SharePoint Designer

The Microsoft Press book, SharePoint Designer 2007 Step by Step, is aimed at the experienced Information Worker, someone who has been using the browser to work with Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 or SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). The book will also be useful to developers and administrators who are new to SharePoint Designer. If you are new to SharePoint then I suggest you read Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Step by Step, by Olga Londer, Todd Bleeker, Bill English and Penelope Coventry (me).

As you would expect from a Step by Step book, there are many exercises for you to complete. For many of the chapters, I provide on the CD, a site template for you to create a test site, within which you should complete the exercises. Instructions on how to use these site templates are provided in the Using the .stp Site Templates, section p xxi. Section, What's on the CD, p xv lists the .stp file by chapter and you will be instructed at the start of a chapter whether you need to create a site based from one of the site templates. All other chapters you should create a team site to complete the exercises, except for Chapter 11, "Managing Web Content in a SharePoint Server Environment", when you will need a publishing site. Never learn how to use SharePoint Designer on a live site.

Most of the time in the book, I spend in the Design view (the What You See Is What You Get - WYSIWYG - editor). I do not expect you to write code. You will be using the User Interface and mouse for much of the exercises.

If you have only Windows SharePoint Services installed then you will be able to complete all exercises in all but Chapter 11.

A brief overview of the chapters is given below:

• The book's first chapter, "Introducting SharePoint Designer", gives an overview of SharePoint Designer, the common tasks you would complete using SharePoint Designer and the relationship between WSS and SharePoint Server. Basic SharePoint concepts such as, Site Definitions, Site Collections, Lists, Libraries, Web Parts and the Recycle bin are also covered. You open a SharePont site, with SharePoint Designer and using the Folder List task pane explorer the site.
• In Chapter 2, "Working with SharePoint Designer", you start to use SharePoint Designer, you learn to use the toolbars and task panes. You also learn to create sites and subsites, and how to delete sites.
• Then in Chapter 3, "Customizing a Web Page",  you learn how to insert static content, such as: text, screentips, hyperlinks, Web components, images, client-side interactivity (behaviors), and tables. You will modify and save the default page for a Web site (customize the page, which in the previous version of SharePoint was known as unghosting a page) and then you reset the page back to the site defintion.
• Chapter 4, " Creating and Modifying Web Pages", includes creating and deleting Web pages and SharePoint related modification. You will insert Web Part zones, Web Parts and modify the Web Part Properties. It is in this chapter you will first be introduced to Master Pages. Master pages provide a consistent layout for pages in your site and are used on all Web pages for a newly created SharePoint site.
• Chapter 5, "Working with Lists and Libraries", builds on Chapter 4 and enables you to add dynamic content to your Web pages, such as, the content from lists and libraries. You will create a list, List View Web Parts (LVWPs), modify a built-in List View page, create a List View page and modify a built-in List Form page.
• Chapter 6, "Working with Data Views", describes how to use, what is commonly referred to the Swiss Army Knife of Web Parts, also know as Data View Web Part (DVWP) or Data Form Web Part (DFWP). This is an awsume Web Part and if you haven't used it before then you will love this chapter.
• Chapter 7, "Working with Data Sources", allows you to connect to data not stored within your SharePont Web sites and then use Data Views to expose that data on Web pages.
• In Chapter 8, "Using Controls in Web Pages", you will add an AdRotator ASP.NET control to a Web page, and you will use the ASP.NET Validation controls to update the advertisement file that the AdRotator uses to decide which imges it should display on a page. Then you will use the SharePoint Data View control to update the advertisement file to allow users to pick image files from a SharePoint library.
• Chapter 9, "Working with Master Pages" explains what a Master page is and how to customize it in SharePoint Designer.
• Chapter 10, "Changing the Look and Feel of Pages by Using Cascading Style Sheets", introduces you to CSS and color-coding options and how you can identify styles that SharePoint uses from it's own cascading style sheets. Much of this chapter you can use as an introduction of manipulating CSS with Visual Studio 2008 as it also uses the same toolbars and task panes as SharePoint Designer.
• Chapter 11, "Managing Web Content in a SharePoint Server Environment", introduces you to Web Content Management (WCM) enhancements in SharePoint Server 2007 and the concept of page layouts. You will learn to create, modify and restore earlier versions of page layouts. This is the only chapter where you need SharePoint Server, exercise in the other chapters can be completed on both WSS and SharePoint Server.
• In Chapter 12, "Understanding Workflows", I introduce you to working with workflows, mentioning those workflow available in Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Server, before moving on to using workflows in SharePont Designer.
• Chapter 13, "Building a Windows SharePoint Services Application" introduces you to site templates. You first create a WSS site, customize it by adding a Data View, converting a field into a form text box and adding a SharePoint Action button associated with a workflow, then you create a site template, which you then create further sites from and test your solution.
• In Chapter 14, "Managing SharePoint Sites", you learn the areas of SharePoint Designer that help you manage your sites, such as, using Contributor Settings, creating reports, backuping and restoring sites, exporting and importing sites, as well as coping list, libraries and documents between sites.
• Although Chapter 15, "Undestanding Usability and Accessibility", is the last chapter of the book do not consider its exercises and other information as the tasks you should tackle at the end of your work with SharePoint Designer. You should include the methods I discuss in this chapter thoughout the lifetime of any customizations or modifications you make to you site, whether using the browser, SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio.

Throughout the book, I include sidebars to introduce you to technology that you may be new to you, such as, Content Types and Site Columns, an XML Primer, a CSS Primer, Site Defintions, Features and Solution Files Primer and Introducing the Accessibility Kit for SharePoint. I hope you enjoy this book. Please let me know if you find any errors by emailing me at errataATsharepointdesignerstepbystep.com.