I just received word that I have been awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for SharePoint for the 2009 award cycle, that makes it 3 years running.  Thanks to all the folks within the community, the other MVP’s, the SharePoint product team members, and other Microsoft employees whom collectively weigh in on all of this.  Special thanks to Sasha for his tireless efforts as well.  Looking forward to another year of exciting projects as we ramp up for the o14 wave.

Congrats to Amanda Murphy and all the other MVP’s that were recently renewed as well.

SharePoint Nation!

Join us Tonight (Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 8PM EST) for our first virtual user group meeting for SharePoint Nation! In this meeting, Robert Bogue (MOSS MVP) will speak to us on Governance. Robert is a definite expert in this area and will make this an event you will not want to miss!

Session Information:

A little background on SharePoint Nation!

User groups are a great way for getting out to meet peers, sharing information on past experiences related to a particular topic and for learning from subject matter experts on new concepts or best practices.  Many of us already are members of local user groups related to SharePoint, .NET and other topics.  However in some cases, it may be difficult to get out to meetings due to work commitments or even worse, impossible to coordinate a group due to regional limitations.  Enter SharePoint Nation…a virtual user group.

SharePoint Nation will operate as any other user group…except without the free Pizza.

We will meet, share information and network with one another.  Meetings will feature presentations from a variety of subject matter experts on a vast array of topics.  To accommodate people from all over the globe, a variety of time slots will be followed for meetings and all content will be made available online for on demand participation.  The website will be used for sharing information with one another between meetings.

How can you get involved…

Aside from presenting at meetings, we are looking for people to help host the meetings.  As a host you will take on responsibility for notifying attendees of meeting locations, introducing the speaker for the evening and collecting evaluations at the conclusion of the meeting.   Training will be provided on using Live Meeting and the various other tools associated with hosting and presenting at meetings.

I just happen to share a birthday with Bob Dylan, May 24.  For the first time in both of our histories, he’s going to play in my home town, on our birthday and I just got tickets.  Talk about a birthday present, woo hoo!

I have watched for months as this project developed, many people have put countless hours into making it a success. Awesome job to the team involved.

Official Release Announcement from SharePoint Team @ Microsoft:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/03/05/announcing-the-community-kit-for-sharepoint-enhanced-blog-edition-2-0-cks-ebe-final-release.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

It is very uncharacteristic of me to post items I’ve received in my inbox, but I’ll make an exception for this one: 

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read the through, you’ll get the point.

·         Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

·         Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

·         Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

·         Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

·         Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

·         Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are not second -rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

·         List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

·         Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

·         Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

·         Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

·         Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?
The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.

As MOSS adoption increases, so does my workload!  Wow, it has been a face paced year thus far and there are no signs of slowing up.  When I looked around the “SharePoint Landscape” a few years ago I noticed a lack of documented experiences in the customization space and thus this blog was born.  As I look out now however, I see coutless incredibly useful resources.

This got me to thinking, what’s next, how do you look out at todays landscape and get reinspired? After some thought, and brainstorming, I think I have the answer.  Of course if I were to tell you now that would ruin the surprise so I guess you will just have to wait and see what’s in store.  Fear not though, I will be working on a new model and way of delivering similar content.

PS: I have not forgotten about any of the “What do you want to see” replies from a previous post.  I will respond to any I can do justice to in the new format.

Cheers!

I was recently randomly selected to participate in a QnA with the Canadian MVP program - below is a link to the questions and my responses.

http://blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs/archive/2007/12/07/mvp-insider-q-a-with-shane-perran.aspx

The much anticipated accessibility toolkit for SharePoint has arrived.  This joint Microsoft/HiSoftware venture is targetting a much needed area of attention - accessibility.

Download:

http://aks.hisoftware.com/akslicense.html

Vince has posted a great introduction to the enhanced blog edition.  Those looking for something extra when it comes to SharePoint blogs should look no further than the Community Kit for SharePoint Enhanced Blog Edition.

