Web Content Management (WCM) sites with SharePoint
A reader of my blog who read my last blog post on “Help Training and How to on SharePoint?” has asked me the following question.
These resources are great and no doubt helpful to many but what I would really love to see (and haven’t been able to find) is some helpful resources on planning and implementing a MOSS for Internet website with a rich UI that I had designed without a technology for CMS in mind. I want to know that if I can design it then I can build it in MOSS - and How.
Comment from Haydn Thomsen.
So the answer to Haydn’s question “I want to know that if I can design it then I can build it in MOSS - and How?” is Yes. Yes you can design a site agnostic of what platform/WCM system you are building to and implement it in MOSS.
There are a few things to consider depending on what you do (your role) in building a web site. Typically a web site can be built without using a content management system such as MOSS. These sites would be static with a few pages and would only involve HTML code. But if you are using a WCM system such as MOSS there are a few things that would help you.
If you are a designer (who only designs) web sites you DO NOT need to know anything about MOSS.
If you are an integrator (who takes the design and creates the HTML markup) then it will help you to understand some of the terminology. (This is irrespective of MOSS or any Web content management system). I have worked with various Web CMS’s and they all have their own terminology and ways of implementing templates.
If you are a web developer about to integrate a site in MOSS then you do need to understand not only MOSS but also ASP.net and AJAX and JavaScript, XSL, CSS, XSLT etc etc. There are loads of resources on the web to get you started.
It certainly helps if your team has done WCM sites before and has an agreed process of how you document your wire frames and template guidelines given to you by your interaction designers and user experience consultants. Typically web development shops know this and it’s pretty standard stuff.
I have written the following posts previously about WCM sites and MOSS.
A Guided Tour Through SharePoint HTML, CSS, and Master Page Resources (Session from Sydney Asia Pacific SharePoint Conference) http://www.chandima.net/Blog/Articles/Presentation.aspx
How do I develop for SharePoint? http://www.chandima.net/Blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=24
How to get over the “OOTB syndrome” for MOSS WCM
There are some great resources on the web to get you started in building WCM sites with MOSS. Andrew Connell has a list of WCM specific links to get you started.
AC also does a series of on-line courses based on WCM.
http://andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/MossWcmDeveloperClasses.aspx
And I saw Heather Solomon has started a series of articles on this very topic. Heather is a designer so she knows all about designing web sites and the great thing is she knows SharePoint as well.
Part 1 of a multi-part series about how to brand SharePoint sites. In this first segment, I talk about gathering design resources and having a little SharePoint know-how before you dive into creating designs for your SharePoint site. The next part will address how to start your code for your final design.
Branding SharePoint - Part 1: Designing your SharePoint Site
Microsoft recently published the following articles about WCM sites.
How to Optimize a SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Site for Performance
Another great resource is CodePlex. CodePlex is the online community with lots of code samples. Go to CodePlex and search for “sharepoint”. You’ll be surprised at all the available samples and code downloads.
So YES you can design and then implement any “richui” web site with MOSS it’s just the presentation layer like any other Web CMS out there.