Chapter 14
Wrapping It All Up
One of the selling points of any portal system, SharePoint included, is that it can create a full Web application for you out of the box. Sure, you have to install it and configure it but, once you have done that, you have a full system up and running, complete with things such as blogs, wikis, and message boards. And this is definitely true with SharePoint. But what can be forgotten or overlooked is that SharePoint can be, and probably should be, a starting point for your Web application. This book's intent is to start with a preconfigured installation of SharePoint and show you how to customize the look and feel to meet business requirements (branding) and accessibility compliance. As a SharePoint developer, you need to understand what SharePoint is really good at and where it needs your help. This book aims at highlighting these things with regard to the interface design of your portal.
Out of the box, SharePoint does an okay job of providing an interface for your site. It is, after all, a portal package and, as such, should provide at least a skeleton for the sites you create. But accepting that is like accepting a new car without a radio. Or air conditioning. Or power steering. Or cruise control. And maybe that is okay for some people. After all, that car will get you from point A to point B, which is the basic requirement of a car. And, like the car, the initial shell will serve the underlying purpose of SharePoint as a Web portal. However, ...
