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

1.3. Summary

WCM removes bottlenecks in the process of Web publishing by enabling business users to directly author and edit content independently of one another and of site designers. Similarly, site designers can work independently of the content creators, and can update existing content with new branding and other visual changes.

WCM can also improve the quality and consistency of a Web site by providing a structure, but only if the solution has the structure implemented as part of the design. Here is a checklist of planning activities:

• Use case scenarios defining both internal and external actors and how they will use the site

• Overall site map showing the site structure, including the placement of site collections if there is more than one

• Image, and eventually HTML mock-ups, of the visual design

• Wireframe representations of desired page layouts, mapped to documented content types that will define the fields used to store the data

• A list of required custom features for development based on the wireframe representations and visual design

• Defined locations for supporting content such as images and attached documents

• A structure for SharePoint groups and permission levels, perhaps color coded to sites on the site map

Remember that your Web site will have information architecture, just as every city has a street map. Whether yours will be easy or confusing depends on the planning and thought that goes into the solution. Keep in mind that the real point of Web publishing is not the cool ...