USING SHAREPOINT TO CREATE YOUR PUBLIC WEBSITE
JUNE 13, 2012 @ 2:45
PRESENTED BY:
MARK GEROW & CHARLES FARAMARZI-RAD, FENWICK &
WEST LLP
MICHAEL P. KOLB, CIO, DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC
DICKINSON WRIGHT SNAPSHOT:
DICKINSON WRIGHT - 11 OFFICES 300 LAWYERS
MOVE TO SHAREPOINT INTERNALLY - 2007
MOVE TO SHAREPOINT EXTRANET - 2010
MOVE TO SHAREPOINT WEBSITE - MARCH 2011
INITIAL DRIVERS
• MARKETING CONTINUITY
• SINGLE SOURCE DATABASE
• CONNECTIVITY TO INTERNAL SYSTEMS
DICKINSON WRIGHT:
DICKINSON WRIGHT:
BENEFITS TO USING SHAREPOINT:
• LESS TRAINING TIME REQUIRED IF SHAREPOINT IS ALREADY
USED IN THE FIRM AS AN EXTRANET/INTRANET.
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MOVE CONTENT MANAGEMENT AWAY FROM IT DEPARTMENT
EASE TRANSITIONS WITH MARKETING DEPARTMENT
FAMILIAR WITH CMS
•
Website
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Contact Manager
•
Email Marketing
•
Event Management System
DICKINSON WRIGHT:
DICKINSON WRIGHT:
BENEFITS OF USING SHAREPOINT:
• BUILT IN CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS) WITH WORK
FLOW, PUBLISHING AND VERSIONING
•
SHAREPOINT TAKES ADVANTAGE OF .NET MASTER PAGES AND
LAYOUT PAGES FOR EASIER DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF
SHAREPOINT.
•
AUDIENCE TARGETING OF CONTENT
DICKINSON WRIGHT:
BENEFITS TO USING SHAREPOINT:
• SHAREPOINT ALLOWS FOR DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
CONTRIBUTION WITHIN ORGANIZATION (CONTENT
CONTRIBUTORS ADD CONTENT BUT CAN’T PUBLISH WITHOUT
APPROVAL)
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LAWYERS
DEPARTMENT MANAGERS
CONTENT MANAGERS
SECRETARIES
MARKETING
DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC
ISSUES TO BE AWARE OF:
•
SHAREPOINT INTRANET SITES ARE NOT SEO FRIENDLY OR
COMPLIANT FOR ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS WITHOUT
CUSTOMIZATION.
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MAKE SURE EACH PAGE HAS A UNIQUE TITLE THAT REFLECTS IT’S
CONTENT
MAKE SURE EACH PAGE HAS A DESCRIPTION
•
Add a description column to all the content types used for each
page layout
MAKE SURE EACH PAGE HAS AN ALTERNATIVE TEXT THAT DESCRIBES IF
FOR THE IMAGE SEARCH
RELEVANT PAGES FOR THE SITE MAP
DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC
ISSUES TO BE AWARE OF:
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•
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BRANDING SHAREPOINT SITES REQUIRES SHAREPOINT
SPECIFIC BRANDERS AND/OR .NET - PRICE POINT FOR
SHAREPOINT FOR INTERNET SITES IS VERY EXPENSIVE SEE LINK
NEED ACCESS TO SYSTEM FILES ON THE SERVER TO DO ANY
CUSTOM DEVELOPMENT WHICH MAY BE A LONG PROCESS
DEPENDING ON HOW IT IS INVOLVED.
MOBILE VIEWS REQUIRE HIGHLY CUSTOMIZED PAGES OR THIRD
PARTY PRODUCTS TO CHANGE THE FORMAT OF A SHAREPOINT
PAGE.
FENWICK’S GOALS FOR THIS
WEB SITE
1.TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SHAREPOINT’S
BUILT IN CMS
2. PERFORMANCE IS KEY
3. HIGHLY INTERCONNECTED WEBSITE
4. USING SEARCH AND METADATA TAGS TO
BRING CONTENT TO YOU (DYNAMIC PAGES)
5. VANITY URLS
6. MAINTAIN AND MIGRATE.
PERFORMANCE
• DYNAMIC MASTER PAGES
• CACHE IS KING
• AJAX AND JQUERY
DYNAMIC MASTERPAGE
CREATED A BASE CLASS UPON WHICH CUSTOM
PAGE LAYOUTS ARE BASED, SO THAT MASTER
PAGE SWAPPING CAN BE CENTRALIZED. THE
ANONYMOUS MASTER PAGE WILL NOT
CONTAIN JAVASCRIPT OR FORM TAGS AND
OTHER INCLUDES REQUIRED TO SUPPORT
CONTENT EDITING, AND THUS WILL LOAD MUCH
MORE QUICKLY
FIDDLER SNAPSHOT
AUTHENTICATED
FIDDLER SNAPSHOT
ANONYMOUS
CACHE IS KING
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OUTPUT CACHING
BLOB CACHING
CUSTOM OBJECT LEVEL CACHING
SEARCH
CUSTOM OBJECT LEVEL
CACHING
• CACHE ALL OBJECTS CONTENT (EXAMPLE CACHE
ALL PROFESSIONALS)
• PERFORM QUERIES AGAINST THAT CACHE
• CACHE THE RESULT OF THAT QUERY
AJAX AND JQUERY
• MAKING AJAX CALLS USING JQUERY TO
LAYOUT PAGES.
