Category — Certification Product Review

I really enjoy the Microsoft Press Step by Step series. The series is a great way for an IT Professional to get a simple beginner’s introduction to a Microsoft technology without being called a dummy. The Step by Step series can be very helpful for learning how to do something that may be new to or outside your regular work responsibilities. And during this difficult economic time, adding to your current skill set is a very good thing.

I also think that this is a great title to review since Microsoft announced earlier this year that SharePoint Designer would be available for free.

The book contains twelve chapters and 336 pages and is intended to be a starting point for learning how to build a solution on SharePoint. The solutions presented in the book could be deployed on a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) or on a basic Windows SharePoint Server (WSS) installation. As a prerequisite, the author recommends that you have read Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Step by Step by Penelope Coventry (Microsoft Press 2008) so that you have a basic knowledge of how SharePoint Designer works. However, if you are familiar with the Microsoft Office interface, you may be able to work the exercises in the book. The book includes a companion CD with practice files, an ebook of the title, an ebook of the Microsoft Computer Dictionary 5th edition, and the Windows Vista Product Guide.

One of the first features I noticed this time was the Chapter at a Glance feature which gives a visual overview of the chapter’s content. I liked how the pictures were screenshots of the actual software being used to illustrate the topic being covered. Page numbers are right next to the picture so that if a certain picture got your attention, you could turn to that page to get more details. This is really a terrific feature.

Chapters included looks at Master Pages and data views. I was especially interested in the chapters on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which control the format of the web pages, and the chapter on workflow. One of the powerful features of SharePoint is the Workflow Foundation which allows you to automate document routing. Again, the step by step book format simplifies the steps that you need to take to create a sample workflow and learn the basics of this powerful feature of SharePoint.

As a side note, in his introduction, Jansen gives us a look into Microsoft’s web tools product development. Microsoft has three web development applications and it can sometimes be confusing choosing which one to use. If you have ever used FrontPage, you will notice that SharePoint Designer looks a lot like FrontPage. That is because FrontPage became SharePoint Designer. The same development team also created Microsoft Expression Web and Web Express in Microsoft Visual Studio. Jansen explains that the main difference between SharePoint Designer and Expression is that SharePoint Designer can work with content specific to SharePoint and Expression cannot. To illustrate the different audience that each product is aimed at, Jansen provides this scenario. A developer creates a layout with with server controls on it. He hands the layout to an Expression web designer who creates the look of the page. The Expression web designer hands the page to the SharePoint Designer application builder to post to SharePoint.

This book is ideal for anyone that is interested in enhancing SharePoint web sites. Not only is the book good for developers who are just starting out enhancing SharePoint sites, but it is also good for the IT Professional Generalist who wants to understand more about how SharePoint sites are built and how to make simple enhancements.

Contents

1. Working with Web Applications
2. Working with SharePoint Sites in SharePoint Designer
3. Accessing the Styles Behind SharePoint Pages
4. Creating Layout with Cascading Style Sheets
5. Working with Master Pages
6. Creating Custom Navigation Controls
7. Creating Data Sources in SharePoint
8. Creating Data Views
9. Using ASP.NET and SharePoint Controls in Data Views
10. Using Parameters in a Data View
11. Customizing List Forms and Pages
12. Using the Windows Workflow Foundation

This article will hopefully be the first in a series of book reviews of Microsoft Press titles.

Although I am not a programmer, I was drawn to this title. I manage web sites and I am intrigued by the development process and making the web pages do more than just display static images. The goal of this book is to help aspiring web developers create state of the art web sites.

The book contains thirteen chapters and 304 pages which take the reader from an introduction to the Visual Developer environment to creating a web site, using master pages and server controls, building data driven web sites, and finally deploying the web site. Chapters on HTML, Javascript, and Cascading Style Sheets are also included. Chapters build on previous code examples so you get to see how each part fits in the overall process of creating a web site. Code samples are available on the accompanying CD or web site.

