Once you are using JQuery with DNN. There are scores of JQuery plug-in libraries that can be used to speed up development.  JQuery UI will allow you to quickly and easily add client side controls like Dialogs, Progress bars and Tabs to your pages. These controls are comprehensive in terms of functionality, for example the Dialog control allows dialogs to be modal or non modal, dragged and resized just as you would expect from a desktop application Dialog.

• Avoid using decorative styles in your modules main stylesheet (colours, backgrounds, borders etc)
• Split your CSS into functional and layout styles, and optionally provide an example stylesheet with some basic decorative styles
• Make sure to add meaningful/semantic classes and id’s to all your modules page elements.

Did you know that you can use JQuery with DNN to simplify your client-side code. The JQuery library file is available from http://jquery.com/  although JQuery comes supplied with DotNetNuke 5.  JQuery is a powerful client side library that can reduce the amount of JavaScript you have to write.  JQuery uses CSS syntax to select HTML elements and allow you to easily and quickly manipulate their attributes in a browser agnostic way.

Did you know you can replace DNN’s default menu with a custom menu skin object.

If you are writing an AJAX DotNetNuke module and do need to cause a full postback for any reason you can use the DotNetNuke.Framework.AJAX.RegisterPostBackControl  method on the desired control (most likely and asp button) to ensure that control triggers a full postback rather than an AJAX request. The most likely reason to use this is if you need to trigger a Response.Redirect on the server.

If you add a stylesheet called “skin.css” to your skin folder or “container.css” to your container folder it will automatically be linked when the skin or container is used.

DNN has its own AJAX function library. It uses the namespace DotNetNuke.Framework.AJAX. It will even let you check to see if the AJAX components are installed (using DotNetNuke.Framework.AJAX.IsInstalled )so you can branch between a traditional Postback implementation of a module and slicker AJAX version depending on whether or not the components are installed.

Did you know you can set the default doctype for your skin by adding an xml file to your skin folder and calling it “skinname.doctype.xml”, then add your doctype declaration to this file?