A friendly reminder to all those folks out there with questions about SharePoint 2007.  Today is the day… there is a “FREE” conference where you get those questions answered.  No

Overview:

SharePoint Pro Online-LIVE!, a free one-day event, is the premier virtual conference for developers, administrators, managers, and end users of SharePoint products and
technologies.  SharePoint Pro Online-LIVE! provides everything that an in-person, peer-to-peer-to-expert event offers - without the travel, without the cost, and without the time away from your desk!

There is an awesome line of up speakers ranging from Andrew Connell (resident WCM guru), to Daniel Larson (Mr. Ajax Toolkit) … you get the idea, what are you waiting for, sign-up, learn something new.
Website Details and Registration:

http://events.unisfair.com/index.jsp?eid=164&seid=585 

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected as an MVP for another year.  This past year has been quite a ride and I’ve learned alot.  Looking forward to learning at least as much again this year.

The MVP’s are a truely talented bunch of folks whom I’m humbled to be considered part of.

Here’s to another year of Sharing, Learning and all that comes with it!

Sure, I could have posted my post when the book was officially released a few days back but hey - I think this book deserves to be in the spotlight every week, for months to come.

This is a true testament of SharePoint 2007, straight from the trenches as it’s been used in “Real World” solutions by 16 industry leaders, and Microsoft SharePoint MVP’s.

I can honestly say that this was written by an incredibly talented group of people - many of whom I have had the priviledge of meeting and working with over the past couple of years. I joined forces with none other than Heather Solomon to co-write the customization Chapter and we guide you through some of the goodies, tips and tricks to help you get those UI’s shiny in no time.

What are you waiting for, go get the book already!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470168358/ref=s9_asin_image_1/002-4704815-8391258?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=13ZXMGK74NS5D623D4AB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240701&pf_rd_i=507846

Something there is never enough of is good tools for developing and designing websites (SharePoint Sites Included).  This tool while developed to make, making SharePoint Themes easier can be used for any website.

SharePoint Skinner - take a look at the screenshots, and download here:

http://www.elumenotion.com/Blog/default.aspx

Monday, August 27^th, 2007 (7:00PM – 9:00PM) 

Room IIC2001 in the Inco Building at MUN (New Building!)

Mark Simms will drop by to provide an introduction to a basic embedded system, running on an Atmel ARM microprocessor.  A few basic tasks will be demonstrated, including responding to input (buttons) and flashing some LEDs.  A .NET application will be built to interface with the embedded system over a serial port.  As always prizes will be given away after the event and pizza will be served.

Monday, September 17th, 2007 (7:00PM – 9:00PM) 

Room TBA

Jason Beres from Infragistics will be coming to our group as part of a cross Canada tour to present to us on Silverlight.  Silverlight is arguably the biggest shift in Microsoft strategy on the web since IE was introduced over 10 years ago.  With the reach of cross platform and the richness of the .NET framework, the future of building Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) has never been more exciting.  In this talk, you will learn about Silverlight, the platforms, tools and technologies you can use to build Silverlight applications, and how it differs from the full Windows Presentation Foundation platform in .NET 3.0 and how Silverlight can be used in conjunction with other technologies, such as ASP.NET Ajax, Web Services and Visual Studio 2008.

Jason Beres is the Director of Product Management for Infragistics, the world’s leading publisher of presentation layer tools.  Jason is one of the founders of Florida .NET User Groups, he is the founder of the New Jersey .NET User Group, he is a Visual Basic .NET MVP, and he is on the INETA Speakers Bureau.  Jason is the author of several books on .NET development, he is a national and international speaker conference speaker, he is a frequent columnist for several .NET publications, and keeps very active in the .NET community.

I hope to see you all at these two great events.  As always, to help us ensure we have adequate refreshments and prizes, please register for both events using the following link:

http://www.wedevelop.net/eventsignup.aspx

The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK contains conceptual overviews, “How Do I…?” programming tasks, developer tools, code samples, references, and an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) starter kit to guide you in developing solutions based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

MOSS 2007 SDK 1.2. Includes Conceptual and Class Library Reference documentation, Web Services documentation, and Developer Tools and Samples for MOSS and WSS.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en

WSS 3.0 SDK 1.2. Includes Conceptual and Class Library Reference documentation, Web Services documentation, and Developer Tools and Samples for WSS technology only.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=05E0DD12-8394-402B-8936-A07FE8AFAFFD&displaylang=en

I see this question asked on a daily basis by many people;  “I’m trying to delete my page layout but it keeps telling me it’s still referenced — I swear it’s not!!! what’s wrong?”.

