Patrick Renner's Personal Site

Using the Telerik Rad Editor with DNN

Patrick — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:15:00 GMT

I really wanted the title of this blog post to be “Customizing the Telerik Rad Editor with DNN to Reinforce Consistent Content Administration Practices for your Content Editors and Other Implications of using Telerik Rad Editor as your Default HTML Editor in DNN” but that may have been a tad too long.

In DotNetNuke 5.4.0, the community edition of the platform included the Telerik RAD Editor. This is an exciting new development for the community edition of DNN. The flexibility of the HTML editor in DNN is one of the most commonly overlooked features. For most content editors, the HTML editor might be their only interaction with the system. For this reason, customizing the HTML editor for your content administrators is crucial to user adoption and creating a friendly workspace for your editors.

Google AJAX Search in my DNN Site

Patrick — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:51:00 GMT

A good search is a prevalent theme in all of the websites I implement. Google has set the bar high in terms of expectations for what search can do. The core search in DotNetNuke doesn’t come close. So as the phrase goes “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” ... Have you ever typed “site:www.patrickrenner.com” into Google? It allows you to simply search a single site using the indexing of Google. The AJAX search basically does the same thing. It takes the URL you wish to search and appends your search parameters on to the request to Google.

DotNetNuke 5 User’s Guide Reviews

Patrick — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:27:00 GMT

This week has been exciting, aside from the lame mid-summer head cold I’m suffering, because of a few positive reviews of the book I wrote with Chris Hammond. The reviews have been right in line with the goals we had for the book – simple, focused, “Get Your Websites Up and Running.”

Speaking at St. Louis Day of .NET

Patrick — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:51:00 GMT

I received an email today confirming that one of my topics was selected for theSt. Louis Day of .NET conference.

The topic I will be presenting on is a topic for which I am passionate. Passionate seems a little overkill and strange, but let me give you the long story. The web is very prevalent in our lives. Websites are becoming more-and-more user friendly, and user experience design is important to this progress. Elegant designs, intuitive navigation, attractive, usable websites should not be something limited to web designers. In order for a website to achieve its goals, the handoff from web designer to content owner needs to happen. Websites are only as good as their content. The design helps to make the content stick.

Sincere Customer Service

Patrick — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:46:00 GMT

I don’t want to turn this blog post into preaching about what makes good customer service, but I do want to make a “shout out” to Josephotography. Joe, shot our wedding photos almost two years ago, but just yesterday we received a CD in the mail with a movie he put together with our photos. Sure, I may have laid down a guilt-trip when we saw him two weeks ago at our friend’s wedding, but his follow through still deserves recognition for great customer service. He didn’t owe us anything. We were already very happy and he had our vote of approval (and recommendations), but he still took the time to do something thoughtful for us.

Optimizing the FCKEditor for DNN

Patrick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:35:00 GMT

The FCKEditor in DNN allows for rich text editing, and as a WYSIWYG tool, it does a great job. A recurring goal for many of my DotNetNuke customers is to distribute content administrative rights to a broad audience. This is a realistic goal, and the FCKEditor helps to provide content administrators the tools to create and edit content without detailed knowledge of HTML.

Integrating DNN Search with Google Site Search

Patrick — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:04:00 GMT

It's no secret that DotNetNuke's core search leaves a lot to be desired. When implementing DNN sites or any site for that matter, search is typically a top requirement. To be perfectly honest, I have conveniently tried to leave off search functions from design comps or implementation plans because I dread the discussion that much (my conscience typically gets the better of me and we find a solution).

For more info on how the core search works check out this blog entry on DNN core search by Chris Hammond.

Well, I have found a solution that I'm pretty happy with and can confidently recommend as an implementation approach for DotNetNuke implementations - integrate a Google Site Search account with the core DNN skin object.

