Heather Solomon's Mirrored Blog

Article about Designers returning to roots

2008-08-27T16:28:13Z

This has nothing to do with SharePoint. :-) I found this article rather interesting... it is about designers getting back to doing things with their hands in this uber electronic, hands on activity depraved world. Digital Designers Rediscover Their Hands It struck particularly close to home with me, as I have picked up a new creative hobby and totally banned using computers in any way. Good stuff for the right side of your brain. The object of the article are designers from Adobe, which I also found...(read more)

To Breadcrumb or not to Breadcrumb?

2008-08-21T21:02:51Z

User Interface Engineering has posted an article about breadcrumbs, and why they feel that breadcrumbs are a design cop-out. It is a good read, especially for people using SharePoint for external facing sites. » Design Cop-out #2: Breadcrumbs Personally, I only utilize page breadcrumbs when working with administering lists and settings. The breadcrumb provides a quick way back to list screens and other setting screens where otherwise no navigation is provided. For that purpose I think they can be...(read more)

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Create a custom search input interface

2008-08-21T17:03:08Z

A common request is to alter the default look of the search input and button area to something that better matches a design or fits better in space that is available. When working with the default search, you are limited to the CSS classes provided to you and the layout that ships with SharePoint. It is possible to create your own search display by deploying a Feature. Note I am not referring to search results, just the search box area available on most SharePoint pages, generally located in the...(read more)

SharePoint Breadcrumbs - Sample of differences, chart of uses and resources

2008-08-13T21:43:44Z

I don't think I am alone when I say "I hate the page level breadcrumb in SharePoint". While dead useful for users, it becomes a bit nightmarish for devigners . For this post I am going to ignore the Global Breadcrumb that appears in the upper left of a SharePoint site by default, because honestly most people hide it and it doesn't cause near the heartburn as the page level breadcrumb. Some background.... the page level breadcrumb (from this point forward just called breadcrumb)...(read more)

A Bit More About Disabling Themes in Master Pages

2008-08-13T17:40:13Z

Randy Drisgill came across a great challenge and weird issue with SharePoint in regards to disabling themes on custom master pages . I wanted to expand a bit more on what he has posted about. Themes can wreck havoc on master pages since by default theme styles are called after regular SharePoint styles. Depending on your changes, themes may leak through via changing styles you did not, or if you used the Alternate CSS property in Master Page Settings to call your custom styles. The Alternate CSS...(read more)

Blog and Wiki styles added to CSS Reference Chart

2008-08-06T23:56:15Z

I added Blog and Wiki styles to my SharePoint 2007 CSS Reference Chart . Posted on SharePoint Blogs...(read more)

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Changing the Flyout Menu Arrow Hover Color

2008-07-25T20:04:35Z

This is small, but gets me all of the time. When you are working with the Global Navigation (a.k.a. Top Nav Bar) in SharePoint and you are using 2 levels of flyout menus, the arrow that appears for the second level of items may show the wrong background color when you hover over the item or arrow. As you start to alter the various colors and styles in the menu code, the background color behind the arrow does not reflect your changes or seem to pick up any styles from parent elements. Here is an example...(read more)

Master Page Error from Exporting file from SharePoint Designer

2008-07-23T22:51:03Z

If you are using SharePoint Designer (SPD) to create a master page file that will then be placed on the web server for use, such as with a custom site definition or custom Feature, you may run into the following error when viewing or creating a new site: Cannot convert type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.ScriptLink' to 'System.Web.UI.IAttributeAccessor' This may be caused by the method you used to get your custom master page file out of the content database. If you used the Export...(read more)

How to Create Rounded Corners for Web Part Title Bars

2008-07-09T18:25:03Z

Per some feedback, I added instructions to my latest branding article on how to create rounded corners for a web part title bar. » Part 3: Changing the look and feel of SharePoint components - Intro and Web Parts Posted on SharePoint Blogs...(read more)

Branding SharePoint - Part 3: Changing the look and feel of SharePoint components - Intro and Web Parts

2008-07-09T02:25:35Z

I have posted the next article in my branding series, which is a follow up to Part 1: Designing your SharePoint site , and Part 2: Creating the Design in SharePoint . » Part 3: Changing the look and feel of SharePoint components - Intro and Web Parts The next installment (coming very soon) will cover changing navigation systems in SharePoint. Posted on SharePoint Blogs...(read more)

Big Update to CSS Reference Chart

2008-07-02T21:05:02Z

I have posted a large update to my SharePoint 2007 CSS reference chart . In addition to adding some new styles and tips, I have added "Copy to Clipboard" functionality that will copy the CSS source code for the given style to your clipboard, so you don't have to chase down styles by looking up line numbers. Instead you can just do a copy, paste into your CSS file, and make modifications from there. The only section I did not do this for was the calendar, because I have previously posted...(read more)

Content Types and CSS Resources

2008-03-12T15:58:55Z

In my sessions last week I stressed the importance of learning about content types, and really stressed the importance of learning CSS. I have had several people ask me for some suggestions for resources for both of these topics. If you have a resource or a book you just love that I don't mention here, please post a comment about it for everyone's benefit. Also, someone at the conference told me about this stellar CSS book, and I can't recall the name. If that person was you, please let...(read more)

SharePoint Conference 2008 Wrap Up & Slide Decks

2008-03-10T18:05:41Z

First off, thanks to everyone who attended my sessions and who stopped by the SharePoint Experts booth and said hello. I got to meet a lot of people last week and it is very exiciting to see the huge interest in SharePoint branding. Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback and comments. Last week was a great week, if you didn't make it, be sure to try to go next year. :-) I have posted my slide decks from my two presentations on my Speaking page, and below are direct links to download...(read more)

New SharePoint Blogger - Matt Passannante

2008-02-29T18:59:22Z

He may be new to blogging, but he is definitely not new to SharePoint. I am very happy to say that SharePoint Experts Director of Implementations and Senior Trainer Matt Passannante is now blogging! Matt is a fantastic guy with an infectious enthusiasm about SharePoint. He really knows his stuff and has unique and solid theories and ideas about how to map out and set up SharePoint. He will also be at the SharePoint Conference next week, so be sure to stop by and meet him at the SharePoint Experts...(read more)

SharePoint Conference - I'll be there and presenting!

