In this Issue...
 INTRO
| SharePoint...Enough Said
At PixelMill, we see SharePoint v3 (specifically Windows
SharePoint Services) as one the best opportunities for you to branch out into the area of dynamic content and
data collaboration.
We have worked with Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) since v1 was called
SharePoint Team Services. For both v1 and v2 PixelMill,
under our Vivid Office brand, was
involved in the development of design templates for
SharePoint, which were available as a free download from
Microsoft.
Each time we worked through the development of
these design templates, we looked at the viability of
promoting this new, exciting product to our customers.
Unfortunately, each time we found the product had too many
limitations making modification and integration
with public facing web sites difficult at best. Plus,
finding a cost-effective hosting provider that provided
enough user accounts (for administration) and storage was
made nearly impossible due to the licensing costs for WSS.
With the release of WSS v3, building design templates and
skins has become much more viable, the release of SharePoint Designer has made site modifications much easier
for the site builder, and the licensing limitations have been
resolved allowing hosting companies to make viable packages
you can afford. These changes have suddenly made SharePoint
a real solution that any site builder can truly capitalize
on.
This month we announce the availability of SharePoint
Skins designed to make it easy for you to change the look &
feel of SharePoint. Plus we build upon our launch of PixelMill EDU and
offer a class focused on transitioning from FrontPage to
SharePoint Designer and working with WSS. Read through the
Online Seminars section below to learn more about this
exciting series.
Continuing her series on CSS this month, Corrie focuses
on Semantic and Valid Sites. If you're like me, the first time
I heard Semantic Web I thought, oh great, another buzz word.
But there is a logical reason for it. Check out Corrie's
article to learn more.
Finally, we would like to introduce you to one of
our industry friends. FWHN is a solid company with solid people who love
to host SharePoint sites. They're friendly and easy to
contact. Read more in my article below, and then take the
opportunity to give SharePoint a try.
Thank you again for your continued interest in our
newsletter and for being a valued customer. Expect more from PixelMill
and yourself!
by Jason Reckers, President & CEO -
PixelMill Inc.
P.S. Be sure to also take a look at Total Trainings new
offerings. They have a slick, new online training tool that
gives you access to hours of high-quality training, 24 hours
a day for a nominal (in my opinion) annual fee. Within the
first hour of using the service, I more than justified the
annual fee by learning two new techniques in Photoshop that
will save me hours of work and help me produce much better
results.
 ANNOUNCEMENT
| SharePoint WSS Skins
PixelMill WSS Skins give
your primary SharePoint pages an attractive
makeover in under 60 seconds!
We are proud to introduce our first product for WSS3.0,
PixelMill WSS Skins. The skins have been developed to
provide SharePoint users the ability to transform the
out-of-the-box SharePoint site design into a variety of
different color schemes and designs.
What do I need to use the PixelMill WSS Skins? You will
need a Windows SharePoint Services (local or hosted) site.
You don’t need SharePoint Designer! To use one of our
skins, you just need your SharePoint site. The skin is
uploaded to your Gallery and you see the changes
immediately.
What if I want to change the header or logo?
As with most templates or items you
will need a graphics editor to make customizations. Blank
images are provided with the templates so you can make these
changes with ease.
Can I change the CSS? Knowledge of CSS
is recommended to make changes to any CSS file. Your changes
can be made in any HTML editor or even in Notepad. Color
changes are easy to make but major design changes are not
recommended without SharePoint Designer.
Do more with
SharePoint Designer! With SharePoint Designer, you can
take customization one step further. For SharePoint
users who would like to transform more of their SharePoint
site, you have the ability to customize the _layouts pages
and add your Branding to the background in the Site Actions
dropdown menu. Even the newest SharePoint Designer user
will find this transformation a piece of cake.
PixelMill
WSS Skins are the first in a series of new design templates
for SharePoint for PixelMill. Future solutions include
modified SharePoint Master Pages with modified layouts and
menus and turn-key web site solutions designed to use
SharePoint as a backend content management system, taking
your customization to a whole new level.
Get started today
with a PixelMill WSS Skin...
by Heather Waterman, PixelMill
SharePoint Specialist
 FEATURE
| Semantic and Valid Sites
Last month's newsletter article talked about why it's not
enough to have a "pure CSS site" using layered divs,
shooting us past
Level 4 and onto Level 5: "I use CSS for design, it's better than
tables because of..."
In other words, these people create semantic, valid sites that use CSS
layout.
