SharePoint Training - Course Syllabus

Course:  Extreme Makeover SharePoint 2007 Edition - Branding & Customization (Level 200 - Intermediate)

Introduction

The goal of this 3 day, instructor-led training course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete branding projects and make functional customizations to Windows SharePoint Services v3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

The course will focus on branding SharePoint sites and portals. You will also learn how to create custom themes, custom site templates and custom site definitions. You will learn how to use XSLT to customize the search results and the results returned by the content query web part.

Student learning will be facilitated through a combination of instructor presentations and hands-on lab exercises. A sample company will be used in the labs to teach students how to apply SharePoint 2007 branding from concept to implementation in a typical environment.

Audience

This course is intended for:

• Web Developers
• Webmasters
• Power-users with web development experience

Most organizations implementing SharePoint want their portal or sites to reflect their branding and look and feel. This is often one of the first priorities for companies not only for public facing sites but for their intranets also.

At Course Completion

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Implement SharePoint branding
• Create custom master page templates
• Apply custom look & feel through use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Understand usability issues related to SharePoint
  
• Customize SharePoint navigation
• Implement "quick and dirty" branding
  

Prerequisites

Applying SharePoint 2007 Core Features, SharePoint 2007 Jumpstart or equivalent experience.

Course Materials and Lab Environment

Students will receive a comprehensive course manual, which will include all presentation materials and lab exercises.  The lab exercises are step-by-step and fully documented in the student workbook.  To view sample modules of our courseware click here.

Each student will be given access to their own SharePoint 2007 environment on the classroom hardware.  In essence, students will be attending a class where a fully functional SharePoint 2007 environment has been set up for their use in learning the product.  No pre-installation of SharePoint 2007 software is required for this class.

Each student will need to bring a qualifying laptop to the class.  Click here to verify that your laptop meets the minimum requirements.

Course Outline

(Note: This Course Outline is subject to minor changes and refinements based on student feedback and instructor experience.)

Module 1: Introduction to SharePoint Customization Technologies
                 Alphabet soup for the SharePoint designer's soul

The technologies involved in branding are fairly basic... HTML and CSS. Other customizations pull in the use of CAML, XSLT, JavaScript. Do you need to be an expert all of these? No. This module will introduce you to the common customization technologies as they apply to both branding and functional customizations such as custom side definitions.

Module 2: Usability and the SharePoint User Interface
                 You CAN get there from here, you just can't figure out how!

Usability problems will adversely affect  not only your users' productivity but user adoption as well. Fortunately, with SharePoint 2007 you have a lot more control over the UI. From design to navigation, we will look at ways to increase your SharePoint sites' usability. We will look at lessons learned from top ranked intranet sites.

 Module 3: Before You Start - Requirements Gathering
                 Or why you should patch the walls before opening the paint can.

Depending on the size of your organization and your role, you may be charged with anything from complete project management to supplying coffee and doughnuts.  In this module, we will talk about project requirements and how you will want to account for them in your design, including:

• Site map
• Site hierarchy
• Browser compatibility
• Navigation (persistent and context sensitive)
• Site columns
• Content types
• Custom lists
• Branding requirements

Module 4: SharePoint Designer Overview
                 FrontPage? No, I've never heard of that.

SharePoint Designer is definitely not your father's FrontPage. Microsoft has developed a powerful tool for customizing SharePoint sites. You can easily change the layout for an entire site through master page and style sheet customizations. If needed, you can also easily revert a site to its original template to undo your changes. With SharePoint Designer you can:

• Create/edit SharePoint master pages
• Create/edit layout pages
• Create/edit cascading style sheets
• Use IntelliSense for both code and style sheets
• Support check out, check in and version control
• Revert site to template (reghost)
• Create custom workflows
• Create XSLT data views
• Author standards compliant code
• Test for compliance (XHTML, WCAG and Section 508)

Module 5: Branding Portals & Sites
                 What Not to Web... Pimp my portal...

