In Improving the Secured File Download UX for Unauthenticated Users I elaborated on a workaround hack to display a friendly error message and redirect to the login page when trying to access a file that had been through DotNetNuke's file ticket system.

If you're in a situation where that solution makes sense for you - great. But what about future releases of the application? Should this functionality exist within the framework itself? Is it too trivial? Does it make sense for everyone that uses the framework so much so that it should be a part of it?

DotNetNuke has extensive security features. One of which is enforcing role based permissions when accessing files. The general workflow is to say that "Registered Users" get to see a particular file, you then create a link to that file using DNN, and as a matter of course, the roles are enforced. This uses what's known as a file ticket to request the file, so that it is not linked to directly.

Smashing magazine has published "15 Helpful In-Browser Web Development Tools". Some of you might have already known or used them or a regular basis, the list shows a more complete picture if you haven't seen some items in there.

I've been using some of the plugins for a while and when Rich sent over the link today, I thought I put it out so some newbie in DotNetNuke can find it useful.

My favorite on the list:

• Firebug
• Web Developer Toolbar
• YSlow (I mentioned during my presentaion at OpenForce)
• IE Web Developer Toolbar (great for troubleshooting IE browsers)
• Web Accessibility Toolbar

Enjoy, if you know of any beyond this list and think others might find it useful, please do share.

As the day of OpenForce event getting close, you probably have heard many people talking about the event from e-mail, blogs, user group meetings and so on. I have decided to join this flow of information to offer some content about my sessions in detail of what they're all about.

As I mentioned in my blog a few weeks back, this year at OpenForce, I will present two sessions targeting both developers and designers with the following topics:

• DotNetNuke and Web Standards
• DotNetNuke Designers and Developers: Bridging the Gap

Last week I did some DotNetNuke skinning training courses for a few clients from out of town here in our St. Louis facility. It was interesting to see many scenarios that made you scratch your head and say… I don’t know it allows you to do that.

One particular situation that my client has is that she has an external employee time tracking system that requires them to enter their billable time. Because they don’t use it that frequently, she likes to put it on the top navigation so everybody can see and allow it to open a new window to that page.