Well, yes, it’s quite likely still being referenced, however …  Andrew Connell has been kind enough to share an invaluable tip on finding all related resources, including the pages using the layout you swear are not!

You can visit Andrew to view how to solve your page layout deletion woes by clicking here.

When I asked what people wanted to see blogged about, Silverlight seemed to be quite popular so I figured I would pass this link dealing with Silverlight tutorials along to you all.

 http://www.nibblestutorials.net/

I’m glad to say that our book, Beginning SharePoint 2007 is now available to the masses.  Amanda and I are both eagerly awaiting reviews which is why we were pleased to see that Mike Walsh appears to be the first out of the gate to talk about it.

Those of you who know Mike Walsh know that he really isn’t one to “kick things under the rug” if he doesn’t like it, he will tell you so I can confidently say that you will get a pretty accurate description from him.

You might notice at times during the course of the book (and in Mikes review) the mention of SharePoint versus WSS.  Unfortunately during a very rigorous editing process, it’s relatively easily for ’simple’ cut/paste or change jobs to fly under the radar unnoticed and this is one of those times.

So, when you see WSS versus SharePoint just keep in mind that it should read WSS versus MOSS.  When referring to SharePoint 2007, we are referring to MOSS 2007 + WSS 3.0  collectively.

Read Mike’s review on Beginning SharePoint 2007.

By now it should come as no great shock that web standards, and accessibility are incredibly important to ‘any website’, yes this very much includes SharePoint sites.  It’s not to see Microsoft and the SharePoint Team shining some light on the importance of the situation and equally impressive to see partners and vendors coming to the table with more and more solutions.

One which sparked my interest this morning from HiSoftware is AccRepair v11.0 for Microsoft SharePoint Designer

Snippet:
AccRepair v11.0 for Microsoft SharePoint Designer and Expression is an integrated solution that allows developers and content providers to test and repair content created with SharePoint Designer and Expression from within those applications prior to publishing in the production environment. This allows users to validate and remediate content at the time and place of content creation.

Great work!

I hinted at this interview a couple of weeks back, now you can catch it live on video:

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs @ All Things Digital

A very well known CSS/Standards advocate, someone I’ve been following for quite a few years seems to be doing some SharePoint work, and blogging.  Check out his recent article on Skinning SharePoint with Standards.

Great to have people like Cameron on board pushing web standards in the SharePoint space!

This is way cool, check out Microsoft Surface

TechED 2007 is just around the corner, I know you will all be taking in the great SharePoint Breakouts, Chalk Talks and BOF’s, but save a little room for the IE Booth.  There are some very interesting topics in the web standards space, and even more interesting speakers, including none other than Holly Holzschlag.

Don’t forget to stop by and say hello to Amanda while you are there - she will probably be running around with a funny feathered hat again.
 Take a look at some of the sessions!

Breakout sessions:

CLI223 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 for the Enterprise (200)
Wednesday, June 6 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM, S310 A, Speaker(s): Mike Chan

This is an overview session on why you should deploy Internet Explorer 7 in the enterprise. We provide high-level coverage of features, IE7 as a developer platform, and finish up with a discussion about management and deployment techniques. Troubleshooting and application compatibility are also covered.

CLI229 - Building Trust with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Extended Validation SSL: Boosting User Confidence in Online Transactions (200)
Thursday, June 7 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM, N210 B, Speaker(s): Markellos Diorinos, Troy Kitch (VeriSign)

Improving the trust models for commerce sites is critical to help prevent consumer erosion of trust in online transactions from malicious Web sites and phishing attacks. This session discusses how Internet Explorer 7’s support of Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates, designed to promote strong identification for Web sites, allows users to easily identify the real identity of the Web site they are transacting with and thereby helps boost their confidence in online transactions. Web site owners will find out how they can implement EV SSL for their site and best practices in implementing SSL-protected Web sites.

