Managing Site Look and Feel
These tools allow you to
perform the following actions:
Define a custom welcome page: The welcome page is the page presented as the site
home page when you navigate to
a site.
Restrict site and page
templates that can be used within a site:
You can force users
to use only a subset of the
available site templates when creating sites or page
layouts when adding pages
within a site.
Set master pages used by sites: Master pages are the core site and page definitions
used to determine pages’
overall layout and design.
Select from additional site
templates provided as part of SharePoint Server: Several
new site templates that
provide varied looks are introduced with SharePoint
Server and can be selected when creating a new site.
Defining the Welcome Page
The welcome page is the
initial page displayed when you navigate to a site. SharePoint Server provides
capabilities to the SharePoint environment that allow you to
select the site’s welcome page. Instead of
the initial page being the site’s default.aspx page, you can have the entry
page be any other page
created within the site. In fact, the initial welcome pages for
many of the SharePoint Server site
templates are not the standard default.aspx pages; instead, they are pages
located in the Pages library
within the site. Being able to change the welcome page for a site
to be a page within a site library allows
you to apply content approval and management rules to this page as
you would other site content.
To update the default welcome page for a site, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Site Settings page for the site where you wish to
update the
welcome page.
2. On the Site Settings page, in the Look and Feel section, click the
Welcome Page
link.
3. On the Site Welcome Page screen, enter the URL for the welcome
page for the
site, or click the Browse
button to select the appropriate page. Next, click the
OK button.
The site welcome page is
updated, and you are returned to the Site Settings page.
Managing Page Layouts and Site Templates
SharePoint Server gives site owners the ability to control page
layouts and site templates used within a site when creating pages and subsites. For page layouts, you can
choose if people creating new pages can select from any available layout or if only specific page
layouts should be made available for use. You can also determine if subsites under the current site should be
limited to using the specified page layouts. This capability is useful in situations where the site
should only contain a specific type of content, such as press release sites. For press release sites, you
can restrict the available page templates to include only those meeting your organization’s press release
formatting requirements.
With site templates, you have a similar ability as with page
layouts in that you can select if subsites created under the current site can leverage any of the available
site templates or if only specific site templates should be made available for use. You can also determine
if these settings should be inherited by subsites under the current site. These capabilities are useful
when you need to delegate site creation rights to users but want to restrict their options. An example where this
would be the case is when you have an Enterprise Projects site under which users will create a site to
manage each project. You can create a template for project sites that includes the resources that should
be included as part of a project site. You
can then restrict the list of available site templates in the
Enterprise Projects site to only the project site template you created. This ensures all project sites will be
created based on the appropriate template. Also within this section, you have the ability to identify default
settings to use when new pages are created in the site. These settings include identifying the
default page template and URL. You have the ability to either inherit these settings from the parent site or
select them here. While the site layout and URL can be changed after the page is created, it is good practice
to set these defaults appropriately to minimize changes needed as new pages are created.
Follow these steps to update page layout and site template
settings:
1. Navigate to the Site Settings page for the site where you wish to
update the
page layouts and site
templates settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, in the Look and Feel section, click the
Page Layouts
and Site Templates link.
3. On the Page Layout and Site Template Settings page, do the
following:
a. In the Subsite Templates section, select “Subsites inherit site
templates from
parent site”, “Subsites can
use any site template”, or “Subsites can only use
the following
site templates”. Then, choose
the templates that should be made available.
You can also indicate if you
want to reset all subsites to inherit these
preferred subsite template
settings.
b. In the Page Layouts section, select “Pages inherit preferred
layouts from
parent site”, “Pages in this
site can use any layout”, or “Pages in this site can
only use the following layouts”.
Then, choose the layouts that should be
made available. You can also
indicate if you want to reset all subsites to
inherit these preferred page
layout settings.
c. In the New Page Default Settings section, select “Inherit default
page layout
from parent site” or “Select
the default page layout”, and select the
appropriate layout from the
list. You can also indicate if you want to reset all
subsites to inherit these new
page settings and if you want to convert blank
spaces in page names to
dashes.
d. Once all of the options are appropriately updated, click the OK
button.
The page layout and site
template settings are saved, and you are returned to the Site Settings page.
Managing Master Pages and Style Sheets
Master pages define the general structure and layout of SharePoint
site pages. SharePoint pages are designed to leverage master pages, so that sets of pages can have
the same structure and layout and so that any changes to this structure and layout can be made in a
central place. The changes made will apply to all of the associated pages. When you make a change to a
master page, such as adding a logo or changing the page format, that change is reflected across all of
the site pages that are associated with that master page.
Style sheets are used in conjunction with master pages to define
the specific color schemes, fonts, and backgrounds used in the site pages. Site managers have the
ability to change the style sheet used by a site to change the colors, fonts, and backgrounds within the
site. This allows site managers to easily update SharePoint to conform to their organization’s corporate
identity.
Update master pages and the style sheet for a site as follows:
1. Navigate to the Site Settings page for the site where you wish to
update the
master page and style sheet
settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, in the Look and Feel section, click the
Master Page
link.
3. On the Site Master Page Settings page, make the following
selections:
a. In the Site Master Page section, either select to inherit the
master page from
the parent site (available in
subsites only), or select the master page to use in
this site, and select if all
subsites should inherit this Site Master Page setting.
b. In the System Master Page section, either select to inherit the
master page
from the parent site
(available in subsites only) or select the master page to
use for form and view pages
within the site, and select if all subsites should
inherit this System Master
Page setting.
c. In the Alternate CSS URL section, specify to inherit the alternate
style sheet
from the parent site
(available in subsites only), if the default style sheet
should be used for the site,
or if an alternative style sheet should be used.. If
you specify to use an
alternative style sheet, you must specify the file to
reference and select if you
want to reset all subsites within this site to use the
defined alternate style sheet.
d. Once all of the necessary changes have been made, click the OK
button.
The changes you made are saved, and you are returned to the Site
Settings page.
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