• ASYNCHRONOUS CALLS WILL MAKE THE
PAGE APPEAR TO LOAD FASTER. (SEARCH
PAGES).
• WILL HAVE NO PAGE REFRESH
• ALL THIS IS DONE WITHOUT USING ASP.NET
AJAX AND POST BACKS.
DEMO
• PROFESSIONAL SEARCH
• SEARCH FEEDS
• TRENDING TOPICS
INTERCONNECTED WEBSITE
• DATA IS PULLED IN TO THE PAGE FROM ALL
OVER THE SITE COLLECTION.
• EVERYTHING IS TAGGED SO THAT YOU CAN
CLICK ON A TAG AND SEE EVERYTHING THAT
IS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT TAG.
• GREAT USE OF MANAGED METADATA
• GREAT FOR SEARCH
• GREAT FOR SEO
DEMO
TOPICS AND TOPIC DETAIL PAGE.
USING SEARCH AND MANAGED
METADATA
• EXTENSIVE USE OF TAXONOMY FIELDS
• TIED IN WITH CUSTOM CONTENT TYPES
• CREATION OF MANAGED PROPERTIES IN
SEARCH
• ENTER “THE FILTER FEED”
• 70-80% OF OUR CONTENT IS DELIVERED VIA
THESE FEEDS.
• USING SHAREPOINT SEARCH
DEMO
FILTER FEED
VANITY URLS
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NEEDED A WAY TO CONTINUE TO SERVE URLS
FROM LEGACY ASP SITE, AND
SHAREPOINT URLS ARE:
• UGLY
• BAD FOR SEO
• … BUT
•
YOU CAN USE AN HTTP MODULE TO REROUTE
URLS, SO THAT OLD LINKS WILL BE REDIRECTED
TO CORRESPONDING PAGES ON NEW SITE
THE PROCESS
CONTROL LIST
SHAREPOINT LIST USED TO MAP URLS
http://www.fenwick.com/attorneys/4.2.1.asp?aid=304
MAINTENANCE AND MIGRATION
TOOLS
BUILT TOOL TO MIGRATE CONTENT INTO THE
SITE FROM THE LEGACY SITE.
MAINTENANCE AND MIGRATION
TOOLS
BUILT TOOL TO UPDATE THE NEW PAGES WITH
ALL THE NECESSARY WEBPART ON A GLOBAL
SCALE OR LOCAL SCALE
MAINTENANCE AND MIGRATION
TOOLS
BUILT TOOL TO SWAP PAGE LAYOUTS FOR
WHEN WE HAVE TO UPDATE THE PAGE
LAYOUTS.
MAINTENANCE AND MIGRATION
TOOLS
• HAD TO BUILD OUR OWN WARMUP TOOL.
• BECAUSE EVERY PAGE HAS CACHED
CONTENT ON THERE, WE WANTED TO MAKE
SURE THAT EVERY PAGE IS HIT.
• VERY SIMILAR TO HOW SHAREPOINT
SEARCH CRAWLS THE PAGES
MAINTENANCE AND MIGRATION
TOOLS
BUILT SCRIPTS TO MIGRATE DATABASES AND
NEW WSPS FROM PRODUCTION TO BACKUP
FARMS.
LESSONS LEARNED
• SEARCH OFFERS THE BEST BANG FOR BUCK
WHEN IT COMES TO QUERYING LARGE
DATASET WITH PERFORMANCE IN MIND.
• MAKE SURE THE DATA STRUCTURES ARE
THE FIRST THING THAT ARE DESIGNED AND
LOCKED DOWN. HEADACHE TO GO
THROUGH AND CHANGE AFTER THE FACT.
• CREATE THE CONTENT TYPES USING VISUAL
STUDIO
LESSONS LEARNED
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IF CACHING IN CODE, WHEN IT COMES TO
TAXONOMY FIELDS, YOU NEED TO BUILD STRING
REPRESENTATIONS OF THEM IN ORDER FOR
CACHING TO WORK.
XML WEB PARTS ARE A SAVIOR.
TAKE THE TIME TO BUILD XML REPRESENTATION
OF THE PAGE. BUILD A UTILITY THAT WILL
GENERATE A XML FOR EVERY PAGE THAT IS
VISITED, AND THEN USE XSLT TO STYLE THE
PAGE.
LESSONS LEARNED
• PAGE LAYOUTS WERE A NIGHTMARE WHEN
IT CAME TO UPDATING THEM. ESPECIALLY
AFTER MIGRATION HAD HAPPENED FROM
LEGACY DATABASE.
• THAT IS WHY WE CREATED THE PAGE
LAYOUT SWAPPER.
• USE SHAREPOINT DESIGNER TO CREATE
YOUR CUSTOM LAYOUTS.
LESSONS LEARNED AND
PITFALLS TO AVOID
• PLAN YOUR DR.
• AGILE REALLY WORKS