DotNetNuke (DNN) is a powerful, open-source content management system. You will know if DNN is worth your use by understating its set of modules that comes with the package. Let us first know what a module is. In content management systems, there are sets of codes that can seamlessly fit into the overall system to provide a major functionality. As you may know, websites have certain functions which can be found in other websites as well. Such functions include logins, events calendar, contact lists among others. It is modules that enable the setup of these functions in whichever website you might have. Any version of DNN will cannot miss to have certain modules (standard modules). Let us look at the standard modules that are included in a DNN package.

Login module: In the beginning of web development, developers had to code their own login module. With time, developers realized there were common aspects found in any web login web page. These common aspects include username, password, forgot password, register, and remember password. The DNN login module is a simple add-in which does not require the mastery of coding to implement.

Image module: Before the advent of modules, one had to load all the images to a website. Thanks to the image module, you don’t have to store the physical graphic file on the host system but the image is rendered from an absolute or relative URL.  Furthermore, the image dimensions can be adjusted for better display. 

Calendar module: This module displays upcoming website events in calendar format. You can set each event to automatically expire on a specific date or set the event to re-occur in defined intervals. Imagine how long it would take to code an event. It definitely will take many work-hours to code from scratch.

FAQ module: Websites sell products thus there is a section in a website set aside to cater for Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) about the product.  FAQ section of websites relieves technical team loads of work by making it possible for the team not to be asked questions repeatedly about a product by website users. With the FAQ module, one can add linked questions to a page. The linked-questions display answers when a user clicks on them.

Discussion module: This is common in many websites. It allows you to add discussion forums using a standard simple threaded news group style text. It allows users to reply to threads or add a new discussion thread.

Documents module: This is a pre-packaged file directory browser that allows posting of documents, which can be downloaded by authorized users or other users. It gives options to store documents within a website’s portal or external portals. 

IFrame module: This model comes in handy as it allows site content display within a frame. This module makes content looks like its coming from the same site.  This module is a real time saver as far as coding is involved as it allows re-use of codes rather than re-inventing the wheel. There are reports that the module does not work with Netscape browsers.