The SharePoint 2010 Branding Experience
Chances are you found this class because you want to make SharePoint look like anything except for SharePoint. You may get hung up on the SharePoint part, but the key word is anything. Any branding, any layout, any number of design variations… this can all be done inside of SharePoint. You got the design and now you need the where and how. That is where the SharePoint Branding Experience course begins.
This course is for: CSS Geeks, Web Designers, Web Developers
SharePoint Version: 2010
Author and instructor: Heather Solomon
Day 1
Introduction to SharePoint 2010, publishing sites & SharePoint Designer
Don’t let the word “introduction” fool you. This is not regurgitation of what you could find in a help file! Walk through key components of SharePoint that make a difference when branding your site and what you should know and understand when working with SharePoint design. Topics include:
- Publishing sites vs. non-publishing sites
- Web server vs. content database
- Content types, lists and libraries
- Data storage and manipulation
- Code and design tools in SharePoint Designer
Master pages and content pages
Ah, the Shangri-La of SharePoint branding, the all encompassing master page. Deep dive into the key components of a master page and truly understand how it works with its partner, the often overlooked but very important content page. Also learn why you should NOT start with a copy of v4.master for your custom SharePoint branding.
Day 2
Master page creation and editing
Push up your sleeves and crack those knuckles, it is time to get busy with code. Learn about semantic HTML, how to edit SharePoint navigation, where to store your files and how to integrate HTML5 into SharePoint. You will be given several starting point choices, including a boilerplate master page that uses a CSS based layout, a student exclusive.
CSS, and a lot of it
Master pages get all the attention but the true hero behind branding is CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). There are two types of CSS code needed for SharePoint… (1) custom CSS for your design, and (2) new style statements that overwrite SharePoint CSS. While using handy browser tools that speed up the development process, you will learn how to do both, and do it well. If you are brand new to CSS, check out the CSS Workshop and get started now.
Day 3
Page layouts for publishing sites
Now you are ready to create and apply a page layout – the ideal way to centrally connect and manage content in your web pages. There are a lot of steps in the process, starting with taxonomy and content types and leading all the way to how to add web part zones to your page. Walk through all that and more on day three.
Bonus materials
The heart of branding SharePoint isn’t comps, colors or graphics… it is code. That is why the entire course focuses on how to read it, create it and edit it. However there are other components to the branding process so the following bonus materials are provided for your personal review:
- SharePoint taxonomy and content types
- Building a design for SharePoint
- Working with the SharePoint ribbon
- Themes
- Visual Upgrade and what does it mean
- Additional diagrams, code samples and more for topics covered in and outside of class
What you need to attend this class
For you:
- An understanding and good comfort level with HTML is highly recommended
- A solid foundation in CSS is highly recommended
- This course is geared for web designers and developers so we assume students are familiar with basic web site design, layout and structure guidelines
For your computer:
- SharePoint Designer 2010 (required)
What you will receive from this class
- A full color student workbook with post-class revisions and updates
- Bonus CSS tips and tricks
- Valuable resources and code files you can put to use right away
- The know-how to brand a large SharePoint implementation, from taxonomy to CSS tweaks
- Confidence in your ability to effectively manage and maintain your SharePoint branding project
- The knowledge on how to brand your site with the least number of files and in the most effective, template based way