Embedding SWF in HTML

Patrick — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:32:00 GMT

We don't develop Flash at Engage, but we do implement it a lot in websites we develop. As a result, I am frequently hunting down the best way to implement flash in DNN.

I had an example of the HTML saved on my desktop because I was referencing it so frequently, but I realized that's a good way to get set in old ways. I'm creating this blog post as a repository for references I use to find the latest in embedding Flash (swf) in HTML.

Stubbing out Site Navigation

Patrick — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:45:00 GMT

I came across jumpchart.com the other day. The site explains how important it is to clearly articulate the proposed site map or information architecture for sites you're developing.

As a project manager, I'm all for process and looking for better ways to communicate the scope and ideas for a project; but seeing this site made me appreciate the value of a content management system like DNN.

My New Flip

Patrick — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:57:00 GMT

I purchased a Flip Ultra last week and received it in the mail yesterday. I thought I'd give it a test spin by video taping something that wasn't camera shy - Sunny.

Really, I wanted to see just how easy it is to get the videos off the camera, on to the web, and into my blog or an email to a friend.

Does Having a Blog make this Hypocritical?

Patrick — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:36:00 GMT

<p>I laughed, I cried, I seriously doubted myself. I'm still holding out against Twitter and seriously reconsidering Facebook.</p>

Peaberry Coffee

Patrick — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:55:00 GMT

I fell in love with the coffee I have been drinking this week. Its Trader Joe's Peaberry blend coffee. My coffee palate has either been refined by the vast quantities of coffee I have been drinking recently or by an adverse reaction to the dishwater we've been brewing at work recently. My body may be telling me to pay attention to the coffee I pour down my throat as a result of the rancid brew we make at work (think Orson Well's description in 1984).

Today's Learning - FATA and Logoff

Patrick — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:31:00 GMT

One of my career mission statements is to learn something every day. One of the reasons I started this blog is to supplement my faulty memory by giving me a place to document things I pickup, observe, and muse about on a semi-irregular basis.

FATA and Fatah are different

Using the Login control in DNN the control panel to provide an easy way for Administrators to logoff.

Showing Your Hand

Patrick — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:56:00 GMT

I'm an open book most of the time. I speak candidly, I am brutally honest and self-effacing. I am a terrible poker player because I have no poker face.

React, Respond, Initiate

Patrick — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:41:00 GMT

Responding is better than reacting, but above both is initiating. Yesterday,Dang launched Engage's new look website. I love the initiative he took to consolidate our two sites, merge the business units (our services and our products), and totally consolidate the site structure. The design is beautiful and the execution is fantastic.

As I look at the site, I'm tempted to react and try to put in my two cents. Sure, there are things that can be improved, but this is the gear that keeps business moving. It would be easy to immediate use these as a way to inject input. But by doing this and trying to control things I would lose the real feat in front of me. Why would I dwell on these issues at all when I should be rejoicing in Dang's initiative?

Commercial Investigations, Inc.

Patrick — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:08:00 GMT

SCAM WATCH

I received a call today from Ken Burns, from the Offices of Commercial Investigation.

Apparently, I owe $1,311.97 to Century Restoration, but if I "make some soft of good faith effort" I can avoid "legal action that can adversely affect my credit."

Since there's not really much I can do to combat these jerks, I wanted to post to inform anyone else who may recieve a call from Ken or someone from Commercial Investigations. On the side, I wanted to say SCREW YOU to all the jerks out there willing to participate in scams like this.

Starbust

Patrick — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:56:00 GMT

This next observation is by in no means unique or novel, its primarily personal.

I have read reports and heard NPR stories about the woes of Starbucks. In St. Louis, Starbucks is (or already has) closed 16 stores.

In a leaked internal memo from Charles Schultz, Schultz recognizes

Stores no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store.

To a Starbucks outsider, it almost seems comical to me that they didn't see this coming. Of the three Starbucks within two miles of my house, each is a drive through.

