Customer Reviews

SharePoint 2007 How-To

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm an experienced SharePoint user, trainer, developer, designer, architect (etc etc) and am quite familiar with most resources out there. With this book Ishai has achieved something very important - a clear explanation of the many screens and options available in SharePoint. For example, he makes clear what effect different options have when using the built-in survey tool, with lots of screenshots to make things crystal clear. In many ways, this is the manual many people wished Microsoft would produce - written in plain English.

On initially looking through the book I was put off by the book's structure, because it sometimes introduces difficult technical truths when we are doing something simple. However, on reflection, I understand the reasoning: the structure makes sense when you come back to the book as a reference, looking for information on particular subject. I would advise readers to skip sections that seem too detailed for them: Ishai's scenario / solution structure should help: if the scenario doesn't interest you, skip ahead!

If I read a book and then never take it down from the shelf ever again, I take that as a bad sign: I expect my needs to change over time, and to get more value out of books as time goes by. I have already had "SharePoint 2007 How-To" off the shelf a few times, which bodes well for its longevity, and hence value.

Who is it for? The material ranges from `new to product' through to briefing people who might whip up a little SharePoint application to make their work easier. But the primary audience are people I have met many times: people who need to use SharePoint and feel bewildered by all the options. You know who you are.

In a word - masterful. Congratulations, Ishai, on a great contribution!

The author is careful to point out that the book is not targeted to the technical end of the spectrum - the professional SharePoint developers and administrators.

Perfect! There are lots of books, and other resources, that make the assumption that you already know stuff, and jump right in to the intermediate or advanced level.

No, this is for the user. Well, in a sense, the author misses slightly here. He forgot to mention those who don't necessarily work directly with SharePoint, but work with technologies that can integrate closely with SharePoint. Like (ahem) Access developers, for example.

So really, it's for people who need a good, solid, overview understanding of SharePoint. Terminology, concepts, functionality. And in my experience, there was a big gap for this type of book, and Ishai has filled it superbly.

Here's the first sentence in Chapter 1:
"SharePoint is a platform that allows users to build websites."

That's what I like... start at the beginning, and move on up from there.

Not that it's all on the basic level. By the time we get to page 341 we've covered some pretty meaty topics.

I have learned heaps from this book, and will continue to do so as I explore it more thoroughly. Just what I needed for my present stage of SharePoint knowledge and skill.

I have no criticisms at all. It is nicely written, in a very readable style. Very well organised. Excellently illustrated. Highly recommended.

Indeed, a handy reference for a SharePoint newbie, although "Project management with SharePoint" might be even more accessible - shorter and with a focused agenda. Readers with slightly more experience will need less spoon-feeding - after seeing too many screenshots, I felt that the author was rushing me through items on SharePont screens (cf. "how-to") - and would be better served by Wrox's "Beginning SharePoint", for example.

Recently I was tasked to start up and manage a SharePoint site to help facilitate team projects at work. Based on customer reviews I picked up this how-to guide by Sagi, and I was so happy with this purchase that I was inspired to write a review. Although it's written more as a reference guide I read the book cover to cover while keeping a SharePoint site open on my computer screen so I could experiment as I read. It took me about two days to complete the book (which means you should be able to work through it in a weekend if you need a quick crash course) and my experience left me feeling like I learned more from this book than I ever learned in any instructor lead course for similar caliber software packages (and at a fraction of the time and price). Moreover, I now have a solid reference guide with a well documented table of contents should I ever need a quick refresher. I happily recommend this book and can confidently say that next time I have software educational needs this author/company will be my first stop.

As a software developer I've worked primarily with Microsoft .NET based applications over the past 4 years. I've had to do a few things for SharePoint but never really took the time to understand everything about it. Reading the contents and skimming over a few chapters I knew this book would be more for the analyst side of things but it was so easy to read I decided to go cover to cover while experimenting within our SharePoint environment. I learned a number of things I previously didn't know about and really feel I have more solid understanding thanks to this book. It's right to the point and has very relevant pictures.

If you've ever seen one of those how-to blog posts on some complicated programming procedures then you know how this book reads. Straight to the point on how to get things done. Great book.

This book is very useful for starters and content managers of Sharepoint system. But this book is not a reference for developers who is going to develop sharepoint sites and web parts. If you are willing to learn how to develop on sharepoint, this is not the book you are looking for.

I work in the finance department of a large multinational and run our global business tax team. Sharepoint is spreading through our organization like wildfire. We are using it to collect date, manage our tax provision, tax returns, M&A activity and post-merger intergration, and using it to publish out to the organization. Given the point-and-click nature of the software, we have democratized development and have people working on innovative new ways of using the software.

Given our IT department's inability to resource our needs, we purchased several differnt books on sharepoint. This was one of them. After about 6 months all of the copies of this one sit on the shelf. Our biggest 'hit' is Essential SharePoint 2007: A Practical Guide for Users, Administrators and Developers by Jeff Webb (Paperback - Sep 18, 2007). For whatever reason, my user-group finds this book more approachable and helpful to them in quickly isolating how to get things done in a rapid 'Plan-Do-Check-Act' environment.

If you are in a situation where you are really trying to find the right book to distribute in your organization, you should consider Essential Sharepoint 2007.

Ken Martin
Business Tax

This was my second Kindle download and I'm glad to say it restored my faith in the format. The first text I purchased electronically was Beginning SharePoint 2007 by Shane Perran. Unfortuneately, that text lacked the color graphics, hyperlinked page numbers in the Index, and detailed Table of Contents that this version has. This product is a much better translation in the Kindle format and well worth the lower price than the Perran text!!

As far as content, I'd have to agree with the fellow reviewers. This product is well written for beginners and a great place to share learning how to use the SharePoint tool. Well done!

This book is an excellent tool to help you design and use your Sharepoint sites. We are beginners and it is structured in a way that helps you skim over to the subject you need. It has great detail and well worth the money!

Just got it in the mail (currently overseas), but it looks like it will be very helpful. I am in a job that uses this program so look forward to learning some new ways to be more efficient.