Beginning SharePoint® 2007 Administration: Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 and Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007

11.2. An Intranet Based on WSS

The team sites in Windows SharePoint Services are really meant to be a place for collaboration. But this does not stop you from using them as a simple intranet. You have the basic features available for building an intranet, such as:

• A news list — text only, no pictures — but you can add an extra column for pictures.

• A Web Part you can use as a RSS feed reader to display news items from an Internet news web site.

• A list of links that point to important locations inside SharePoint and other locations, including a file.

• A Page Viewer Web Part to display the content of any public Internet site.

• Lists for storing documents, contacts, and tasks related to specific projects or activities.

• A list of employees, including e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and pictures.

• A Web Part for displaying a picture.

These are just some of the tools for building the intranet. You could also find more advanced Web Parts on the Internet; some are free, and others are commercial products. One problem in a pure WSS environment is that you cannot filter any information in a list — either you see the list content or you don't. WSS has no feature similar to the audience targeting that exists in SPS. So, you must think hard before you create one intranet for all users in your organization. One way to solve this problem is to create a top site that is the start of this WSS-based intranet, containing more general information, and from that follow links to local intranets for departments, ...