Chapter 4
Communicating or Collaborating?
Most organizations today use their SharePoint portals with one of two main focuses: either to communicate with their employees, partners, clients, or the general public or to collaborate with them. To this end, MOSS 2007 provides different site templates for each focus, each with its own unique characteristics. Today's designers must have a solid understanding of what site types are available with SharePoint, as well as the design considerations that need to be made for each, before attempting to customize the look and feel of a SharePoint site.
This chapter will focus on the differences between MOSS 2007 publishing sites, which are primarily used to communicate to others, and collaboration sites, which are intended more to facilitate working in a joint intellectual effort.
This chapter will also touch on the various design considerations that must be taken into account when designing for these different types of sites, including what designers must know about master pages and page layouts at a basic level. At the end of this chapter, you will have enough knowledge to determine if your site should be a publishing site or a collaboration site and then make recommendations for the correct technology that should be used in that environment.
What Is a Communication/Publishing Site?
A site with a communication focus acts as a gateway to all shared information that can be consumed by a broad range of users. This information can be viewable by ...
