Managing Navigation and Understanding Governance WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER? SharePoint navigation on the Team site, the Portal site, and the Publishing site Navigating the Workspace Developing governance policies and procedures This chapter begins by walking you through the various types of navigation and the SharePoint navigation features. We show you how to confi gure navigation so your users can easily access the tools and content they need. In exploring navigation, it will become clear that an organization can benefi t by implement- ing some type of strategy to ensure consistency. Users fi nd it disconcerting when similar sites have different layouts or behavior; they fi nd it easier to navigate if common menus or features are standard across the SharePoint environment. Navigation is one area of SharePoint where a commitment to strong governance can help ensure consistency. The second part of the chapter shows you how to develop governance policies and proce- dures that ensure that your SharePoint environment is able to consistently provide a robust, stable working environment for your users. Good governance requires input from across the organization — management, designers, developers, and end users as well as SharePoint administrators. We explain the process by which governance is created and maintained, and give some examples of areas such as navigation where governance policies are useful. 11 284 CHAPTER 11 maNagiNg NavigatioN aNd UNderstaNdiNg goverNaNce NAVIGATION SharePoint has several different types of navigation that can be configured within a site collection. In the first half of this chapter we review the different types of navigation available and discuss the different ways they can be used and configured within your environment. As you read this chapter, note that we are covering only what is available for configuring navigation out of the box. If further customizations are needed, custom approaches to navigation can be used. This chapter will give you the baseline you need to determine what is available out of the box, and then help you identify how to use the tools presented to build a consistent navigation for your users. Before getting started, first consider the effect of navigation within your SharePoint environment. Navigation provides the users with the tools they need to successfully locate the different areas within your environment. This can be as simple as navigating to the Human Resources department to look for a form or to the IT department to submit a help desk request. When users access your site, they must use the navigation provided to them to access the specific content they are looking for. Users expect to access the site and easily move throughout it locating the content relevant to their specific tasks. Moreover, as with most WEB based resources, they expect to do this with very little training or effort. This also means that regardless of your site’s content or design, if users cannot easily find things they will not be satisfied with the overall site. As the SharePoint administrator, you are continuously presented with various solutions, ideas, and projects that are being developed within SharePoint. As you review and work with teams that are developing these solutions, the information in this chapter will help you understand your options and how they can be combined to ensure a consistent approach throughout your environment. Understanding the Dierent Types of Navigation Several types of navigation are available within SharePoint. Some are available in all cases, and oth- ers are available only when certain features, such as the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure, have been enabled. This section provides a brief overview of the different elements available. The remainder of this section covers each area in additional detail. Following are the main navigation tools: Bread crumbs — These are links that provide users with information about their location within the site, relative to the rest of the site structure. From these bread crumbs, users can easily navigate to a different part of the site. These links are dynamically generated as the site is built. Portal site connection — This link, configured in the site collection administration settings, is displayed as the top-most link in the bread crumbs for the site. It enables you to always point users back to a common location, regardless of the site collection. Tree View — This setting enables you to display the hierarchy of the site in place of the Quick Launch. It provides users with a very structured view of the site. Navigation 285 Metadata navigation — This feature enables you to navigate through lists and libraries based on the configuration of the managed metadata. Team site navigation — This provides the tools needed to navigate through team sites or sites for which publishing has not been activated. This includes the Quick Launch and top link bar tools. Publishing site navigation — This provides all the tools needed to configure navigation throughout publishing sites and includes the Global Navigation and the Current Navigation configurations. Workspace navigation — Workspace navigation is used specifically within meeting work- spaces and provides additional functionality that enables navigation between meeting pages. Navigation Web Parts — These provide additional navigation that can be added to the various pages within the site. These Web Parts are available to all publishing sites. Navigation is configured per site collection and the preceding list identifies the different ways navi- gation is provided out of the box with SharePoint. The options available to you will vary according to the different features you have activated within your site collections. Bread Crumbs Bread crumbs provide a “trail” that enables users to easily navigate back to the top of the site as they work within it. They are available within both Publishing and Team site collections and are dynami- cally created as the site content is created. The bread crumbs are displayed in the top-left corner of the site, next to the Site Actions command. A user has the ability to navigate to any point in