A semantic site is one that uses HTML as it was meant
to be used, where HTML tags are used in a logical,
meaningful way. Let me provide some examples of semantic
HTML vs. non-semantic HTML:
Semantic: <h1>This is the main heading of the page</h1>
Not: <h1>This is text that I just wanted to make big.</h1>
The first example shows the Heading 1 element (<h1>) used
as it was meant to be used -- as the main heading of the
page. The second example shows a misuse of the Heading 1
element as a way to get big text without the text really
being a heading.
Semantic: <blockquote>This contains an extended
quotation.</blockquote>
Not: <blockquote>This was added to indent some text.</blockquote>
The first example uses the blockquote element to mark up
an extended quotation -- which is what it's meant to be
used. The second example, which you often find in FrontPage
sites where people just used the "indent" button to achieve
indented text, is not semantic because it isn't marking up
an actual quotation. The blockquote element has been misused
to achieve visual formatting; it doesn't label the content
meaningfully at all.
So, the first step to having semantic HTML is to learn
what all those different HTML elements are and what they're
really meant to be used for.
www.w3schools.com is
a great reference site for doing this. Here are some of the
common things you'll want to do or avoid:
- Don't use the "indent" button to achieve a visual
indenting effect, because that is really used to create
blockquotes.
- Use headings as actual headings, and use them as if you
had an outline format. In other words, Heading 1 should come
first, subheadings should use Heading 2, and sub-subheadings
should use Heading 3. Don't use headings to achieve a visual
"big font" effect.
- If using FrontPage or Dreamweaver, start replacing
your "bold"
<b> and "italic" <i> tags with "strong"
<strong> and "emphasized" <em> tags.
The latter provide more semantic meaning than simply
"bold" and "italic." (Expression Web automatically uses
strong and bold.)
- If you're starting to write several paragraphs that
are numbered, switch to a numbered list instead.
- Navigation links should really be marked up as
bulleted lists, because they are a "list" of links. I'll
go more into this in a later article about how you can
use CSS to format a list of links.
Now to the other half of this level. Valid sites
are sites that pass the W3C validation test. This basically
means that you're using HTML properly in your web site.
To pass the test, you first need a doctype
assigned to your web pages. A doctype is a line of code at
the very top of the HTML that shows what flavor of HTML
you're using; you could be using HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0, for
example. There are slightly different rules for what tags
can be used and how they can be used between the different
specifications. (Learn
more about the different types of doctypes.) You can
manually add the doctype into your code or use your editor
to assign the doctype by editing the page properties or
options.
Next, you'll want to test your site to see how closely
the HTML matches with your selected doctype. For example, if
you pick XHTML, you'll find is that an older site you
created in FrontPage will have several errors because
certain tags are missing a closing slash. FrontPage inserts
images with a line of code that looks roughly like this: <img
src="file.gif"> -- but XHTML requires that there is a slash
before the last bracket, like this: <img src="file.gif" />.
Again, sites like w3schools.com can help you understand the
rules of HTML and XHTML so that you can figure out what went
wrong. Editors such as Expression Web have additional tools
to help you make sure that your code is valid; you can run
the Compatibility checker to find any problems in your code.
It's completely possible to have a 100% valid site that
is not at all semantic. To fully survive in Level 5, you
need to have both; ultimately, you'll need to get past just
using an editor and actually learn some of the basics about
HTML. If you haven't done so already, I would recommend
going through the basic HTML tutorials at
www.w3schools.com or
www.htmldog.com, which
provide good explanations about the different tags and rules
of HTML.
In next month's newsletter, I'll continue on with Part 2
of this article by providing an overview of my typical
workflow when I'm creating a new site so you can see how
design, semantic HTML, and CSS flow together for me!
by Corrie Haffly, PixelMill Staff Writer
 ONLINE SEMINARS
|
Transitioning from Old to New
Last month, we introduced our first series of Online Seminars set
in a classroom-like environment. These fee-based
online seminars are essentially webinars but
provide the benefits of:
- Small Class Sizes - 25 attendees max
- Multi-week, 1 Hour Sessions - Oodles of content
- Toll-Free Conference Call Audio - Verbal Q&A
capabilities
- Video Recordings - Review seminars in your slippers
- Live Instructors - Raise your hand if you're not
sure
Our first series has already started and it is proving
to be very valuable for the attendees. We have some room
available in our FrontPage to Expression Web series, and you
can still join. All sessions are recorded, so you will
receive access to the recorded versions of the first two
sessions with your registration.
