SharePoint Is Joomla
Having spent years now working with content management systems like Documentum and open-source tools like Joomla, I’m finally getting around to some Microsoft applications. I’ve written here before about Ektron, which is a fabulous tool built on the .NET 2.0 framework, but now I’m moving on to some of Microsoft’s own offerings.
Lately I have been getting my head deep into MS SharePoint 2007. I have to admit that I am really struggling with this one. Modifying templates and master pages not only seems needlessly difficult, it seems often not to work. I have created sites based on wikis, and then built subsites within them for document management and forums. But these subsites appear not to recognize their parents’ attributes, requiring lots of manual tweaking to pull them together. Equally, the provided templates are inflexible and do not allow for adding the content I would like to add. For example, if I create a wiki site and want to add some ‘web parts’ (components of functionality) I cannot because the template design does not allow it. Equally, I am not allowed to drop the wiki onto some other templates. To make changes like this I need the MS SharePoint Designer, which only runs in WinOffice 2007, which I do not have. These are first impressions and I quickly acknowledge that I am sure I am missing some obvious things.
The funny thing about SharePoint is that it is remarkably like Joomla. They both are module-based, allowing you to build pages by adding components to them. They both also provide similar functionality in that with either you can easily deploy blogs, forums, wikis, image and document libraries, and a whole slew of other popular features. Joomla, to be frank, also can be difficult to configure and redesign.
SharePoint indeed has some great features and offers a lot of promise. But unlike Ektron, which offers much of the same functionality and more, SharePoint seems frustratingly hard to modify and develop. My money is still on Ektron to build the best of breed.
My worst fear is that Microsoft buys Ektron and spoils the whole party. More to come as I proceed.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Making changes to the pages and master\layout pages does not require sharepoint designer. I suggst you research more into how the whole platform works and your options. You can edit pages with note pad if you wanted to.
To add web part zones to wiki pages, you will have to edit the layout page for the wiki template. whats hard with that? ofcourse, having sharepoint designer helps with the syntax of adding a zone, but if you read a bit in msdn or look into a layout page of a page with web part zones, it shouldnt be hard to understand the syntax.
I wonder how Ektron provides publishing workflow, or workflow support at all. how about integrating external applications? what about enterprise level search?
This review is flawed like most reviews by people who are new to sharepoint and coming from a different platform. Dont expect it to use the same standards the competing platform uses, and try to understand why master pages are there and how you should be developing for the platform (I dont understand why you say “frustratingly hard to modify and develop”. can you give examples?)
January 19th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I’m glad you commented here, Isahi. I am most happy that my post attracted someone so obviously knowledgeable of SharePoint.
I understand that you can make changes using notepad; my frustration was in trying to make changes using the web interface. Being an admitted novice, I found it less than intuitive.
I don’t find syntax or coding hard; I’ve been doing that for a very long time. I was hoping that I could add some additional functionality to the wiki page without having to recode. It seems to me that Microsoft could have made this kind of thing a little easier.
Ektron actually has some very sophisticated and easy to implement work flow which also attaches to required metadata input. And in fact, Ektron integrates quite nicely with SharePoint. My expectation is that we will use this model moving forward, a combination of the two. In addition, Ektron provides a very well-developed enterprise search, which is further enhanced in the next revision for tools to build and maintain taxonomy.
I found it “frustratingly hard” to make simple changes like creating a site with subsites that all have the same look and feel. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, but it seems that that should be a simple endevour. Each time I have done it, however, the subsites change only in part. For example, I created a Blank site and the site itself is just fine. When I click on any of the features, such a Lists, they come out in a different, default theme. I would have to go and change those, which seems pretty manual to me. I found a lot of things to me oddly manual.
Again, thanks for your comments, Ishai. Please comment again if you’d like to continue the conversation. I like your site and appreciate your insights. To be clear, I have nothing at all against MS or their products. I have not tied my career to one product, platform, or vendor, and have been around this block more than a couple of times. I am merely offering initial insights, to which I will add as I move along my learning curve.
January 20th, 2007 at 12:41 am
If I knew anything about Ectoplasm of Sharing Points, I wouldn’t be a free jazzer.
What’s meatdata?
Just kidding.
CMurray is a human CMS.
January 20th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Is that *the* Marc Ribot? The guitarist?
Wow. Nice to meet you! Love your guitar playing.
What’s a CMS?
Chris, when you write about this stuff, it freaks me out! I haven’t a clue what you’re on about!
It’s great to see you out here in the Internets, though!
Peace!
-R
July 31st, 2009 at 11:02 am
[...] There are people who argued that SharePoint is much more feature rich while others argued that SharePoint is too complex (rightly so, I might say from personal experience) to the detriment of its users who are just [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Plenty of information available …
see “Branding SharePoint” from Heather Solomon for example
http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/articles/sp2007.aspx