Professional SharePoint® 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007

Chapter 3. Overview of Web Content Management in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

The previous chapter explained how core Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) concepts embrace and extend ASP.NET to provide the platform foundation upon which Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) solutions, including Web Content Management (WCM), are built. This chapter explores the additional functionality offered by MOSS, including aspects that are critical to a successful WCM implementation.

Before looking at MOSS itself it is worth briefly considering the Microsoft precursors to MOSS WCM, the lessons learned, which were applied to this release, the rationale for building WCM on the SharePoint platform, and the considerable opportunities offered by such rich integration.

This chapter begins by looking at the different features and editions of MOSS and then drills down into WCM-specific features. The WCM experience is demonstrated from the perspective of both the author and the end user. Also covered are the ABCs of publishing. In addition, the Shared Services Provider (SSP), a critical element of any Publishing site, is described. Finally, the chapter concludes with a brief tour of the Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing namespace, covering the fundamental objects with examples of common uses within Publishing sites.