2008-02-26T16:41:40Z

Well like all things in life, time is zipping by and now the SharePoint Conference (SPC) is already upon us! If you are heading to Seattle next week, be sure to stop by the SharePoint Experts Booth, Ask the Experts lunch, Game Night and/or one of my sessions and say hello. Our whole crew from SharePoint Experts will be presenting, including Dustin Miller , Todd Baginski and Matt Passannante . We have a booth (#710) and of course we have some very cool vendor swag, so be sure to stop by. SharePoint...(read more)

SharePoint Bootcamp Tickets on Sale!

2008-02-21T01:45:53Z

Want to go to Disneyland and learn about SharePoint? Our next public SharePoint Bootcamp just went on sale for May 12-16, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Orange County Hotel in Anaheim, CA. Say Heather, what is SharePoint Bootcamp? Several times a year SharePoint Experts hosts public classes in several different flavors for SharePoint. In Anaheim we will be hosting the Original SharePoint Bootcamp (taught by Dustin Miller ), the SharePoint Development Bootcamp (taught by Todd Baginski ) and the SharePoint...(read more)

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Import your CSS for SharePoint Themes

2008-01-30T22:33:13Z

One of the major drawbacks of SharePoint themes is you have to reapply the theme to any site that uses your custom theme in order to see any new changes that you have made. This happens because when you apply a theme to a SharePoint site, a copy of the theme is added for the site in the content database. Try it out, open a test site in SharePoint Designer and look at the folder structure in the Folder List task pane. If you have already applied a theme to this site, you will see a _theme folder....(read more)

DOCTYPES and SharePoint

2008-01-25T17:28:39Z

I got asked by two separate friends of mine just within a few days of each other if I had any recommendations for what DOCTYPE tag should be used in SharePoint. Honestly up until that point, I had not put a lot of thought into outside of the attitude of look up whatever A List Apart recommends and use that. So I delved into it a bit more and now I do have an opinion on the matter. A little info first, DOCTYPE is short for Document Type Declaration. A DOCTYPE associates a web page with a Document...(read more)

UPDATED: Base Master Page - DOCTYPE

2008-01-24T17:40:48Z

I have updated my Base Master Pages again, this time changing or adding the DOCTYPE tag in each. Please note that the base master pages include the HTML Transitional DTD that will display your site in quirks mode. Please replace the DTD if you need a more refined presentation mode for your site. I selected this DTD because it can assist the broadest audience (older browsers, mobile views, newer browsers, etc). If you want to use a standards compliant presentation mode, you can switch the DOCTYPE...(read more)

UPDATED: Base Master Page

2007-12-10T19:57:05Z

Please note that there has been two typos in my Base Master Page file. I have uploaded a corrected version and it is available on the Base Master Page web page on my site. Typo 1 In the HEAD area of the master page, the SharePoint tag pulling in the Theme was before the SharePoint tag pulling in all of the CSS files. This resulted in overriding your custom themes with the default SharePoint CSS styles which meant you canceled out any Theme you applied. In your existing master pages, make sure the...(read more)

SharePoint Calendar CSS - Clean and Condensed - Repost for RSS

2007-11-28T06:06:51Z

I am reposting this post because Feedburner didn't pick it up.... I posted Calendar CSS code for SharePoint. Check it out here: http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/archive/2007/11/20/SharePoint-Calendar-CSS--Clean-and-Condensed.aspx Posted on SharePoint Blogs...(read more)

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Edit Consoles Throw Off Your Design

2007-10-25T16:10:06Z

If you are working with a SharePoint master page and trying to get away from using the multiple tables that the default master page uses, the edit consoles (WSSDesignConsole and PublishingConsole) may create problems for you. The issue: The WSSDesignConsole and the PublishingConsole are user controls, which means that the interface code for the consoles is stored outside of the master page and is locked down. The interface code for these consoles starts off with a table row tag ( <tr> ) and...(read more)

SharePoint Connections: It is SharePint Time

2007-10-15T18:23:06Z

Going to SharePoint Connections in Vegas? If so, stop by the Coral Reef bar on Tuesday evening after the sessions. Andrew Connell is hosting "SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night" and it will be a relaxing, low-key op to chat with one of us poor SharePoint geeks or just throw back a drink with a few fellow friends. AC has all the details on his blog, please go check out his post for more info . See you there! Posted on SharePoint Blogs...(read more)

SharePoint Branding Design Gotchas

2007-10-12T15:41:47Z

I have pulled together a list of items in SharePoint 2007 that may haunt your custom branding if you don't take special note to address it in the interface. Often while branding SharePoint you can get wrapped up with just working with a single web page while changing your design. There is a large application to worry about and this list will hopefully help you avoid bits and pieces of the old SharePoint look popping up on you after you are done branding SharePoint. If there are other elements...(read more)

Meeting Workspace Master Page Woes

2007-10-11T17:05:24Z

If you have no need or plans to use Meeting Workspaces in your SharePoint site, you can skip this. You can always come back and go through this in case you do decide to use Meeting Workspaces. For those of you who are planning on using Meeting Workspaces, this post is for you. By default when you create a Meeting Workspace site, it uses it's own master page called the mwsdefault.master. This file is stored in the Global folder in the 12 directory (12\Template\Global) on the SharePoint web server...(read more)