20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as useful as it could have been... missed the mark., October 14, 2009
This review is from: DotNetNuke 5 User's Guide: Get Your Website Up and Running (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
I guess maybe my assumptions about what this book is supposed to do were off, because while I found it helpful, I didn't find it to be very useful.
My assumption was that there would be how to's in the book that would guide me through the process of building a website and then publishing it. While the book gives you information "ABOUT" doing that, it is very light on the "HOW" to do it. The information is there, but it seems I had to struggle to find it as the book is more "ABOUT WHAT" various features and property settings should be used and how they act, but little in the way of "the complete picture", leaving a novice to figure it (a lot) out on their own.
The first 3 chapters are great, the 4th is ok but long and again, it is all about what DNN is and what the various properties are and setting up permissions using roles and groups. Unfortunately, from chapter 5 forward, the book, when needing to deliver more step-by-step information about how to build the first site, it assumes way too much and leaves the reader scratching their head about when I am going to get to step 1. The problem is, there is not step 1, or step 2 for that matter. If you look at most technical books, especially those addressing those with no prior programming experience, you would expect to be guided through step 1, step 2, step 3 and so forth, that is the general method in which the "HOW" to do something is delivered, this book doesn't do that when it needs to. Not to say it ever does it, but it is missing the mark 90% of the time and when it does use the step-by-step method, it seems unusual, especially since it wasn't used prior.
The delivery of roles and groups was a huge missed opportunity as it is explained as a feature, but never put into play when building the websites; instead the user is given a recommendation and told to reference the materials in chapter 4, where it was already discussed. In fact, roles and groups was not the only place that was done, that was done several times throughout the book, when the most helpful scenario would have been to reiterate what was already discussed, as showing you why is usually followed up by showing you how, or even vice versa.
Another issue was many of the screen shots in the book showed different terminology then the application showed for many of the features. While they weren't show stoppers, they did cause me to slow down repeatedly as I looked for what I was doing and trying to find the correct view. Has the software changed? Were the screen shots wrong? I don't know...
I also found the book didn't do a good job of explaining what I needed to do to install all of the modules that come with the application. The book tells you to place the blog and the gallery modules on the page, but I needed to go to the extensions module to install them. The explanation is there in the grey highlighted box, but the information is sounding like it was just some random information, not that it was necessary for the coming... hmmm... I want to exercises, but they weren't that, so let's say information. By the way, I never found the gallery and when you get to building the small business site, the store modules are not available either. Now is this a DNN issue or a book issue? I don't know, but those modules were not available as installable modules, so a couple of more lost opportunities for features that most would really want to learn.
My last gripe is the "other reviews"; I'll just say if you look at the 4 reviews for this book, all of the reviewers have ever only reviewed this book, with the exception of 1 guy who has reviewed only 3 DNN books, ever. I thought maybe I was a bit too skeptical, but then I noticed the 5 reviews for the book titled "Professional DotNetNuke 5: Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.NET". Draw your own conclusion.
All in all, DNN is a great CMS package with great features and capabilities, but this book won't get you nearly as far as you need to even competently deploy your first site without much more work and learning from other sources.
Should you buy this book, well, if you really want to learn this tool, you really don't have much of a choice if you learn best from a book since this is currently the only one out there and probably the only one to be published anytime soon. Just don't' expect it to be all you need to deploy your first site. You'll learn a lot, but you'll do it in an awkward manner that will leave you feeling like you know a lot "ABOUT" the DNN without feeling like you know "HOW" to do it.
2.5 stars
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprise! Surprise! A truly excellent User's Guide, September 17, 2009
This review is from: DotNetNuke 5 User's Guide: Get Your Website Up and Running (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
Yes, this book deserves a 5-star rating. It is not only quite the best book on DotNetNuke, it is also an object lesson in everything a User's Guide should be. It strikes the right balance between too technical and too superficial (unlike many other Wrox books whose unevenness no doubt reflect their multiple authorship). It guides you through three excellent and different worked examples (a personal site, a league website, and a small business website) introducing the key modules along the way.
I have been using DotNetNuke for years and I still found a lot in here that was helpful. For example, I have never bothered with the Banner module because I have no interest in hosting adverts on my site. But, of course, it makes a perfectly good content rotator as the authors point out.
One of the criticisms consistently leveled at DotNetNuke is that it is mainly for developers, as its capabilities have grown so the software has become bloated and inaccessible. There is some truth in this (try finding out how to update system emails and messages by navigating the Help system on the DotNetNuke site!).
So this book fills a important gap and, hopefully, will do a lot to introduce more people to the extraordinary tool that DotNetNuke has become.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive guide to managing a DotNetNuke site!, September 29, 2009
This review is from: DotNetNuke 5 User's Guide: Get Your Website Up and Running (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
I am a .NET developer and independent consultant who has recently started to see a major upswing in customers looking for DotNetNuke expertise. I found this book almost by accident and after a brief review of the content, was impressed by how much is actually covered. Granted, I am reasonably technical so I decided to try an experiment - I gave this book to a graphic artist friend - she primarily works with images and content, and knows little to nothing about HTML, programming concepts or web site development.
The 270+ pages are very fluid and cover in reasonable depth most of the concepts you will need to set up a successful DotNetNuke site. The authors explain not only how but to an extent why things work as they do, and when necessary tell you smart workarounds for common issues. The book covers everything from initial installation to content creation/management to security to ongoing maintenance, and does so with an easy to read style. There are plenty of example images throughout the book so you can either follow the screen using the book as a reference, or thoroughly study up on the task at hand before executing.
So back to the experiment. I gave the book to my friend and turned her loose on a test site I set up for her. Within a week she was proficient enough in DotNetNuke management that I was able to use her on 2 different projects for paying customers. She became a content specialist, recreating existing web sites for the customers and handling modifications to content, banner images, site structure and other general admin tasks. Not only was she able to learn how to use the system from the book, she was able to do so rapidly and thereby created a new way to generate income for herself (and a great way for me to offload some of the more routine tasks I have on projects while saving the customer some money on my hourly rate!).
Is this book strictly for beginners? Nope. After giving her the book, I went back and got another copy for myself. I consider myself very strong in DotNetNuke and the book still makes an excellent reference source for me.
If you are looking to set up your own DotNetNuke site, you need to get up to speed on a rapidly growing platform or are just interested in well-crafted open source software, this is the definitive work to date on DotNetNuke.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
