Microsoft's SharePoint technologies, especially the latest versions, are extremely useful out of the box, but they also are highly customizable for most every organizational and business need. Now, SharePoint Online is available, and organizations that are moving or considering moving to the online version might be wondering about the customization opportunities available for the online version. To that end, Microsoft just released the SharePoint Online Standard Developer Guide, which describes the customization capabilities that the Standard offering of SharePoint Online supports. You can get the skinny on this (not-so-skinny) 133-page download here, but in a nutshell, the guide gives a good overview of SharePoint Online and the features it supports, then provides information for extending and customizing the available applications and services. According to the guide's introduction, the customization capabilities of SharePoint Online enable developers and designers to:
• Use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to create and deploy no-code workflows, customize content types, taxonomy, and branding via master pages and layouts. You can also create and deploy site templates.
• Use the Data Form Web Part to create applications to mash up, filter, roll up, and render SharePoint data or data consumed from a Web service such as RSS feeds in new ways.
• Use Microsoft Office InfoPath® to design forms for workflows, provided the forms contain no custom code.
• Use the Office SharePoint Server Web services to access and manipulate SharePoint data remotely.
I recommend you download the SharePoint Online Standard Developer Guide to see what SharePoint Online has to offer you. I also recommend you check out the valuable resources in
Start Planning Your Move to Microsoft Online Services with Free Assessment Tools and Guidance.
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What You Need to Know About Microsoft Online Services