Web Content Management with SharePoint MOSS 2007 (Part 1)

By Barb Mosher (@barbmosher) Nov 20, 2007

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SharePoint MOSS Web Content Management

So you went and did it, you installed WSS 3.0 and then bought MOSS to install over top of it. You want a web site and you want it now, but hey, you're not quite sure what to do next.

Here's where we come in. The following article is part one of a series on SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management. Read on as we provide an overview of SharePoint 2007’s Web CMS capabilities and set you up to dig a bit deeper into the nooks and crannies of customizing and operating a SharePoint-driven website.

Bootstrap — Architecture Basics

To really get the most out of SharePoint you need to understand several important design and architecture concepts, and plan your implementation with a few key points in mind. For those new to this, note that we use the terms 'SharePoint' and 'MOSS' interchangeably — MOSS stands for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

We also need to differentiate between the free Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) product and the non-free MOSS product. MOSS is built on the foundation provided by WSS. The Web Content Management components are part of MOSS, not part of WSS. For more background, see SharePoint 2007 Review - Six Pillars of MOSS.

SharePoint High-level Architecture

Second Things Next — User Experience and IA

Don’t ask SharePoint to help you with your User Experience or Information Architecture. MOSS is a .NET development platform which provides a set of content, collaboration, search and integration services. It assumes you have done most of the UI/UX/IA thinking long before decided upon an implementation technology.

There are so many aspects to SharePoint; many ways to do things wrong. Have your user interface references and application scenarios in hand, and then start looking at how SharePoint can implement these things in the best manner possible.

It certainly helps to have a SharePoint architect involved in your UX and IA design. Microsoft says it takes two to six months to properly design a SharePoint implementation. I’ve heard it’s been done faster — it of course depends on what you are building.

Types of SharePoint Sites

SharePoint provides several templates for web sites out of the box. The ones you are interested in for web content management are in the Publishing Category and include a Collaboration Portal and a Publishing Portal.

Collaboration Portal

starter site for Intranet divisional portal
contains a Document Center site, News site, Search site, and a Site Directory site by default
Workflow is not enabled
branding is possible but with more effort (default.master)
assumes you will be adding Collaboration Team Sites to the structure

Publishing Portal

starter site hierarchy for Internet or a large Intranet-base website
contains Home Page, Press Release SubSite, Search Center, and a login page by default
Workflow is enabled
easily custom branding using the blueband.master page

You can use either template, it’s a design choice; either one can be modified and will work for your web site.

Defining Your SharePoint Site

SharePoint Website Structure

SharePoint’s structure is made up of Site Collections and Sites. A Site Collection is the top most level for a site and is a site in itself. It can also contain within it one or more additional sites. Grouping sites within a collection provides the following benefits: