Everyone wants their site to look good. When it comes to today’s content management systems, nearly all of them give the end-user the ability to install their theme/skin of choice. In the DotNetNuke world, they’re called skins, while WordPress refers to them as themes.
There are solid theme and skin producers out there for both platforms, and there are hundreds, if not thousands of each available either free or paid.
**Developing Themes**
DotNetNuke wins this, hands down. The ease with which developers can start and customize their skins to a client’s needs is far superior than WordPress. The simplest of simple DNN skins can actually be made with a single file (as I recall; someone correct me if I’m wrong). WordPress doesn’t even come close in this regard.
If you’re going to build a theme in WordPress from the ground up, get ready for a learning experience. No doubt that first timers in either case will be learning quite a bit, but take it from someone who has built and customized at least one skin/theme for each platform: DNN is much easier.
Winner for Developing Themes – DotNetNuke
**Standardization**
Standardization in terms of functionality is what I’m getting at in this section. DotNetNuke skins almost all work the same way. WordPress themes are as different from each other as the day is long. And I don’t just mean how they look.
Both platforms allow for the separation of data presentation from data manipulation, but that line is not quite as clear in WordPress as it is in DotNetNuke. In a WordPress theme, you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get on the administration side of your theme. Your theme might have an options panel, it might not. It may include functionality like image sliders and shortcodes, or it may not.
Some may see this as an advantage for WordPress. As an everyday administrator for both systems, I can say that I don’t. When I move from site to site in WordPress, I’m having to know and remember where all the settings are for a particular theme. Since so many theme producers are also placing functionality into their themes, if you change to another theme on your WordPress site, there’s a good chance you’ll lose all of those features that you worked so hard to set up. If you ask me, that’s a disadvantage, even if you’re working with higher quality themes.
While things do change a bit from skin to skin on DotNetNuke sites, it is mostly in the layout of the pages, as you would expect when switching skins. DotNetNuke skins, by and large, aren’t trying to do so much on the user’s behalf. Most of that functionality in DotNetNuke is produced by modules that you would add to your site, that would NOT change from skin to skin.
Winner for Standardization – DotNetNuke
**Shopping Experience and Cost**
Theme and skin shops abound for both WordPress and DotNetNuke. The edge here is probably going to WordPress, because there are a great many more to choose from. Also, in spite of the lack of standards between WordPress themes, installing and previewing them is easier from within the admin section of the site. You can search for skins from within a DotNetNuke portal, but it’s just easier to click and install, then activate one on a WordPress site.
Free skins and themes for WordPress far exceed in both quality and availability what is available for DotNetNuke. That may simply be due to the enormous popularity of WordPress, I’m not quite sure why that is., but it just is. There are many free DotNetNuke skins that I have used and loved over the years, but for the most part the HIGH quality ones are few and far between. Over the years DNN has proven to be more of a hangout for developers than designers, but great designers DO exist in the DNN community. Just not as many.
Average costs for WordPress themes are also lower. It may not be a big deal if you’re running a corporate site, but if you’re just an average “Joe” who needs a theme, odds are you’d rather be shopping for a WordPress theme. Higher end WordPress themes can be just as pricey as good DotNetNuke skins, don’t get me wrong. But WordPress also has several high-profile theme shops that offer subscription services to their customers, allowing full access to all themes from their store. Most DNN skin devs don’t offer those types of subscriptions.
Winner for Shopping Experience and Cost – WordPress
**Summary**
The discussion on themes and skins could go on and on for quite some time. I think DotNetNuke skinning is simpler and more straightforward, which in the end leaves greater flexibility for skinners and developers alike. Developers don’t have to worry quite as much that a skin is going to break their module. Skinners don’t have to lie awake at night consumed with the development aspects of the DotNetNuke framework.
[box type=”tick” size=”large” style=”rounded”]Overall winner for Themes and Skins – DotNetNuke[/box]
Something you may cover in #6 is that DotNetNuke has in-context administration. This is fantastic for usability since the tools are directly adjacent to the content. This style also means you don’t need to memorize content names or carefully group plugins – everything you need is on the same page.
However, this also means the platform has to load a number of resources to support the functions and these impact the design.
One that is brought up a lot is the default.css file which contains the styles for a number of core components – many of which you may never use. The files is outside the scope of the skin or portal so to control the design, one has to write rules to reset or redefine the elements. Changing the original file isn’t an option since will impact all portals on the same instance and will get replaced when the code is upgraded. The results in bloated content and a frustrating experience for newbie skinners.
In WordPress, theme designers have essentially a blank canvas whereas DotNetNuke skin designers in must adapt and work within the environment.
(at least, until I get my way 😉 http://support.dotnetnuke.com/issue/ViewIssue.aspx?ID=20356&PROJID=2 )