Fit and Finish: Insight from the Ironworks User Experience Group

The Best Way to Add Custom JavaScript and jQuery to SharePoint

During extensive SharePoint user interface customization you'll likely encounter a scenario where you need to make a web part or user control do something it was not intended to do or have a look that cannot be accomplished using the CSS hooks provided out-of-the-box. The solution is to create a custom master page and include a reference to a JavaScript file where you can modify the Document object. While straight JavaScript will do, I prefer to use the jQuery JavaScript library, which is far more robust, easier to use, and allows for plugins. Follow the steps below to add jQuery to your master page.

The Best Way to Add Custom CSS to SharePoint

To thoroughly customize your SharePoint site, you'll need to use a custom CSS. SharePoint offers a way to specify a single CSS file to use via the "Master page" settings for the site. However, using this approach still limits you to customizing only those IDs and classes that are included on the pages by SharePoint. Moreover, using this setting applies to both site and system pages, which may not be desirable.

With these downsides in mind, the best approach is to create a custom master page and include references to one or more custom CSS files. Follow the steps below to include a custom CSS file in your master page.

How to Create a Custom SharePoint Master Page

The first step in customizing your SharePoint site is to create a custom master page.  The following steps will help you do just that (please note there are differences indicated between SP 2007 and SP 2010).

Does a Social Media Strategy hamper organic community growth?

We had another interesting discussion on this week's Association Chat (#assnchat) Tweet-up (Tuesdays at 2:00 ET).  I recommended that associations (and all organizations for that matter) have a social media strategy to effectively leverage the plentiful tools that are now available to engage members and customers in productive online conversations.

However, I was challenged by my friend Jeff De Cagna who I respect as a thought leader in the association community and one who challenges conventional wisdom.  Jeff is a skeptic of strategic planning and suggested that a social media strategy is likely unnecessary and may be perceived as too controlling.  He recommended that you hand this off to smart people and let the communities grow organically.  It sounds to me like he believes that if "we build it, they will come" or perhaps "let them build it, they will keep coming back."

Dissecting SharePoint: The Scalpel

HTML developer tools are critical to any SharePoint user interface customization effort.  The four tools I find I use most often are Internet Explorer 8's built-in Developer Tools, the IE Developer Toolbar plugin for IE6 and IE7, and the Firebug and Web Developer toolbar plugins for Mozilla Firefox.

These tools allow you to quickly find IDs and classes in SharePoint's HTML as well as the CSS properties being applied to any given HTML element.  Having such tools eliminates the need for documented CSS classes used by SharePoint.

Try them out.  I have no doubt you'll find them invaluable for SharePoint and other projects.

The Annoyance Parallel

Customer-centric guru Gerry McGovern wrote last week:

“Traditional marketing is about getting attention. Web marketing is about paying attention.”

I really like the distinction he has made, although I think the lines are blurring.

A former colleague of mine and I used to argue over the effectiveness and wisdom of pop-up banner ads. I argued that a vast majority of users hate them and the increased revenue you may see is offset by an annoyance factor. His response was that a vast majority of magazine readers are annoyed by blow-in subscription cards too (they ones that fall out when you flip through the magazine), but they work. So do annoying telemarketers and infomercials.

But the web is a new kind of place. A medium unlike any before it where the customer has more choice and more control. Applying old school marketing techniques to the web is the equivalent to building a brochureware website.

Metadata, Taxonomies, Vocabularies – Do What?

Imagine standing in front of a wall of cubbies filled with parchment scrolls, and not being able to find the Tractatus you know exists in there.  Or no – make that try to find the right health insurance claim form on your corporate intranet.  Your predicament is as old as civilization itself.  And content classification structures, including tools like metadata and taxonomy, were invented thousands of years ago to deal with it. 

But let’s say you want to build one of these taxonomy or metadata things yourself.  You might first want to figure out what those terms mean – though ironically enough, there are creative differences over how they’re defined and used. Nonetheless, the following offers a high-level description of these key terms.