Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

Chapter 30: Default Tools to Customize Windows SharePoint Services 815
Modify Site Content, and Customize Home Page, which allows you to edit the home
page with the tool pane displayed.
You can customize Windows SharePoint Services websites created from a portal
site by clicking Manage Sites in the Actions list on an area page. This displays a
list of sites created. Rest the pointer on the site you want to edit, click the arrow that
appears, and then click Edit Item on the menu that appears. You are presented with
a page similar to the one you used when you created the site, which allows you to
amend the Title, URL, Description, Owner, Division, Region, and Spotlight properties.
You can change all but the URL property. If you change the URL property,
unless you have created a site at the new URL, users will receive the error message
“The Web site that is referenced here is not in the configuration database.” These
properties are visible only on the portal site; therefore, if you want the website to
have the same title as the title property on the portal site, you must navigate to the
website, click Site Settings, and then click Change Site Title And Description.
List and Library Configurations
The names and descriptions of lists and libraries can be modified by navigating to
the list or library. Under the Actions section, click Modify Settings And Columns, and
in the General Settings section, click Change General Settings. You can also choose
to customize views with different styles and groupings, as well as limit the amount
of data that is returned to the user.
When you create a view, in the Audience section you can choose to create a
shared view that all site users can share or a personal view. However, if a website
has many users and each creates a shared view, the list of shared views can get very
long. Personal views enable each user of a SharePoint site to create her own views,
which are not visible to other users. Having both types of views allows site administrators
to ensure that only views that are useful for most users appear in the list of
shared views, while still allowing users to create personal views that help them view
list information in the most convenient way for them.
Note The types of views you can create might vary based on the template
your site uses. Also remember that only shared views can be specified as
the default view.
Remove !New Tag from New Items
When you add a new entry to announcements, events, or links on a website, the
new entry always includes a tag that is made up of the exclamation point character
(!) and the word New (!New). To prevent the !New tag from appearing next to new
entries on your website, use the Stsadm.exe tool to change the Days To Show New