Leading DotNetNuke news and forum modules?

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Leading DotNetNuke news and forum modules?

I'm in the position of having to either recommend an existing or develop a custom news and forum module for a DotNetNuke installation. Both modules need to have the features you'd expect from such a module. Quite an open set of requirement, but that's all I have so far.

I've been brought in to rescue an Intranet redevelopment project which already uses DNN, so that's non-negotiable.

I've never developed for DNN before, so I don't know how easy module development is.

Those with experience in the area, please can you tell me:

The best news and forum modules you know of
How easy custom module development is
Would you recommend custom module development, or to use existing products.

Version 3 of DNN is currently in use, but a newer version can be installed if required.

+1 A:

"News module" is pretty open, but the best simple news module is probably Ventrian's News Articles module. My company, Engage Software, makes another article management system, Engage: Publish, that is more full featured in some areas.

Active Forums is generally considered the cream of the crop for DNN forums.

DNN module development takes a little getting used to, so that you're familiar with your options and what DNN offers, but it's fairly simple once you know what you're doing. Engage offers a number of training options if you end up deciding to go that route.

I think your best bet is to evaluate the existing modules, take them for a spin, and see if you can get them to meet your needs before you go creating something on your own. All of the modules I've mentioned will be able to support you if you run into any issues or need any help figuring out if they have a way to meet your needs.

bdukes 2009-09-29 16:55:10

Agreeing with the above, I'd like to add the following recommendation: Don't use DNN 3. Staying with the latest and greatest (05.01.02 at time of writing) is ideal. If you're using something as old as 3.x you're missing out on a LOT of features, performance enhancements, security fixes, etc...

Ian Robinson 2009-09-30 13:19:21

Thanks - it looks like ActiveForum meets the requirements, but after showing my client the existing news modules they want me to develop our own. I've convinced them to upgrade to 5, so that's a bonus.

Peter Bridger 2009-10-01 15:51:34

Out of curiosity - what were the reasons for building your own news module from scratch? The reason I ask is that this is one of the more established, feature rich, customizable areas in the DNN world, seems like an odd one to write from scratch.

Ian Robinson 2009-10-02 04:32:42

I've not been able to find any existing news modules that do exactly the types of things my client is asking for. It seems that my clients requirements are just to specific and nothing out there meets enough of them.

Peter Bridger 2009-10-06 11:15:56

Peter please list your client's requirements. Maybe you don't need a news module at all.

As for Forums, ActiveForum is good. The free DNN Forum module that comes with DNN is pretty good too.

Rip Rowan 2009-10-15 21:48:16

If you are looking for a free news/article management system, try allnewsmanager.NET

A good forum that works in dnn is yetanotherforum.NET

Max 2010-07-02 09:46:32

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