SharePoint 2013 First Look
SharePoint 15
(a.k.a) SharePoint 2013 is really cool to work. Microsoft tweaked the UI
design a lot for faster access and clear view on Tablets. The User Interface is Global Uniform design(Ie. Used in all latest Microsoft products like Outlook, Office 365, Office 13).
Team Site Home Page
Pretty much spacing between elements makes feel simple. But it's more powerful than
SharePoint 2010. The Top bar contains Site collection name, links, user menu, settings
icon, help and feedback.
The menu bar contains navigation options and page share/edit options. The ribbon is
hidden in this bar and will be displayed based on context.
The Site Iconm, Site Title, search bar, quick navigation are pretty much
understandable. The main content area has tasks list, getting started webpart and
documents webpart. The Announcements webpart is missing, however can be added by site
administrator. In Documents webpart, simply drag-and-drop files will upload it on
Documents library which is interesting(Similar to Gmail file attach process on
Chrome).
Focus on Content
SharePoint 15 focuses mainly on Content rather layout with content and navigation
elements. A special icon on top right below feedback icon is provided to hide all
navigation elements and display only content. This feature enables users to work on
large lists, watch big dimension videos, read large page content at ease. If you've
opened different sites of same farm in IE then this icon will work across all tabs.
(ie. If Focus icon selected then pages on all tabs will show only content on further
nagvigation. I checked in IE8.)
The User Menu
The User menu which appears on click user name at top right contains my site link,
Sign out and personalize this page link.
The Settings Menu
The Setting menu which appears on click of gear icon at top right contains links to
share, create / edit page, site settings, ...
Share page with other users
The Setting menu has 'Share with' link which used to share the current page with any
other users who even don't have access. The current user can select the user(s) and
permission to view the page.
The Page Items Menu
On Click of three dots for any item/page in respective list/library provides useful
details, links. Details include no of views, author name, modified date/time, users to
whom the page shared with and the url.
The Site Settings Page
The Site Settings page is similar to SharePoint 2010 settings page.
View All Site Content
The View All Site Content page has been improved much so that user can
navigate/control lists/library with min no of clicks. New list/library is now called
as App in SP15.
My Site
The My Site is profile page for each user has lot of improvements in SP15. My Site is
a seperate site collection created by site administrator and can be edited by each
users similar to SharePoint 2010 My Sites. However now users can see status
updates/comments in which their name is mentioned. Additionaly other users can like,
reply to comments (Similar to Facebook).
Central Administration Site
Central Administration site in SharePoint 15 is similar to SharePoint 2010. A new
addition in it is "Apps" section which allows the Site Administrator to manage apps.
Apps can be purchased from web store and installed on required sites based on license.
An Interesting thing observed is SharePoint 2013 follows different URL framing. When user navigates to different page, the URL is not changing to the exact page/list/library URL. It remains same start.aspx then appended with # and page/list/library URL. (eg. http://SiteName/_layouts/15/start.aspx#/Lists/Calendar/calendar.aspx)