http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/01/8-free-design-platforms-to-build-your-own-site/
This is another link from the same site about some site builders. I consider them some of DNN's competitors. Once I have seen their UI's, I felt that they are Windows and DNN is like DOS. Some of them are pretty slick and fast.
- One area in DNN where a drap & drop experience helps is selecting a module and dropping it into a pane without going through other dropdowns to determine where it needs to go and later if you want to move it to another pane, just drag it to the new pane.
- Some site builders give hints to beginners like putting a "Start Here" balloon tip near the item to add text. In DNN if the user has no idea about the Text/HTML module, they would be at loss. I had new users who where frustrated because they didn't know how to start. I think DNN needs something like an "Add Content" option somewhere visible in the control panel beside being an option in the modules list. Because almost 100% users will be adding content as their first step.
- The module dropdown might need to have categories. As you add mSubmitodules, the list just becomes a long list of modules which might confuse users. Advanced modules need to be in a submenu.
- A UI interface like the ribbon has been pretty common and useful. DNN could use one.
I understand there are a lot of good UI ideas out there and it would be a major undertaking to implement them in DNN. However adding a little more eye candy, colorful icons, drag & drop & AJAX functionality can make a big difference for non technical users and make DNN more appealing to them.