Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies

22 2.3 Rendering Sites

You should now have a reasonable understanding of how site collections

are structured and where the content within them is stored, so let’s now take

a look at the core platform services in terms of how sites are displayed, what

features we get for our content in terms of storage, and how security works

against our site collections.

2.3 Rendering Sites

Take a look at the two screenshots in Figure 2.10. I think you’ll admit that

from a visual point of view, they feel the same in terms of cosmetics and nav-

igation—yet the content they deliver and the purpose of their being is com-

pletely different. However they both live in the same site collection (take a

close look at their URLs if you don’t believe me: http://mi6.spysrus.com and

http://mi6.spysrus.com/secrets), and ultimately the content within each site

boils down to some items in libraries and lists. So what is it that allows them

to feel the same yet address a different business need and present a different

face to the enduser? The answer lies in the fact that WSS 3.0 harnesses

ASP.NET 2.0 (as we saw in Figure 2.1) and offers its own services through

site definitions, templates, and features.

What ASP.NET 2.0 brings to the table is the ability to offer a consistent

user interface through something called master pages, page layouts and content

pages. In addition, WSS makes available site definitions, site templates, features,

and common navigation. The combination of these powerful technologies

results in easy-to-use Web sites that are rich in functionality. We cover all of

these topics in much more detail in the developer’s section of this book, but

let’s just touch on each of them here to give you a basic understanding.

2.3.1 Master Pages, Page Layouts, and Content Pages

Master pages are an ASP.NET 2.0 feature that lets child pages inherit and re-

use a common design. This feature makes it very easy to ensure that all pages

within a site share a consistent look and feel and makes the development and

maintenance of the site much simpler. For example, it makes it easier to

Figure 2.10

Same look and feel

- different purpose