Professional Microsoft® SharePoint® Designer 2007

1.3. Toolbars and Task Panes

SharePoint Designer is a versatile, powerful application. Helping you control that power and versatility is the province of the toolbars and task panes. SharePoint Designer proffers 11 toolbars (not counting the menu and any custom toolbars you may create), and no fewer than 24 task panes! Each toolbar or task pane controls a related set of functions. Earlier in the chapter, you were introduced to the Layout Tables task pane and the Common toolbar. The following sections briefly discuss these, as well as the other various toolbars and task panes, and how to manage them.

1.3.1. Managing Toolbars and Task Panes

With that many possible control elements in the application, showing them all at once is totally impractical. Assuming they fit at all, you'd have no room left on the screen for the Page Editor to perform any work. Fortunately, SharePoint Designer provides a great deal of flexibility in their display.

In many respects, toolbars and task panes behave similarly. They can be individually shown or hidden, docked or floating. The possible docking positions are the four edges of the SharePoint Designer window — above, below, right, and left of the design surface (which is always visible). Figure 1-24 shows toolbars and task panes in many of their possible visible states.

Figure 1-24. Figure 1-24

When both toolbars and task panes are docked to the ...