“Wait…that’s SharePoint???”

Getting SharePoint out of the way of your solution

About Me

Rob Wilson

@theRobManDotNet

http://www.therobman.net

MCT, MCITP, MCPD

Est. 2004 (SP2003, SP2007, SP2010, SP2013)

“Make it not look like SharePoint!”

What does it mean?

• Take it literally?

• “I’m tired of SharePoint. Give me something new.”

• “SharePoint and me?...It’s complicated…”

• What else?

Or Maybe…

Maybe it’s a usability problem

Or is it NOT SharePoint?

Is it SharePoint?

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

it IS SharePoint

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

it IS SharePoint

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

SharePoint, or *NOT* SharePoint?

it IS SharePointphs.org

Brand that sucker Problem Solved

Right?

Or, is it just…?

Remeber this?

Editor View

Was it worth it?Yes, it looks great! The client is happy!!

Is it usable?Not so much..

A little more obvious, right?

Does it look good?Yes

Is there tech jargon?Too much…

Demo

New Designer Manager

Change the Look

“I thought you bought a Buick!”

Embedded video removed

See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSAkNP0qs-w

The Objective

You

r S

olu

tion

How?

Start by recognizing that SharePoint is in the way of your solution

Intelligent User Theory

Maybe your users really are capable, intelligent professionals.

Maybe the software is the problem.

“The second mistake that programmers make when they design user interfaces is to force users to understand the internal workings of their programs.”

From “Why Software Sucks”

By David S. Platt

“Instead of the programmer adjusting her

user interface to the user’s thought processes,

she forces the user to

adjust to hers.”

“The most important thing you can do is to just understand the basic principle of eliminating the question marks.”

From “Don’t Make Me Think”

By Steve Krug

“When you’re designing

Web pages, it’s probably a

good idea to assume that

everything is visual noise

until proven otherwise.”

“Your objective should always be to

eliminate instructions entirely by

making everything self-explanatory,

or as close to it as possible. When

instructions are absolutely

necessary, cut them back to the bare

minimum.”

Love this!

“SharePoint giveth; the rational developer taketh away.”

Noise Reduction

Use custom levels.

What else?

Diminishing Nerd Syndrome

Maybe I should consider what is the best solution rather than what is the quickest or most convenient for me.

Maybe I can think like a user.Remember the Golden Rule.

Not enough to wear a hat

- theRobMan, Just Now

“The trouble with us developers is that, although we are good at wearing multiple hats, we rarely put on a stakeholder’s shoes”

No manual required

Minimal instructions on pages if necessary

If your instructions contain “Go to Site Actions, then All Site Contents, then…”, you might be a lazy programmer.

If your end users have to learn SharePoint terminology in order to effectively use your solution, you might be a lazy programmer.

If there is a college course on how to use your program…

Sometimes SharePoint Isn’t the Best Fit

Sometimes, just run

At Its Core, SharePoint Is Just a Platform

Built for flexibilityUI is not its strong suitUse it as back end

Use Third Party Tools

Anyone have favorites?

Use JavaScript

Angular

http://www.revillweb.com/tutorials/angularjs-in-30-minutes-angularjs-tutorial/

Bootstrap

http://www.revillweb.com/tutorials/twitter-bootstrap-tutorial/

http://www.revillweb.com/tutorials/bootstrap-tutorial/

JS Fiddlle: http://jsfiddle.net/

SPC 2014 Session: http://tinyurl.com/spc2014angular

Lose the jargon

Don’t sacrifice simplicity for flexibility

No one ever said “Make it not look like an iPhone app!”

Test the Workflow Beginning To End

Try every solution as all of the roles

Try every solution with the permission level that the user will have

Do not use the word “workflow” in emails to your users, but use business terminology

Create Views

Add link directly to viewDon’t teach them to use view

dropdown

Reduce Clicks

Add your own ribbon buttons

Remove unused ribbon buttons

Use javascript to avoid cascading elipses

Learn the Client Side APIs

REST / OData EndpointsJSOM