Knowing When to Say Uncle

Patrick — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:27:00 GMT

"A Christmas Story" was just on television yesterday for 24 straight hours. I have seen this movie in entirety countless times and watched snippets more times than I'd like to admit. Yesterday, as I waited to go to my in-laws, I caught a scene in which Ralphie and his friends are bullied by Scut Farkus.

Ralphies friend, Flick, gets trapped by Scut and his bully friends. They grab Flick and make his scream uncle. The scene made me think about the times in life when you just have to "say uncle."

Being stubborn, proud, and often self-important (none of my best traits) makes me prone to never saying uncle. Not in the sense of being a push over, rather I mean knowing when it is better to be liked than to be right.

FCK Editor Adds Lines in DNN 4.9

Patrick — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:19:00 GMT

The FCK Editor adds a <p> </p> by default which causes some unexpected spacing in your HTML.

Calendar in Out of Office: Outlook

Patrick — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:46:00 GMT

I would lable myself a bit of a Microsoft Office nerd. I really like finding news ways to overcomplicate the way I use Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Today, I found a post by the product managers for Outlook on how to incorporate a visual indication of when you'll be out of office in your auto out of office response.

This blog is often a rant, sometimes a reflection, and occasionally a way for me to remember cool things so I can search my own blog rather than redoing the searches I've done in the past.

I'm going to outline the process for including a mini calendar in out of office messages because I find myself overcomplicating the message I use each time I got out of the office. Should it be "returning on Monday, December 29th" or "I'll be out until the Friday, December 26th and assume they know I'll be back on Monday"

Mutts Like Me

Patrick — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:58:00 GMT

Well maybe not like me. I'm thinking mutt, more in terms of diversity in backgrounds. My parents went to the same high school and raised me in a neighboring city.

I am interested in the attention the seemingly unimportant comment Barrack Obama made when talking about the kind of dog his family was going to get.

“There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic, but on the other hand our preference is to get a shelter dog, but obviously, a lot of the shelter dogs are mutts like me,”

All This Convenience is Killing Us

Patrick — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Both my parents came from large families in today's terms. My mom is one of nine and my dad was one of five. I guess they are typical baby boomers.

I flipped by an episode of "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" and they were talking about the sheer quantity of diapers they went through on a daily basis with six babies. This got me thinking about how families of this size might deserve things like paper cups and disposable grocery bags and individually packaged snacks.

But in large, families of this size are the exception. Gone are the days of massive Catholic families. The items that drive convenience have passed, but the nasty dependencies we developed has stayed and perpetuated.

Giving your Ideas Traction

Patrick — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:18:00 GMT

Don't you just hate it when you see something in the news, in a blog, or on TV that makes you go, "Hey, that's my idea!"?

To take it a step further, there are books I've read or blog I follow which make me nod my head in agreement the entire time I'm reading their work. At the end of the book or article I find myself saying, "Damn, I've been thinking the same thing for a while, but why couldn't I articulate that thought like she did."

Web 2.0 Project Management Tools Review

Patrick — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:13:00 GMT

What makes a good project management tool? A project management tool should have the ability to:

Plan the work
Track the work
Complete the work
Report on the work

The issue with most of the tools I've used in the past has been that when the tool isn't easy, it isn't used. The tool needs to support both the methodology of the project as well as support the team members on the project. If the tool interferes with progress, the tool becomes a burden rather than a tool. If you have to carry around a sledge hammer to pound nails into a board you're going to avoid pounding nails.

My Grandpa's Suits

Patrick — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:33:00 GMT

After my grandfather passed away, my dad and I each took a few of my grandpa's suits and had them tailored for ourselves. I have three suits of his. Each has a very subtle essence of the era in which he bought them (probably 1970s or 1980s). This essence might give it away as an outdated suit, but for me that same essence distinctly reminds me of my grandpa. And the suit is a perfect symbol for what my grandpa represented in my life - intellect, honor, pride and Clubman Aftershave.