One thing you have to settle on first is which skinning method you are using or going to use. DNN can accept an HTML/XML file combo and on uploading, or upon manually clicking the parse button on the skins page, it will convert these files into an ASCX file. The ASCX file is the actual skin in use by the portal. You can then either make changes to the ASCX file or the original HTML/XML files, but if you do the latter then you must either reupload or reparse them to obtain a fresh ASCX file.

I find the easiest method is to use a web editor like Frontpage/Expression Web or Dreamweaver to edit the ASCX file live on the server. You can make a change, hit Save, and then refresh the site to see the change live. If you make a mistake and you still have the file open in the editor, simply undo and save again. Uploading and parsing skins through the skins interface is fine for skin distribution, but too slow for skin design.

Ok.. so hopefully you will be able to edit your skin files directly on the server and if you are going to edit the ASCX file, it can be wise to remove the HTML and the XML files from the skin folder, just in case you accidentally parse the skin and wipe your edits. If you can't edit your skins on the server, then you're stuck with the upload interface.

For now I'll assume you are going to be editing the ASCX file for the skin. All you have to do is make a copy of the ASCX file and leave it in the same folder but with a new name. When you then go to any page's settings and look on the skin dropdown, you'll see the new file listed. The file will of course retain all the CSS and image references and will look exactly like the original skin until you edit it. If you check out some ready-made skins, you'll find that they often contain many ASCX files but only one CSS file and one set of images. The difference between the ASCX files is usually different pane layouts.

So if you first had this:

• Skins\Skinname\
  • skinname.ascx
  • skinname.css
  • skinname.html
  • skinname.xml
  • skingraphic1.gif
  • skingraphic2.gif
  • etc

You would now have this:

• Skins\Skinname\
  • skinname.ascx
  • skinname2.ascx   <-- duplicate skin file with new name - edit this
  • skinname.css
  • (HTML and XML files removed)
  • skingraphic1.gif
  • skingraphic2.gif
  • etc

Containers are the same. Simply duplicate the ASCX file into the same folder and then make your changes to it. The new file will show up immediately on any container selection menu.

Hope that makes sense. It can be very confusing at first.

Rob