Chris,

I have been having many problems similar to this. It seems to me that the issue has to do with the way DotNetNuke has implemented styles for jQueryUI elements. DotNetNuke includes both jQuery and jQueryUI JavaScript libraries by default, but very limited styling. It appears that DotNetNuke has decided not to use the CSS Scoping features of jQueryUI and it's theme builder, but choose to add their own style names to the controls upon instantiation. In addition, it does not appear (and please correct me if I am wrong) that every jQueryUI element has been styled in the portals/_default/default.css file. So, if I want to use controls such as the jQueryUI dialog or Date Picker, I have to link to my own jQueryUI CSS file.

Here's the problem, the moment I use my own CSS file (generated with theme builder of course) I get Frankenstein. Let me explain, because DNN instantiates jQueryUI controls with it's own class name, and jQueryUI also assigns it's default class names, the rendered control will include styles from the DNN default CSS as well as my new scoped jQueryUI CSS file! The end result is quite ugly I'm afraid.

It seems to me that a much better approach would be for DNN to remove all it's custom class names along with their definitions in the default.css, and generate a CSS file using theme builder, then include that CSS file with the default install of DotNetNuke. Then allow users to choose their theme file for jQueryUI, in the same way that users can currently choose the version of the libraries they want.

An even better solution would be if DotNetNuke would implement the CSS scoping that jQueryUI utilizes. There is however an issue with this as well. jQueryUI scoping does not work on page elements that "Popup" due to the fact that jQueryUI inserts these elements at the end of the document, which is outside of the scope the element exists in. The fine folks at jQueryUI REALLY need to fix this, so that we can truly enjoy the power of their CSS scoping!

I hope I've been clear. Feel free to ask clarifying questions :)