First, let me apologize if there is a skinning forum. I looked and didn't find one. (Note: Found it...maybe it should be Skinning (Make it hot! One of the major problems with using DNN and this website is finding the information we need. Its a new technology for many of us and it has a new vocabulary. How then can we even search for something if we don't know the terms?

The urgent problem is this. My site, when viewed on other people's computers where the monitors aren't very large, requires horizontal scrolling. Simple enough, one would think, to log on as Host or Admin and switch to a fixed width skin. But, how does a beginner know which account to use? Assuming...guessing really...that Admins are to take care of specific sites I log in as that.

Selecting Admin/Skins gets me where I have spend so much of the last few hours. I have to make decisions with nothing to go on. When do I want to select Host or Site Skin type? If I select Site...then I get no choices to work with. I have to assume that this is not a good choice...so why is it even there? If I select only Host I can select a skin color and a container color. I cannot select mix up my choices...so why seperate the choices? I have to go all grey or all blue...so why not have one button for both skins and containers? Ok...I choose fixed width with horizontal menus, and for containers I choose image header with white background. Everything seems ok...I don't see a way to lock in my choices...but maybe that's how active server pages work...the write code for my choices as I go.  I hit preview...but it doesn't seem to work at this place and time.

I have to apply to portal and/or admin but have no knowledge upon which to choose...so I guess. I want my choices to apply to what visitors see so I select portal. I suppose for the time being I would like to see how it will look to them as I work on it...so I select Admin too. Now I need to leave and see how it looks. I log out and see a full width page. So...where did I go wrong? I refresh...and its still full width.

I log in as Admin and its still full width. Was there a place to lock in my choices that I missed?

This constant harping about RTFM is pointless...as is reading the documentation. Its written by technicians for technicians. The PDFs that came with the program go from the technical issues of installation to the technical issues of designing a skin. The others are even less relevant to immediate issues.  Where is the Quick Start guide that answers the questions someone migrating from an HTML editor is going to need? At that level we are dealing with the look and feel of a website. The default skins are a bit short in this area. The first thing a beginner will want to do is adjust the skins...not start from scratch.

The on-line guide http://www.dotnetnuke.com/About/DotNetNukeOnlineHelp/tabid/787/Default.aspx is more readable. It's all good stuff. But, becomming an expert on it will take time. As you say, its a complicated program so we start with the things we have to know. The docs did get me started with getting the site in operation. It's fairly functional. But, it's all grey. The colors that can be added don't make the site look any better.

I want to change the look of the blank areas to the sides of the content when viewed on a wide monitor. So, looking at the on-line docs I see "Pages". It's all the stuff that's good to know like adding and moving pages. But, if what I want is there its not indicated by the titles. Again, we can't read everything before we can do anything. It's not a novel...its reference.

Further on the list the index indicates more about pages; but, it's really about modules.

I maintain, if someone wants to do something as simple as change that which is behind the content there is nothing. Firstly, they might not know the search terms. A normal person would call it a background. However, this has a specific meaning in this context. Module background is that area inside a module and under the content. Page background would then be that area inside the framework and under the modules. What is the area outside the framework? Without that Google is useless.

OK...for specifc questions: What is that area called and how is it changed?

Oh...and am I missing something...besides the pdfs that came with the program and the on-line guide...is there an Quick Start Guide somewhere?

I have been watching videos and reading a lot. Lot's of stuff I need to know...but not what I need to know now.

Thanks. The only .css I see on a regular basis is the one at Admin: Site Settings: Appearance: Style Sheet. This is, I belive the portal.css I put the data you suggested in place and saved. I loaded my site in another browser and checked...no change.

Does this page overwrite those styles on earlier style sheets? Am I actually editing the portal.css? Isn't that the final one? Shouldn't that work no matter what other style sheets say?

Possibly related is that a graphic file I uploaded flashes on for half a sec as I reload the site. Is that what it would look like if another style was overwriting it?

My guess is that I am not writing to the final .css in line. But where can I get access to them all? I suppose I can check the code in the browser to see which one is last...and maybe I can FTP it home to edit it...but there has to be a better way...I hope.