Enterprise wide collaboration and productivity is now considered a must have. Accessing applications providing such solutions remotely is now regarded as an integral component of today’s corporate culture.
In addition, software must possess a certain level of flexibility. The way in which employees at Company A work together may be completely different than the manner in which workers at Company B do. SharePoint, whether on-premise or cloud-based, can be tailored to fit specific needs.
To gain the knowledge needed to develop the platform, experts typically turn to SharePoint training courses to give them a rundown on what’s occurring underneath the hood. A comprehensive understanding of SharePoint’s coding enlightens professionals of the software’s capabilities and limitations.
Know how to use it
CMSWire contributor Wendy Neal noted that it may be tempting to open Visual Studio and begin writing code in order to engineer SharePoint to perform certain functions, but such a decision may work against professionals in the long run. For those who have worked extensively with the platform, taking this initiative isn’t such a bad idea.
In contrast, there are some SharePoint developers who have never actually used the program. Therefore, they have a limited idea of how their customizations will affect the user experience. Generally, code is manipulated to improve performance, usability and security. Remember: The way in which people interact with an application dictates how it should be coded.
All in all, SharePoint engineers should become acquainted with advanced user tools as well, such as master pages, managed metadata, workflows, publishing, content types and other features.
Why is all this necessary?
Neal hit the nail on the head when describing why fledgling SharePoint developers should take time getting to know the software:
“You will spend less time reinventing the wheel for common functionality, and you can spend more time writing the business logic that can’t be achieved through the user interface,” she wrote.
In this regard, enrolling in SharePoint classes to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the user experience is a good starting point for those who want to customize the collaboration platform.
Follow the SharePoint Foundation patch number
Redmond Magazine contributor Kurt Mackie spoke with Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Todd Klindt, who noted that recent updates to SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 can receive patches for individual components, such as the publishing or access features. SharePoint Foundation frequently provides these revisions, so it’s important to keep them in mind.