The Developer - John Mitchell

It's true, I'm totally biased, one eyed, and hooked on this very cool product and for the life of me, can't think why a single person would not have in their booty of cool modules we have for our dnn websites we build, manage or aspire to have. So, I would like to share with you, my experience and usage of the Snapsis CSS Menu which I know I have mentioned on many sites, in forums, perhaps mentioned in my blogs in small detail, but never really gone into much detail into why, as a professional in the DotNetNuke industry, so I thought that it would be beneficial to cover in a little more detail, why, if you are using a DNN web site, whether you're an end user or a professional who provides skins and services to other customers, this menu is something that should be in your 'Portfolio' of must haves, which I'm sure most people who are involved in any particular CMS.

Like anything, as you get to know it more, you become attached to it if it has served you well, and I think that is why I really like this module and how it works for me. Sometimes you might develop a good dialogue with the developer to help give you more confidence in the product. When you learn more about how someone approaches a solution, you can't help but admire why these people who write code are so incredibly valuable.

Back in the days of DNN 1, skinning wasn't really an option like it is today. Customers who wanted to have skinned sites were able to but it was a little awkward and bulky and until John Mitchell from Snapsis brought his skinning 'add on' there was little option in providing a unique look for a customer. So, from DNN 1, John Mitchell has been around supporting the community and providing solid solutions that are centred around the the look and feel of the web site. That was over 6 years ago and to this date, John Mitchell's knowledge and his web site still assists people in incredibly useful ways and he is known for providing succinct answers and tips for the DotNetNuke community.

Also, on the core team for several years, John's knowledge of the product is exceptional, and he's one of those people who works in the industry full time, managing highly trafficked websites, but still finds the time to provide a few significant and important solutions that make DotNetNuke a better product, without being intrusive.

John's two projects are Page Blaster -which I think now is his primary product that makes DotNetNuke run a ***load faster, and his very popular Snapsis CSS based menu. Now you have to understand the person to appreciate what a great piece of work the menu is. I have known John for years, via DNN, via the web, and we caught up in person at the MVP conference in Seattle back in 2007. That's where I had some real hands teaching bout Page Blaster, and the Snapsis menu was in development. It was great to meet in person, and then back in Australia, I've been in frequent contact and found him to be not only a very decent person (with a very dry sense of humour) but someone who has this incredible knowledge of DNN and an eye for detail, efficiency and accuracy I've not seen on many people.

One thing that you can be assured of when buying something from Snapsis is a good product -or should I be more up front and say - a fantastic product. The Snapsis menu is uniquely different to other third party menus that have popped up on the market now and I have tried quite a few of them, with interest of course in improving how my client's sites work, how long it takes for us to code them, and how much access to the menu our clients can actually get.