This is the fourth post in a SharePoint 2010 ribbon series. Be sure to check out posts 1through 3 as well:
1) Boil it down to the basics… the SharePoint 2010 ribbon
2) Gathering requirements for your ribbon needs
3) The Docked Ribbon
The ribbon doesn’t have to be big and scary. SharePoint ribbon customization can be completed with just a little CSS and tweaks to your master page. In this post we are going to focus hiding the ribbon when it is not in use. Continue reading
This is the third post in a SharePoint 2010 ribbon series. Be sure to check out posts 1 and 2 as well:
1) Boil it down to the basics… the SharePoint 2010 ribbon
2) Gathering requirements for your ribbon needs
There are two states the SharePoint ribbon can be in, docked or undocked. Let’s dive right in looking at what it means to have a docked ribbon. Continue reading
In the first post in this series, Boil it down to the basics… the SharePoint 2010 Ribbon, we looked at the different components in the ribbon area and saw what was really a part of the ribbon and what wasn’t. At the end of the post you may have ended up with a custom master page with a simplified ribbon block and SharePoint page components, such as the Site Actions menu and the social tagging buttons, moved to other locations in your site layout and design. In the second post of this series I am going to focus on ribbon placement requirements and more importantly, what do your users need. Continue reading
My golden site design coding rule is site design supporting images are only referenced through the CSS. This would include logos, header images, gradation bars, decorative backgrounds, etc. Content supporting images (like Bob and Joe hanging at the company picnic) are content supporting images and therefore can end up in other places outside of CSS.
A question that often comes up when I teach this is “what about the ALT text value for the image?”. Continue reading
Sigh, the ribbon. Those two words manage to give most SharePoint developers and designers the chills. And not necessarily in the good way. While the ribbon provides a lot of cool interactivity and functionality for our end users, you just look at it wrong and stuff can go whacky in your SharePoint site. This is the first post in a series dedicated to working with the ribbon. Let’s start off with reviewing what the ribbon really is and what code bits are involved. Continue reading
In just about every SharePoint site I customize and every CSS demo I do for people, I always use CSS to convert the SharePoint site title to a clickable logo, much like how we see all across the web. Having your company logo in the upper left corner of your web site that when clicked takes you back to the home page is a very established usability pattern. People just expect it! Continue reading
So, seeing this error?
The user interface of the master page cannot be determined. Do you want to continue?
In SharePoint 2010 the master pages can be assigned to User Interface (UI) Version 3, 4 or even both. What this error message means is that your master page has not been assigned a UI Version. This is a super quick thing you can fix. Continue reading
Switching your SharePoint site from a fluid width (how it is setup out-of-the-box with v4.master or nightandday.master) is a simple task. It requires one change to the master page and the addition of one style statement. Where things get tricky is how to go from there in regards to handling the scroll bar SharePoint automatically generates under the docked ribbon. But let’s get the easy part done first. Continue reading
In addition to the stripped, cleaned and commented SharePoint 2010 master pages that we provide, we also have posted a copy of v4.master (default SharePoint master page – simple layout with top navy bar) that still has all original HTML layout code in place but has the same cleaning and comments added that our Just the Essentials master pages receive. Now another version of this file has been added that is a copy of v4.master with all of the UI3 code removed. If you are not supporting UI3 sites (2010 sites that look like 2007) then you can use the UI4 Only version.
As a follow up to my “Base Master Page Files for SharePoint 2007“, I have put together and posted several different master page files for use with SharePoint 2010. Every file is heavily commented and provides a lot of information about what code is necessary for various SharePoint functionality and content. Due to the enhanced user interface elements added to SharePoint 2010 such as the Ribbon and dialog boxes, there are specific HTML elements, IDs and classes that need to remain in place in the master page. You can’t take a total slash and burn approach to developing a custom SharePoint 2010 master page. So in short, read the comments!
UPDATE July 2012: HTML5 versions of the master pages have been added. Please read this blog post about the changes that were made. Continue reading