To truly realize your investment in SharePoint, it is recommended for all organizations to utilize Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (SPD) in at least some capacity. Just like the browser, SPD will let you build SharePoint site components like subsites, lists, libraries, pages, site columns and content types. The difference is that doing it through SPD is much faster, easier and has a lot more customizable options. For example, creating a list and modifying its schema can be performed in just a couple of steps. In addition, you have the option to define custom actions (such as starting a workflow or displaying a form) that can be executed on each list item. You can also configure SharePoint site security directly within SPD.
In SPD, you first start out by creating your site and then your lists and libraries. Then to show those lists and libraries and other content, you create web part pages where the end users can come to consume that information. You can even create a page that’s completely locked down so no one can further edit it using the browser. Pages use either List View web parts or Data View web parts to show data. There are a Lot of powerful customizations you can make to the presentation of content using these web parts. Among other components on your pages, you can insert images and customize them easily by changing the brightness, contrast, rotation and all sorts of other aspects of the image.
You will generally end up putting several web parts on a page. These might be general web parts or list view web parts (web parts that show contents of a list or library). These web parts can be connected together to pass information to each other. In fact, using SPD, you can even connect web parts from one page to another on the same site. Each of these web parts can be submitted to the web part gallery for the site collection. Once posted in the gallery, they are available to be used within any site of the site collection. Using the web part gallery, you can also display list data of one site on another site. This might be helpful to show centralized list/library data, hosted at a central site, on many subsites within the site collection.
To automate your business processes, SharePoint provides a built in workflow platform. SPD can be used to utilize that platform and build powerful workflows on top of your SharePoint sites directly attached to a site, list, library or content type. The whole process requires no code whatsoever and works with declarative rules much like the rules that can be setup in Microsoft Outlook.
SharePoint allows the possibility for you to show content from you backend line of business applications (like SAP, PeopleSoft, custom applications and databases) directly on SharePoint pages. To make this happen, you need to create External Content Types (ECTs) using SPD. This area of functionality within SharePoint is referred to as Business Connectivity Services (BCS).
SharePoint is a great platform for creating internet or extranet sites as well. The site template that provides this functionality is a publishing site. The web content management features in SharePoint make it easy for site designers to create and customize master pages that provide the frame or chrome for the site. These master pages can be easily attached to a site to provide the required branding components. Switching master pages using SPD is also a simple task that will quickly change the look and feel of your site. Once the master pages are setup as needed, a site designer or an administrator can create page layouts for the publishing site. These layouts are then used by site contributors to create individual pages on the site where the actual content resides.
SharePoint Designer 2010 comes with a lot of power. It is recommended that proper training should be provided to people who will use this product. In addition, SharePoint provides ways you can restrict and lock down certain functionality within SPD. A web application administrator can lock down aspects of SPD for a site collection administrator. Similarly, a site collection administrator can lock down features of SPD for the site administrators and designers.