SEC305 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Security In-Depth (300)
Wednesday, June 6 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM, S310 E, Speaker(s): Markellos Diorinos

This session is an in-depth discussion of IE7 security features (Protected Mode, ActiveX Opt-In, etc.) and real-life experiences from Web developers in the past eight months with IE7. Best practices are discussed, as well as dos and dont’s for creating Web sites. Finally, initial plans for security features in the next version of IE are discussed.

WEB321 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and the Route to Standards: Where Did We Start, and Where Are We Now? (300)
Monday, June 4 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM, N210 B, Speaker(s): Douglas Stamper

Internet Explorer 7 has fixed many of the rendering and other issues that caused headaches for Web developers and Web designers. We take a look at what caused Microsoft to bring IE back, where we started from, how far we got, and how our user base of over half a billion people affects the way we went about our work on IE7. Learn about where the platform started, why we didn’t take every fix you wanted, and what features we did add. Also, find out what we’ve learned since shipping IE7, and how that might affect future versions of Internet Explorer.

WEB322 - JavaScript Performance in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7: Making Your Web Applications Scream (300
Wednesday, June 6 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM, S320 E, Speaker(s): Cyra Richardson

What are the top five things that cause your code to run slowly in the browser? With the right optimizations, JavaScript can run quickly and efficiently in the browser environment. In this session, learn from the experts how you can make your AJAX/JavaScript applications scream. We look at the top five coding issues that cause JavaScript to run slow, how you can avoid memory leaks, ensure your don’t leave variables hanging around, and how you can avoid client side scripting errors.

WEB323 - The RSS Platform in Microsoft Internet Explorer: Pushing Out Rich Data to Your Users (300)
Monday, June 4 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM, N220 F, Speaker(s): Eric Lawrence

Internet Explorer 7 provides a rich RSS platform that you can use to push rich data out to your users. Many sites offer RSS feeds with simple text to their users, but most end users don’t know what that glowing orange button does, and fewer realize how they can use it pull down their favorite Podcasts, VidCasts, and other rich media. Learn how to add RSS to your Web site, create simple list extensions that enrich the data you push out, how to push include rich media in your feed, drive traffic to your site, get your user hooked to your content, and how you can create client side applications that use the built in platform.

Chalk Talks:

CLI01-TLC - Deploying Internet Explorer 7 in a Business Environment (200)
Thursday, June 7 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM, Yellow Theater 3, Speaker(s): Mike Chan

Come and discuss the value of IE7 to your business and talk about methods of distribution, customization, and how the IEAK can be used to meet your needs. Management topics and business feature requests for the next version of IE will be taken.

SEC03-TLC - Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Security Hands-on: Extended Validation SSL and Phishing Filter (300)
Wednesday, June 6 5:30 PM - 6:45 PM, Yellow Theater 2, Speaker(s): Markellos Diorinos, Eric Lawrence

You’ve heard about IE7’s EV SSL support and the Phishing Filter before. If you still have questions about how exactly they work (and want to look at the root certificate store, validation chains, network captures), join us for this in-depth session.

WEB02-TLC - Microsoft Internet Explorer: Interactive (200)
Thursday, June 7 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM, Blue Theater 14, Speaker(s): Cyra Richardson

Come join members of the IE team and give them a piece of your mind. What do you want to see the IE team fix, what are your most common headaches, what can we do to make your lives as Web developers easier. This is your opportunity to talk with the IE team and help shape the future of the next version of IE.

WEB03-TLC – Web Blunders: The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes On The Web (300)
Thursday, June 7 4:30 PM – 5:45 PM, Blue Theater 14, Speaker(s): Pete LePage

Using the Web is a great way to share ideas, designs, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other code. But it’s also a great way to share bad code! We show you the top 5 biggest Web blunders that cause problems for developers and end-users on the Web. Learn about the problem and how to fix it, and more importantly, how to avoid it!

WEB07-TLC – Web Standards Critique (200)
Monday, June 4 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM, Blue Theater 14, Speaker(s): Molly Holzschlag

Join Molly Holzschlag and her panel of Web experts to look at your sites and offer praise and suggestions on your HTML/CSS Web site. We’ll be as brutal or as gentle as you want, but come prepared to see some of the greatest (and worst) Web sites – yours!

