SharePoint “Sites”
One of the fundamental concepts in SharePoint is the Site. A Site is just a collection of “stuff.” A Site is a collection of information. A Site can contain Documents, Pages, Lists, Libraries, Calendars, images, media, videos, CAD files – pretty much any kind of content that you can imagine. A Site has unique security properties. A Site can be locked down to a specific team of people, or opened to the entire world by allowing anonymous access. A Site can be stand alone or nested within other Sites (sometimes called Subsites). Subsites can be thought of as sections. Sites can utilize different languages. Subsites can have distinct language settings which are different from their parent Site.
Sites can be manipulated very easily using a web browser. You can change the Theme (which changes the color scheme and fonts). You can change the navigation. You can add and hide links. You can add structures for content. Sites can be manipulated by adding Lists, Libraries, Workflow, Security, Content Types, Page Layouts, Master Pages, and many more components. Finally, after you have manipulated a Site to satisfy your requirements – you can save your Site as a Site Template.
Some Sites are intended to be permanent fixtures which are always available, like your main Intranet page or your public-facing website. Some Sites are intended to be disposable, used only for a short time, such as a Site dedicated to a project or an event. In either case, you have the capability to move or delete Sites with ease.
All SharePoint Sites are based on Site Templates. Even if you want to create an empty Site, it is created from a Site Template cleverly named “Blank Site.” There are different Site Templates depending on the version of SharePoint you choose, and the Templates are available in all flavors: Team Site, Blog, Document Center, Meeting Workspace, Search Center, Enterprise Wiki, Publishing Portal, and more. Site Templates are a powerful tool in SharePoint.
As explained earlier, Sites can be manipulated. You can always manipulate various aspects of the Site should your org’s requirements change.
The following list details configurable Site options:
- Language. Text that appears on the Site is displayed in the Site Template’s language.
- Security. Define unique user groups and permissions for each Site.
- Navigation. Configure unique navigation links in each part of your SharePoint hierarchy. Site navigation can reflect relationships among the Sites in a Site Collection.
- Web Pages. Customize pages associated with various Sites.
- Layouts. Provide unique layouts or master pages in a Site.
- Themes. Modify colors and fonts on a Site.
- Regional settings. Modify the regional settings, such as locale, time zone, sort order, time format, and calendar type.
- Search. Customize search settings. For example, specify that a particular Site never appears in search results.
- Content Types. Customize each Site’s Content Types and Site Columns (metadata).
- Workflows. Provide unique workflows for each Site.