What's a SharePoint branding class without an Extreme Makeover? The fun really begins as you get your hands dirty digging in and making some major changes to a SharePoint portal. Learn the tips and tricks of SharePoint branding, including customizing the default.master file and creating a custom cascading style sheet to completely change the look and feel.

Have your own branding requirements? Bring them along and we will look at ways to implement them as time permits.

Module 6: Creating Custom Themes
                 If needed, could you design an ice skaters costume?
                 Then you can create themes for Microsoft!

Hey! Where did all those ugly themes go? The new themes are actually pretty good. Themes give you another option for deploying branding, and are a good way to allow your users to choose from approved styles. In this module you will learn how to customize existing themes, create new themes and hide themes from your users.

Module 7: Quick and Dirty SharePoint Branding
                 Trading portals? Maximum effect in minimum time.

Take one logo, one theme (slightly beaten) and combine for a quick site makeover.  Bring your own logo.  We'll supply the themes and you too can learn ways to become a SharePoint hero at your office.

Module 8: Creating Custom Site Templates
                 Semi-clever statement about templates goes here.

What's the difference between a custom site template and a custom site definition? You will learn the answer to this question and learn how and when to use each. SharePoint gives you the ability to create and utilize custom site templates right from the user interface.

Module 9: Creating Custom Site Definitions
                 CAML? A markup language designed by committee.

In this module you will create a custom site definition and learn what is necessary to get your sites created with v2 site definitions to upgrade to v3.

Module 10: Web Content Management
                   What should I do if I get MOSS on my SharePoint?

Learn how to create custom site columns, content types and page layout templates. Enforce standards by limiting contributor's ability to format text... (No more Comic Sans!) You'll utilize the page editing features and approval workflows.

Module 11: Features
                   Got a great new SharePoint feature! Think I'll call it...Feature!

Now you can customize sites the easy way, with features. Learn how to add custom lists, menu items and other functionality to sites. 

Features in WSS v3:

• Eliminate the need to copy large chunks of code to change simple functionality
• Reduce versioning and inconsistency issues
• Make it easy for administrators to transform the definition of a site by toggling a particular feature on or off
  

Module 12: No-Code SharePoint Applications
                   The key to juggling is to make the easy stuff look hard.

This module teaches you how to do hard things the easy way.  You will leverage the power of SharePoint lists, list lookups, and calculated fields.  Create custom workflows in SharePoint Designer that automatically update list values and notify team members or assign tasks.  Make it pretty using data views and XSLT to create a dashboard view of critical business parameters.  It's up to you to make it look hard.

Registration Fee Includes

The registration fee includes your tuition, hotel room (except in Boston and Seattle), student materials, breakfasts, breaks and lunches. Airfare, ground transportation, and dinners are not included in the registration fee. Once you are registered for the course, a hotel room will automatically be reserved in your name (except in our Boston and Seattle locations).

Don't need a hotel room? If you are a local student and do not need a hotel room, you will receive $100 per day off the price of the class. Please note this in the "Questions / Comments" section of the online registration form.  (This does not apply in our Boston and Seattle locations.)

Government, Academic and Non-Profit Discounts

We offer a $400 per person discount to the following:

• Employees of government entities at the federal, state and local level
• Employees of universities, colleges, secondary schools, primary schools and school districts
• Employees of Non-Profit organizations

All discounts are mutually exclusive and may not be used in combination with any other discount.

Corporate Group Discounts

An organization registering two or more students for the same class at the same time receives a $200 discount per person. The discount will be applied at time of registration.  (May not be used in combination with any other discount.)

Returning Student Discount

If you previously attended one of our other courses, you will receive a $200 discount off the standard price for the course. The discount will be applied at time of registration.  (May not be used in combination with any other discount.)

Cancellations

Any cancellations up to 30 days before the start of the course will be charged $300. Cancellations within 30 days of the start of the course will be charged $700. Refunds will be sent no later than 30 days after the scheduled course start date.

Course Location Information
Click here for more information on course locations.

Please feel free to contact us at 615-515-0210 x2 or email us at training@sharepointsolutions.com if we can answer any additional questions.