WEB08-TLC - Web Development Tools for Microsoft Internet Explorer (300)
Thursday, June 7 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM, Blue Theater 14, Speaker(s): John Hrvatin

If you’re doing Web development, there are a number of tools available that work with Internet Explorer that can help to make your life easier. We look at some of the Microsoft tools like script debugging in VWD, the IE Developer Toolbar, Fiddler, and then some of the non-Microsoft tools like IE Watch, IE7Pro and some of the other great tools that are available. You’ll walk out of the session knowing new ways to make your development debugging easier.

WEB10-TLC – The Benefits of CSS and Web Standards Based Development (300)
Monday, June 4 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM, Blue Theater 14, Speaker(s): Molly Holzschlag

By now, most Web developers and designers are aware that Web standards are a critical industry concern. However, many people aren’t clear of the true benefits of working with a standards-based methodology. In this session, Molly E. Holzschlag, a Web standards and interoperability consultant for Microsoft, takes a look at the true benefits of Web standards. Learn how semantic markup, CSS, and intelligent script management can improve the appearance, performance, speed, accessibility, and search optimization of any site, save you money, and help you manage sites for the short and long-term.

Visit the IE website for more:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/05/24/internet-explorer-at-teched-2007.aspx

To all those whom have emailed or posted comments wondering where I’ve been, not to worry - I’m still right here plugging away.  A small break from writing was in order after several (3) consecutive book projects (all SharePoint related).   I’m just about ready to jump back in the saddle, and I’ve been monitoring the comments posted in response to the “What would you like to see” post.  Stay tuned - I’ll be cranking out some new design related articles in no time!

Well, after a fairly lengthy stint of intermittent blogging due to the book and an otherwise hectic schedule, I figured that as I start to brainstorm ideas for new things to post, I would start out by making up for my blogging absence and ask you guys, the readers what type of articles you would like to see?

Is there something sorely lacking in the design and customization space that you really wish someone would start posting about, or something that simply needs more detail than a 30,000 foot overview?

If so, now is your chance to let me know.  I will cherry pick 2 or 3 of the best topics which I can best talk about for my next few posts.  I will try to drill in as much as possible with the how-to steps.

As Amanda has pointed out over on her blog, small portions of the book will be released in article format over the next few months on the WROX site to give people a chance to check out a few of the concepts ahead of time.  So if you go to the site now, you will be able to read a short article that will guide you through an explanation and the usage of the Approval workflow in MOSS 2007.For those of you out there that are just getting started with SharePoint or might be expected to become the next guru in your organization for using the out of the box features of SharePoint and customizing them to meet your specific organization’s goals - this book should help get you on your way.  One of the things I have always liked about this particular WROX series is the hands on learning style which is why I was thrilled to have the opportunity to write such a book for SharePoint.  Of course it helped that I had such a great writing partner too!

Big thanks to the WROX crew for all their hard work as well!

Amanda and I have officially finished our book (Beginning SharePoint 2007) and it’s gone into production.  Amanda and I have spent the last several months doing an absolute brain dump into this book and I hope people will enjoy it.  It covers almost all of the basics of the product, focusing on how you can actually “use it” to build business solutions.  Not to much wonky technical mumbo jumbo, just dive in and get your hands dirty kinda stuff.

Now that we’re done, that means the blogging can begin and what better way than introducing a couple of new MOSS sites which are pressing hard in the web standards and accessibility space - GREAT to see MOSS sites taking this route and opting for mostly tableless designs!

Example 1:
http://www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/

Example 2:
http://www.wise-woman.net/Pages/default.aspx

Completely off topic from SharePoint.  This is the kind of thing that will make you stop and think before turning down your next potential business deal, or partnership.

Johnny Cash and June Carter in their prime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1NDEdKkAaQ&mode=related&search=

If you are fluent in French and are interested in contributing to a SharePoint Community project (IE: Volunteer), send me an email. shane@graphicalwonder.com.

Hint:  It has to do with the SharePoint Community Kit, http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/sharepoint/cks/uge/default.aspx - so if you are involved with French User Groups this might be of particular interest.