the bread crumb with a single click. The bread crumbs are displayed only when the icon is selected and they show the hierarchy of the site based on the user’s current location. Figure 11-1 shows the bread crumb for a team site collection. Within the site collection is a project site that contains several document libraries. The bread crumbs indicate that the user is currently located within the Shared Documents Library in the Project site that is part of the Team site collection. Bread crumbs are included in all site templates. As you build sites based on the Publishing Portal template, you will notice that the appearance of the bread crumb is different from other site templates. This is because the template is referencing a different master page. Figure 11-2 is an example of the bread crumb for the Publishing Portal template. FIGURE 111 FIGURE 112 286 CHAPTER 11 maNagiNg NavigatioN aNd UNderstaNdiNg goverNaNce Current Location Navigation Another type of bread crumb navigation available for users is the current location navigation that is available for various locations within the site. A specific example is within a list or a library. This navigation displays where the user is located within the site and it can be used to navigate to a loca- tion above the current location or to additional views available for the list or the library. Figure 11-3 shows an example of this type of navigation within a document library. The view drop-down contains the different options available for the current view, as well as links to return to the Shared Document Libraries default view or the Project site home page. FIGURE 113 Portal Site Connection A portal site connection is a configuration setting that enables you to configure a single link as the topmost link in the bread crumbs. This link is configured once per site collection and is displayed for all sites. It can represent any valid URL. When con- figuring the link, you are required to enter the address as well as a friendly name, which will be displayed within the bread crumbs. Figure 11-4 shows an example of a site collection that has configured the portal site connection to be the Company Intranet site. The capability to connect a site collection to a different site collection is a great tool to bring con- sistency to your environment. As you know from Chapter 3, it is important to plan for multiple site collections so that your data can be stored in multiple databases. When your design requires the use of multiple site collections, the portal site connection functionality enables you to provide users with a shared link to a single location. This provides a seamless navigation experience, and enables administrators to divide content as needed across site collections without compromising the naviga- tion experience for users. Tree View Tree View navigation provides a way to show a complete hierarchical view of the site from within the site pages. When activated, the Tree View (shown in Figure 11-5) is displayed on the left side of the site. FIGURE 114 Navigation 287 The Tree View is available in most site collections, and it can be com- bined with other page navigation elements, such as the Quick Launch or Current Navigation. The settings to control the Tree View are located in the Look and Feel options in the Site Settings page. Team Site Navigation This section covers the navigation options available in team sites. We are defi ning a team site as any site collection or site that does not have the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure site collection feature activated, referred to as the publishing feature in the context of this chapter. You can determine whether the site collection is using the pub- lishing feature by reviewing the features enabled for that site collection. This information can be accessed on the Site Settings page under the Site Collection Administration group. Two navigation options are available within team sites: the Quick Launch and the top link bar. The Quick Launch provides a way for you to create on-page links that are persistent throughout the entire site, and the top link bar enables you to provide persistent tabs across the top of each page. Each of these options is described in more detail below. Keep in mind that the features available to your site collections and sites are based on licensing within the farm. Out of the box, if you create a site collec- tion using the Team Site template, a site will be created that is using only team site features. To take advantage of the publishing navigation features, you could easily activate the publishing feature for the site collection. Once the publishing feature has been activated, the links within site actions that pertain to naviga- tion will represent the publishing elements, which are described in detail in the next section. Quick Launch When a new site is created using the Team Site template, the Quick Launch is enabled by default. It contains links to the libraries, lists, and discussions within the site. The Quick Launch headings are links to a page displaying all the content of that specifi c type within the site, and the items under each heading are direct links to the specifi c content. Figure 11-6 shows an example of the default Quick Launch confi guration for the Team Site template. You will also sometimes hear it referred to as the Quick Launch bar, left-hand navigation, and current navigation. The Quick Launch can be confi gured dynamically as content is created or built manually through the addition of links and headings. The options for dynamically adding content to the Quick Launch are provided for you when new lists, libraries, or sites are created. As you create new content, an FIGURE 115 288 CHAPTER 11 maNagiNg NavigatioN aNd UNderstaNdiNg goverNaNce option will be available that enables you to select items to be added to the Quick Launch. Selecting yes for this option will add the item to the Quick Launch under the appropriate heading. FIGURE 116 All links added to the Quick Launch, either manually or dynamically, are security trimmed. Links that are manually added to the Quick Launch that are items outside of the site collection are not security trimmed. Security