First and foremost I want to thank God for the blessings that have been given to me and my family.
Thanks go out to my coauthors, Michelle and Scott: your encouragement and work toward the book was outstanding. I am really glad to have had the chance to work with the two of you. Also, thank you to Cary Walker III and Yvonne Sletmoe Wilson over at GP Strategies for your encouragement and listening to my SharePoint ramblings every month. A special thank you to Dux Raymond Sy for giving so much of yourself to the SharePoint Community and for always being a great sounding board to my crazy ideas! And, a big thank you Microsofts SharePoint Development team for making such a terrific platform to work with and write about.
Finally, I would like to thank Karen Kocher and Karla Shores for asking about Community Portals and Sites.
From Michelle Lopez
A huge acknowledgment goes out to my husband, Carlos, for always bringing humor to my long days. Thank you for not giving me too much grief for neglecting you and our beautiful family during this amazing endeavor. To my parents, Dwight and Johnette Phillips, whom I love to make proud; to my sister, Noelle Phillips, who gets me like no one else does; and to my children, who continue to inspire me to make the world a better place. Thank you to Johnathan Lightfoot, for believing in me as much as I believe in me. Thank you to Scott Metker for sharing his dedication and resolve with me, even when in Paris!
Id also like to thank you, our reader, for choosing this book. I hope you begin, or continue, your journey to become as addicted to SharePoint as I am.
From Scott Metker
I would first like to thank my coauthors, Johnathan Lightfoot and Michelle Lopez, for their assistance in writing this book. It truly was a team effort, and I thank you both for the help.
I would like to thank Mike Yamarik, who has been both personally and professionally supportive throughout my career. Additionally, I would like to thank Gabor Fari for his encouragement and countless introductions to other members of the SharePoint community.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Shannon, who has been my partner and supporter for all of my projects. You have made these things possible for us, and I will always support you in the same way.
Chapter 1. About this book
In this section:
With the even greater presence of computers in both our personal and professional lives, we are constantly searching for better ways to accomplish our tasks. Over the past few years, many software packages have been created by developers from all over the world, all designed to make working and collaborating with others easier. One of the largest and most successful of these platforms is Microsoft SharePoint. With the release of SharePoint 2013, we have been presented with even more options and tools for getting our work done more effectively, with less effort. The primary goal of Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Plain & Simple is to show you how to use the platform to accomplish this and, in the process, make your life better.
What do you want to do today?
There are literally tens of thousands of companies and organizations and hundreds of millions of people around the world who use the SharePoint platform. But, when you look at all of the features and functions that it has to offer, you quickly realize that theres no mystery to this.
The SharePoint platform has been deployed throughout the world with enormous success. There is hardly a Fortune 500 company, government agency, or nonprofit organization that does not have a SharePoint solution deployed, experiencing tremendous results with it. We have also seen the platform employed in numerous applications throughout the world. But in the end, it boils down to what do you want to do with it today? This is a question that is still being answered by many.
As such, when this book was written, we did not want to wade into that area of the conversation. Instead, we wanted to concentrate on the most critical tasks that a business user has to accomplish. In doing so, we believe that we have created a book that you will find very helpful as you look to apply SharePoint to the challenge of tackling the day-to-day tasks that you encounter.
This is actually the second SharePoint Plain & Simple book. The first book was quite successful and fulfilled a need expressed by many SharePoint users that was unattended up to that point. This book follows the same premise that was set forth previously: it is a valuable resource that is indeed simple to use, but it also explores topics at depths required by the typical business user.
Written in plain English
When you have been assigned a new task, you want to be able to finish it as quickly as possible with as few roadblocks to overcome as possible. You certainly dont want to be bogged down with a bunch of technical jargon. You also, want to be able to find the information you need as fast as possible without having to read numerous pages that, while helpful in understanding the issue as whole, dont do a lot toward helping you accomplish your goal.