Looking for Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) Web Content Management (WCM) / Publishing site development training? I teach a developer focused WCM course that I authored through my company; Critical Path Training. This isn’t like other classes that hire contractors to write their courses, this course was written and developed 100% by me. The class covers virtually all development topics related to WCM / Publishing sites such as building master pages, page layouts, field types & controls, Web Parts and custom workflows. In addition, it also covers creating multilingual sites using variations, performance enhancing techniques required for Internet-facing SharePoint sites, extending the authoring experience and security.
While the course does demonstrate and teach you how to use tools such as Office SharePoint Designer 2007 in creating master pages, page layouts and custom workflows, but students are taken a step further in understanding SharePoint customization vs. development. Along this concept, students will learn how to create all these different things (master pages, page layouts, custom workflows) as well as site columns, content types, list templates & instances among other things using Features and solutions. This latter approach makes life much easier for developers and WCM site implementers to move their custom code and layout files to other members of their development team as well as from development to user acceptance to staging and ultimately onto production.
What types of things are covered?
Here’s a list of all the modules the course:
- WSS Development Primer
- Web Content Management Architecture
- Authentication & Authorization
- Master Pages & Navigation
- Creating Custom Page Layouts
- Extending the Out-Of-The-Box Authoring Experience
- Leveraging WCM & Custom Web Parts
- Custom Field Types & Field Controls
- Understanding WF & Creating Interactive Workflows
- Content Deployment
- Implementing Multilingual Sites Using Variations
- Performance Tuning Publishing Sites
- Implementing and Customizing SharePoint Search
Course Makeup
Students attending the course receive a lecture with robust demonstrations as well as hands-on labs. Students walk away with a copy of all the code in the demos & labs (as well as the complete lab solution) conducted during the course, a copy of all the lab step-by-step instructions and a course book.
Course Delivery
We understand that not everyone has the time to get away from the office for a week, or attend a class when you don’t live near where one of the scheduled hands-on courses is being offered, so my course is offered in two flexible formats: hands-on and online. What’s the difference?
- The hands-on course (WCM401) is four (4) days and is exactly what’s explained above… students receive a lecture with robust demos + hands-on labs. This is exactly what you’d expect with any hands-on course.
- The online course (WC-WCM401) differs in that it is five (5) days of lecture plus robust demos for three (3) hours per day conducted via Live Meeting. Labs are assigned as homework. In addition, the online course is 10 modules, two (2) less than the hands-on course (modules #6, #10 & #12 are omitted from the online course due to time constraints). At the end of the lecture each day, students have the opportunity to ask questions and I (the instructor) am available via phone & email during regular business hours when the class is not in session to help students with the labs or answer questions not answered during class.
Testimonials
Don’t just take my word for it… check out what some former students have said!
This course really helped me to understand the important pieces in work in a publishing site. The quality of the teaching and the course material were excellent. I was really impressed by how fast Andrew answered the questions.
The class was very informative. The “Features and Solutions” discussion plus the associated demos were top notch! Andrew also stayed after and answered a number of questions. Something he didn’t have to do and was not part of the course. Hearing other share their technical challenges with MOSS in an open forum with answers from Andrew was priceless.
Andrew’s knowledge about SharePoint 2007 is evident, specifically the Publishing Site component. The online WCM401 course was everything I expected it to be, and provided validation that we were on the right path. Lots of good, practical information that are direct from “in-field” use, not necessarily “the Microsoft way”. I just wish I were able to attend the classroom version!
Andrew did an incredible job relaying his extensive sharepoint knowledge to the students in the WCM01 class. He was always willing to help especially by making himself available to the students by spending time before and after class answering questions. I found that the class overall was incredibly informative, and not too technical which made it easier to understand all of the concepts. For developers beginning to work with sharepoint, or even sharepoint developers interested in publishing sites, this is one class you must attend!
Andrew definitely knows his subject well and his ability to explain each SharePoint pain point and gotcha is amazing. As a MOSS developer, sometimes it is so difficult to figuring out what the best approach to a problem because there are simply not enough resource or documentation available out there. His demonstration of using “Feature” to deploy new SharePoint features is certainly an enlightenment to me!
It is great to learn from a true expert in the field. Andrew really knows how to engage those of us who are down “in the trenches”. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to fully utilize the tremendous capabilities that SharePoint WCM has to offer. I especially enjoyed the many attempts by our group to “stump the band”. Save up all your difficult questions and bring them with you to this class! Andrew is a wealth of SharePoint knowledge.
I have been to my fair share of class room training, but none of them have made me as excited to get back to my desk to apply what I’ve learned than Andrew’s WCM course. Andrew does an excellent job of delivering material, answering the simplest and toughest of questions, and sharing his experiences and tools without hesitation. I am now a better SharePoint developer thanks to Andrew!
Andrew’s WCM401 was a great way to get a jump on learning WCM and MOSS. His enthusiasm and expertise made the class both fun and informative. The labs were very well written, with accurate directions (particularly in comparison to similar courses that I’ve taken.) I’d recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn from one the best in the field.
The class with Andrew was outstanding! He did a great job of sharing his knowledge and experience with SharePoint, especially some of the major painful issues that any SharePoint developer has had to deal with. It was great having someone like Andrew provided a wealth of useful information that we could make use of immediately. He was always willing to come in early or stay late to help answer questions. The information that I learned from class has made me excited again to work on more SharePoint projects.
Already having developed a number of SharePoint publishing sites, I was a little hesitant about signing up for the WCM class. I am glad that I made the right decision in attending. I was utterly blown away with how much knowledge Andrew had to share and how much I had to learn. At the end of the week, I had all the tools, resources, and knowledge to build publishing sites the ‘right’ way.
I attended Andrew’s MOSS WCM class and was impressed with Andrew’s approach to training and with his knowledge and depth of understanding. I learned so much from this class and recommend it as a must-have resource for anyone who is interested in using SharePoint as a development platform.
This class was excellent. Andrew has a thorough understanding of the concepts and a complete grip on the subject. I’m an MCMS Developer had lot of questions on MOSS Publishing features and Content Migration. Andrew has got answers to all my questions. I have learnt a lot more than what I expected from the class.
Andrew Connell is not only the most knowledgeable SharePoint Expert around but is also one of the most helpful. Even with his super busy schedule, he is quick to reply to questions weather you are an alumni of his class or not. By the way his classes are super helpful. Thanks for all the Help AC.