This book is ideal for beginning web developers, hobbyists, or even IT Professionals (like me) wanting to expand their horizons. Since Visual Web Developer Express Edition and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition are a free downloads, the only other thing you would need is access to a Windows server based web site. If you use XP Professional or Vista (Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions), Internet Information Services (IIS) is already included and can be used as your local web server for testing.

One of my original purposes for starting this blog was to help people to find resources to help obtain IT certifications. In this article, I would like to highlight one such resource.

Train Signal is a company that creates and sell IT Training videos. They have over 38 titles covering Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, and VMWare. Train Signal provided me with a review copy of SharePoint Server 2007, one of their latest titles. Also included was Intro to Windows Server 2008, a promotional video which contains training an some basic topics of the new operating system as well as an introduction to their upcoming Windows Server 2008 titles.

The first thing that impressed me was the bio of the instructor, Benjamin “Coach” Culbertson. Coach Culbertson has the usual credentials that you see in instructor bios. What stood out to me was that he served a two year tour of duty as an inner city high school teacher where he motivated at-risk students to achieve excellence. As an instructor, myself, I realized that this guy has to be good to be able to impact students the way he did!

For the SharePoint title ($199.95), there are 22 videos, each running approximately a half hour each, on two CD’s (10+ hours of training). The videos cover both Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). When you insert the CD, a flash based menu runs showing you the video titles. When you click on one of the title, your web browser opens with the video embedded in a web page.

As I watched the videos I was not disappointed. Mr. Culbertson’s style is very easy going and informal. To setup each video and to illustrate concepts, Mr. Culbertson starts out with slides created in Microsoft One Note. (Frankly, I think Microsoft ought to thank Mr. Culbertson for demonstrating how useful One Note can be ) The rest of the video is demonstrations of the actual software in use. When it comes to installation and configuration, you are shown each field and get an explanation of what the settings actually do. The training will prepare you to take the associated certification tests, but also prepares you to actually be able to support the products in a real world situation.

Another feature that I liked is that the videos are all linked to a business scenario. For the SharePoint video, you are an employee of Verde Petra Publishing. The company wants to move away from using email as a collaboration tool. You have been charged by the CIO to implement Windows SharePoint Services. If that trial is successful, then you will implement Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

A video on how to setup your own lab is also included. This is great if you want to duplicate some of the training on your own. Also, all of the instructor’s slides are included in a PDF file, which you can also print out and use to take notes, if you wish.

The included Intro to Windows Server 2008 contains some good training to help familiarize you with the new operating system. Although I am not doing a full review of this title, I was impressed with a feature that I hope will make it into all of the titles in the future. Not only were the videos for Windows Media Player included, but also formats for MP3 players and iPods. This makes the training more portable for users to review the material.

If I had to point out any negatives, it would be the interface. The flash menu is OK and it does give you a good overview of the contents of the CD. I would prefer an overview of the whole course as opposed to just the contents of the CD. When you click on a video to play, a bare web page opens with only an embedded video player. There is nothing on the page to allow you to switch videos or even just go to the next video. Although the interface was not as good as I would have liked, I find this to be a minor point, since the training itself, is excellent quality. The interface included with the Intro to Windows Server 2008 title is somewhat improved. Although you have to run a setup file, the new viewer is more useful. The video now pops up in its own custom viewer. On the left are bookmarks for some of the important parts of the video. There is an icon for viewing in full screen, but it did not seem to work on my system. Also, there is still no way to advance to the next video from the viewer.

Overall, I found this title to be a great value. The trainer and the training are both great quality. The training you will find in these videos are as good as the best training that you will find in any instructor led class. The video format is flexible - you can watch it when you have the time (even during your lunch hour) and review a portion as many times as you want. You also do not have to be “Out of the Office” for a week.

If you want to check out samples of training videos from Train Signal, go to TrainSignalTraining.com. To purchase videos, go to TrainSignal.com. Train Signal will also be at Tech Ed 2008 IT Pro, June 10-13. I have been told that they will be making an important announcement at Tech Ed. If you stop by Train Signal’s booth, tell them you read about them at ITCertPro.com!