants to protect the DotNetNuke brand identity, releasing the DotNetNuke site skin to the community is out of the question. So I started work on creating a community version of an alternate skin.
Some significant scope creep later, we now have Speeio “Skinergy” — a suite of three usability enhancements plus one control panel enhancement all packaged in the new Speerio “Z” skin.
The enhancements are:
Text Size Control: Allows the user to choose their preferred text size for a site (remembered in cookie)
Layout Width Control: Allows the user to choose their preferred layout width for a site (remembered in a cookie)
Color Palette Control: Allows the user to choose their preferred color palette for a site (remembered in a cookie)
Admin Control Panel: Revised DotNetNuke control panel in a popup dialog
Got some more spit and shine to do on this package, but I fully expect to release Skinergy to the community tomorrow.
[Edit: I have posted a preview at http://skinergy.speerio.net. There is a problem with the Control Panel w.r.t. postbacks and I am currently working to resolve this issue. I will release the package once I have a fix.]
