In case you are not familiar with site definitions, they are the actual
files that make up the templates you are referring to.
I am struggling w/ portal. I have adopted a portal structure and am
not sure what was done w/ it. We have the following top-level areas:
"people"
"teams"
"resources"
"fun stuff"
1. I don't know exactly how to tell which template these areas are
using.
[Reply] One way to check to see which site definition
(template) an area is using is to add some identifying text in the site
definition file.
Go here on your web server: \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033
In this folder are the site definitions for portal. In each one is a
default.aspx file. Go in and add some text, for example "SPSTOC" to
identify that file as being in the SPSTOC site definition file. If this
portal is live, you can add something very discreetly like a colored dot
or something that is not noticeable. Once you do this, save the file
and refresh your page and you can start to step through your site and
see what site definitions (templates) were used for each area. To get
you started, SPS is used for the home page so there is no need to mark
that file. SPSTOPIC and SPSTOC are the most commonly used definitions
for areas and SPSNEWS is the news area. SPSSITES is the site registry
area.
Full site definition list:
http://heathersolomon.com/blog/articles/159.aspx
Trick to name definition files:
heathersolomon.com/.../2013.aspx
They just say "uses template originally specified for this
area" or sometimes they use a page as a template. Sorry for my
ignorance, but I don't really understand how it uses a page as an
area template.
[Reply] Areas are based off site definitions, just how a WSS
site is based off the STS site definition. For the areas that state
"uses template originally specified for this area" you can go up a level
and check the settings for the parent area. Each area has a possible
setting for "all subareas will use the following template". If that
option is selected you can see what it is set at and start from there
for determining which site definition the area was based off of. Now
you can change this at any time so it is not a sure fire way of figuring
out an area's site definition.
For the other option, you can tell a portal area to use another portal
area as a template. It will then model itself off of the other area.
This has limited use.
2. I'm worried maybe the "news" area was deleted, and my book says
NOT to delete the top-level areas like home, topics, news, or sites.
[Reply] It may have been deleted, renamed or hidden. You can
use the site definition identifier technique to determine if one of your
areas is News after all, or look under Mangage Portal Site to see if
there are any areas being excluded from the portal site navigation that
may be the News area. If it is gone and you need it, you can set the
parent area (probably Home in your case) to use whatever template you
choose for area creation (this is in the settings and you mention it
above) and then create a new area using the News site definition.
The "teams" area we have appears to use a page/list to display the
team sites (custom- not OOB), and once you click on any of them, the
URL changes back to "sites" instead of "teams".
[Reply] Without seeing what you have, I have to venture to
guess that the custom list is made to look like the team sites are under
a "teams" directory but instead they in fact were left to be created
under the default "sites". You can define another managed path for
sites to be created in through the central SharePoint admin. If you
need further info on this, we can help with that. But note it will be
for new sites, and to change existing sites you would have to back up
and restore the site.
3. They created a million subareas under "resources" to create our
HR employee handbook, and each individual handbook section is set up
as a "listing". As a result, we have a ton of "/C2/"...in the URL. I
read somewhere that after about 20 areas, the URL name
becomes /C...something/. I just want normal names in my URL. :P
[Reply] You read right. You get 20 safe URLs, home being one
of them so you only get 19 really. And there is not a way to stop this.
4. In general, I'm curious to know what features/setup is offered by
each of the standard area templates. If I create new areas (I want a
news area, a "break room" for non-work-related stuff, and I want to
rename "teams" back to "sites"), what templates should I choose?
[Reply] Use the News area template for your news area and use
the Contents area template or the Topic area template for your break
room.
There aren't specific features that are available with each template
outside of the sites template.
Anyway, any help you can give me here would be appreciated. I really
feel uncomfortable in portal areas and much prefer WSS sites.