trimmed refers to the process of only showing the links or items to users who have access to them. Figure 11-7 shows the default options for creating a new document library and adding it to the Quick Launch. Once you create a new list or library, you can modify its visibil- ity on the Quick Launch through the Title, description and navigation configuration page found in the settings for the library or list. FIGURE 117 Navigation 289 You can manually configure the Quick Launch through the Quick Launch option under Look and Feel in Site Settings. From this screen you can create new headings and navigation links, and you can reorder existing links. When creating new headers you have to provide a URL and the header title. When creating new links you have to provide the URL, the link title, and the associated header. Each link must be associated with a header. To edit an existing link, simply click the edit icon displayed next to the item. Figure 11-8 shows the configuration screen for the Quick Launch. FIGURE 118 The Quick Launch is configured per site and there is no way to inherit the Quick Launch from a par- ent site. If inheritance is a requirement, then the publishing feature (available only with SharePoint Server) should be used. The Quick Launch can also be disabled for the site. The setting to disable the Quick Launch is provided in the Tree View settings located in the Look and Feel group on the Site Settings page. Top Link Bar The top link bar is used to provide tabbed navigation throughout the site collection. When new sites are created, they can use the same top link bar as their parent site, or use one specific to their site collection. Like the Quick Launch, the top link bar can be controlled either dynamically or manually. Any links added dynamically are security trimmed, whereas any links added manually are available to all users. You can configure the top link bar when a new site is created. On the options page that is displayed when you create a new site, select More Options. On the screen that appears, you will see the following available settings for the top link bar: Display this site on the Quick Launch of the parent site — This option adds the site link to the Sites header on the parent site Quick Launch Bar. If no heading for Sites exists, it will be created for you when you select this option. 290 CHAPTER 11 maNagiNg NavigatioN aNd UNderstaNdiNg goverNaNce Display this site on the top link bar of the parent site — This option adds a link to the parent site’s top link bar. Use the top link bar from the parent site — This option causes the site you are creating to inherit the top link bar from the parent site. To change the link to a site once it has been created, you must access the top link bar options under Look and Feel in the Site Settings page and make manual modifications. From this configuration screen, shown in Figure 11-9, you can create new links, and reorder and modify existing links. FIGURE 119 If the site you are working with has been configured to inherit the top link bar from its parent site, when you access the configuration screen you will see an option to Stop Inheriting Links (see Figure 11-10). Likewise, if the site is not set to inherit from its parent, when you access the configuration screen you will see an option to Use Links from Parent (shown in Figure 11-11). FIGURE 1110 FIGURE 1111 Navigation 291 Publishing Site Navigation Navigation options within a site that has the publishing features enabled provide additional func- tionality over sites for which these features have not been enabled. This added functionality includes items such as multi-level navigation links and the capability to inherit the current navigation from the parent site. This section covers these differences and describes the various confi guration options available. Once you activate publishing for a site collection, every template within that site collection will use the publishing navigation controls. This means that if you create a team site as a subsite to a publishing site, that team site will use the publishing navigation, not the team site navigation described earlier. The fi rst big difference in the publishing sites is the replacement of the top link bar and Quick Launch with the Global Navigation menu. Once publishing has been enabled for the site collec- tion, the Navigation link is displayed in the Look and Feel section of the Site Settings page. This Navigation link provides the confi guration settings for both the global and current navigation settings. When working with publishing sites, keep in mind that it is likely that they are using a custom master page. Within the master page, it is possible to hide controls or move their locations. This commonly occurs with the navigation elements. If the site you are working with does not display the navigation you are expecting based on the information provided in this chapter, the master page has probably been customized. Global Navigation The Global Navigation settings allow you to select the navigation inheritance, as well as limit the total number of dynamic elements displayed. The options for display include sites and pages. If you select to show sites and pages, any sites or pages created will be displayed on the Global Navigation bar. From this option you can also confi gure the navigation inheritance. You can select to use the same navigation elements as the parent site or create your own navigation. Figure 11-12 shows the global confi guration of a site that is opting to show pages and sites. In this case, HR Department is a site and Vacation-Policy is a page. FIGURE 1112 . are standard across the SharePoint environment. Navigation is one area of SharePoint where a commitment to strong governance can help ensure consistency. The second part of the chapter shows. environment. This can be as simple as navigating to the Human Resources department to look for a form or to the IT department to submit a help desk request. When users access your site, they. with the overall site. As the SharePoint administrator, you are continuously presented with various solutions, ideas, and projects that are being developed within SharePoint. As you review and