The following are our upcoming Online Seminars. This
month, we introduce a new series covering the transition
from FrontPage to SharePoint Designer. SharePoint Designer
is very similar to Expression Web but has the distinction
of being the tool you need to modify Windows SharePoint
Services sites. In this series you will see that we also
dive into the use of SharePoint and ways to edit it using
SharePoint Designer. Don't miss this opportunity to be
trained in one of the most compelling Collaboration and
Content Management Platforms to come out of Microsoft.
You'll be amazed at what you can do with SharePoint and
managing content on your own site.
Upcoming Online Seminars:
New Series! - Starts November 1st
FrontPage to SharePoint Designer Series
This
is a 6-Week series designed to give you strong exposure to the new SharePoint Designer web editor and interface, along with examples of working with Windows SharePoint Services and tips for transitioning from FrontPage.
This series will feature the
following sessions:
- The SharePoint Designer Interface
Session 1: Nov. 1
- Keeping your code clean with Semantic Markup, CSS, and XHTML
Session 2: Nov. 8
- Introduction to Windows SharePoint Services
Session 3: Nov. 15
- Adding SharePoint Lists and Web Parts to your Web site
Session 4: Nov. 29
- Doing More with SharePoint: Tips & Tricks
Session 5: Dec. 6
- Scalable Sites for the Future
Session 6: Dec. 13
Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Registration: $149
Early Bird: $99 (Register by Oct. 26th)
Act Fast! - Only 25 Seats Available!
New Series! - Starts October 30th
Tables to Tableless CSS Series
This
is a 6-Week series designed to help you transition from
building Tables-based Web site layouts to working
with CSS to edit and build Tableless Web site layouts.
For all Web builders using Dreamweaver, Expression Web,
or any other web editor.
This series will feature the
following sessions:
- Beautiful Simplicity - About CSS Layouts
Session 1: Oct. 30
- The Basics
Session 2: Nov. 6
- Fun with Backgrounds
Session 3: Nov. 13
- Powerful Link Formatting
Session 4: Nov. 27
- Basic Static Layouts
Session 5: Dec. 4
- Q&A Session - Dedicated to answering your
questions
Session 6: Dec. 11
Time: 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Registration: $149
Early Bird: $99 (Register by Oct. 19th)
Act Fast! - Only 25 Seats Available!
FrontPage to Expression Web Series
- It's not too late to join!
This is a 6-Week series designed to give you strong exposure to the new
Expression Web software and interface, along with tips
for transitioning from FrontPage.
This series will
feature the following sessions:
-
The Expression Web Interface
Session 1: Sept. 18
- Video Recording Available Upon Registration
-
Moving to Standards:
Semantic Markup and HTML
Session 2: Sept. 25
- Video Recording Available Upon Registration
-
Introduction to CSS
Session 3: Oct. 2
- Expression Web and CSS
Session 4: Oct. 9
- Accessible Sites with Expression Web
Session 5: Oct. 16
- Scalable Sites for the Future
Session 6: Oct. 23
Time: 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Registration Now!: $129
by Jason Reckers, President & CEO -
PixelMill Inc.
 SHAREPOINT
HOSTING
|
PixelMill Recommends FWHN
While SharePoint is one of the most exciting
products in our market space right now, it does have
its challenges. When it comes to SharePoint
hosting, customers have two options. Hire a team of
engineers who can run a server and manage all of the
infrastructure in house, which can be both costly
and time consuming. Or outsource your IT
infrastructure to a hosting company, so you can
continue to focus on your core business.
For our customers, it is clear that outsourced hosting
would be the most practical and cost effective
solution. With customer needs in mind, we set out to find a
hosting company that could do the job. Frontpages Web
Hosting Network (FWHN) fits perfectly.
FWHN is a leader in providing managed web hosting
services for SharePoint, Exchange, CRM and dedicated server
solutions to websites around the world. As one of the
largest independent, U.S.-owned, managed hosting providers
today, they serve companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to
the SME (small and medium-enterprise) market.
FWHN has hosting packages to fit customers at any
level. For those who merely want to get their feet wet, they
have a basic plan at $19.95 with 1 GB of space and unlimited
users. For the more serious users, however, they offer Pro
($39.95), Pro Plus ($74.95) and Custom (149.95) plans to
suit your every need. Not to mention, the Pro Plus and
Custom plans feature FREE SharePoint Designer!
I recommend taking a look at FWHN's SharePoint hosting
solutions and try the 30-day trial for SharePoint. You'll
be amazed with what you see.
Visit
FWHN Today!
P.S. A little training is also going to be very helpful
in getting the quickest start and best results from your
SharePoint experience. See our Online Seminar section above
for our FrontPage to SharePoint Designer series.
by Jason Reckers, President & CEO -
PixelMill Inc.
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