Chapter 6. Customizing and Branding the SharePoint 2007 Interface

by Shane Perran and Heather Solomon

The benefits of customizing a user interface run deep, with many layers, each as unique as they are important. From standard brand recognition, to ensuring a user experience that will promote healthy adoption, there is much more to customization than meets the eye.

The 1990s failed to deliver a long-promised usable Web experience, leaving the world weary of doing business online. The expectations in the new world of work have increased significantly.

A seamless and connected experience across applications in which technology is borderline transparent (a term dubbed "Web 2.0" by the global marketing machine) is not only expected, it's demanded.

SharePoint is certainly no exception to this rule. Being a Web-based platform, the expectations are high, and the need to deliver has never been stronger.

In this chapter, SharePoint MVPs and customization experts Shane Perran (www.graphicalwonder.com) and Heather Solomon (www.heathersolomon.com) have teamed up for the first time to share real-world field experience and guide you through some of the least-documented and understood aspects of SharePoint, user interface customization.

To begin, Shane Perran guides you through a basic overview of each customization option at a high level before moving on and sketching out several realistic business scenarios based on real-life experience in the field, helping you to logically match customization options ...

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