SharePoint 2007: The Definitive Guide

Architecture

Web content management is built as a WSS 3.0 Feature. The Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Feature first needs to be activated within the site. If the site is applied with any of the publishing templates, this feature is activated automatically. WCM uses the lists infrastructure of WSS 3.0 to store templates, resources, and pages. Therefore, WCM components can take advantage of the list capabilities (covered in detail in Chapter 14), such as versioning, auditing, security, and workflow.

In Office SharePoint 2007, the publishing infrastructure consists of the following two main templates:

Master pages

These pages contain placeholder controls for content and navigation controls. Master pages also contain the overall site branding elements, such as banners, logos, search, login controls, and the page editing toolbar (used by content authors and approvers). Master pages are stored in the Master Pages and Layout Pages gallery of the site collection and are represented by a .master extension.

Layout pages

Layout pages are built for specific SharePoint content types. Content types define the structure—in other words, the fields—of the data collected from the content authors. Layout pages contain content controls, also called field controls, which are associated with specific fields of the content type. Layout pages can also be created with zones for Web Parts, thereby allowing authors to add Web Parts. Layout pages are created with an .aspx extension and are also ...