Types of Microsoft SharePoint Sites | The Basics of SharePoint

Summary

The video script discusses two primary types of SharePoint sites: communication sites and team sites. Communication sites are designed for broad engagement and are typically visited by many but edited by a few, making them ideal for company-wide announcements and resources. An example given is the company intranet. On the other hand, team sites are collaborative spaces where all members contribute and edit content, making them suitable for workgroups focusing on shared goals. The script also introduces the concept of a hub site, which serves to organize related sites and provide a unified navigation and search experience. Hub sites offer more flexibility than traditional site hierarchies, allowing for easier structural changes within SharePoint. The video concludes with a mention of the need for specific administrative roles to create hub sites.

Takeaways

• 📚 There are two primary types of SharePoint sites: Communication sites and Team sites, each serving different purposes.
• 🚀 Communication sites are designed for broad engagement and are typically used for company-wide announcements and information, expecting many visitors but few editors.
• 👥 Team sites are collaborative spaces where all members are expected to contribute, share, and edit content, aiming to facilitate teamwork.
• 🏢 A distinguishing feature of Communication sites is that they are meant for a wide audience with limited editing rights, often managed by a select group like HR or IT.
• 🔄 Team sites, on the other hand, are more dynamic, with all members encouraged to publish and collaborate, making it a hub for work-related activities.
• 🌐 An example of a Communication site is a company's intranet, which provides news, policy information, and links for tasks like expense submission.
• 📈 Team sites often have a different navigation style, focusing on team interactions, document sharing, and collaborative tools.
• 📝 Members of a Team site can edit and upload documents, reflecting the site's design for active participation and content creation.
• 🔗 Hub sites in SharePoint allow for the organization of related sites, providing shared navigation and a unified experience across associated sites.
• 🔧 Hub sites offer more flexibility than traditional subsites, as they can be reassigned to different hubs without restructuring the entire site hierarchy.
• 👀 Only global administrators or SharePoint administrators can create Hub sites, highlighting the administrative control over this feature.
• 📌 The video provides a visual demonstration of the differences between Communication and Team sites, emphasizing their unique characteristics and use cases.

Q & A

What are the two primary types of SharePoint sites mentioned in the transcript?

The two primary types of SharePoint sites mentioned are communication sites and team sites.

What is the main purpose of communication sites in SharePoint?

Communication sites are designed to inform and engage, often serving as a company's intranet where employees can find company news, submit expenses, request time off, and learn about company policies.

Who are typically the editors of a communication site?

The editors of a communication site are usually a limited number of individuals, such as those in the HR department or IT, who are responsible for the content on the site.

What feature distinguishes communication sites from team sites in terms of user permissions?

Communication sites expect many visitors but only a few editors, whereas team sites assume all members are publishing content and collaborating, thus having edit rights.

How does the navigation style differ between a communication site and a team site?

Communication sites typically have a navigation bar across the top, while team sites have navigation down the side, focusing on team conversations and document sharing.

What is the purpose of a team site in SharePoint?

A team site is where members of a group collaborate, publish content, share documents, and work towards a shared goal, as opposed to just consuming content on a communication site.

What is a hub site in SharePoint and how does it function?

A hub site is a site that can be associated with other SharePoint sites to organize related sites. It provides shared navigation and a rolled-up experience for content and search across the associated sites.

Why are hub sites considered more flexible than traditional subsites in SharePoint?

Hub sites offer more flexibility because the association between a site and a hub can be changed easily, unlike subsites which are permanently attached to their parent site in a hierarchy.

Who has the ability to create hub sites in SharePoint?

Only global administrators or SharePoint administrators have the ability to create hub sites in SharePoint.

What is the main difference between the older SharePoint experience and the current one in terms of site types?

In the older SharePoint experience, communication sites were known as publishing sites, emphasizing the publishing of content for consumption rather than editing.

How does the membership and permissions work on a team site?

On a team site, there are typically a few owners with full control, and the rest are members with edit rights. The expected behavior is that all members can edit and publish content to the site.

What is the recommended action for someone interested in learning more about SharePoint or considering an IT career?

The recommended action is to visit CBT Nuggets' website, sign up for a free trial, and subscribe to their channel for the latest content.

Outlines

00:00

📢 Introduction to SharePoint Site Types

The video script introduces two primary types of SharePoint sites: communication sites and team sites. Communication sites are designed for informing and engaging a broad audience with a focus on company news, policy, and employee resources, expecting many visitors but only a few editors. An example is provided through Microsoft's demo environment, illustrating the corporate look and feel, with various links and news feeds. Team sites, on the other hand, are collaborative spaces where all members contribute and share content, suitable for workgroup collaboration. The script also touches on the concept of hub sites, which can associate multiple SharePoint sites for better organization and navigation, providing a flexible structure that can adapt to organizational changes.

05:00

👥 Team Site Collaboration and Permissions

This paragraph delves into the specifics of team sites, emphasizing that all members are expected to be active contributors, sharing and editing content. The example of a 'US sales' team site is used to demonstrate the collaborative nature of these sites, with a focus on team conversations, document sharing, and a shared notebook. The script highlights the difference in permissions, where even regular members can edit the site and upload content, reflecting the collective goal orientation. The video also briefly mentions the role of hub sites in organizing and providing shared navigation for associated SharePoint sites, offering a flexible alternative to the traditional fixed hierarchy of subsites.

Keywords

💡SharePoint

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office. It is primarily used for document management, storage, and collaboration. In the context of the video, SharePoint serves as the platform on which different types of sites are created for various organizational needs.

💡Communication Site

A communication site in SharePoint is designed for informing and engaging with a broad audience within an organization. It is often used as a company intranet, where employees can access company news, submit expenses, and find company policies. The video mentions that these sites expect many visitors but only a few editors, highlighting their role in disseminating information rather than collaboration.

💡Team Site

A team site in SharePoint is created for collaboration among team members. It is characterized by all members being active contributors, sharing and publishing content to facilitate work processes. The video uses the example of a 'US sales site' to illustrate how team sites are used for collaborative work, as opposed to the broadcasting nature of communication sites.

💡Customization

Customization refers to the process of tailoring a site to meet specific needs. In SharePoint, this can involve changing the look and feel, navigation, and functionality of a site. The video discusses how both communication and team sites can be customized to fit the scenario they are intended for, emphasizing the flexibility of SharePoint.

💡Site Permissions

Site permissions in SharePoint determine the level of access and control users have over a site. The video explains that communication sites typically have a few editors with full control, while team sites assume all members can edit and publish content. Permissions are a key aspect of managing and securing SharePoint sites.

💡Microsoft 365 Portal

The Microsoft 365 portal is a central location where users can access various Microsoft services, including SharePoint. The video script mentions navigating to SharePoint from the Microsoft 365 portal, indicating its role as a gateway to accessing and managing SharePoint sites.

💡Hub Site

A hub site in SharePoint is a site that serves to organize related sites, providing shared navigation and a unified experience for content and search across associated sites. The video explains that hub sites offer more flexibility than traditional subsites and can be associated with multiple communication or team sites, facilitating easier restructuring of SharePoint environments.

💡Site Owners

Site owners in SharePoint are users with full control over a site, responsible for managing permissions, settings, and overall governance. The video script highlights that there are only a handful of site owners for a communication site, emphasizing their role in maintaining and curating the site's content.

💡Site Members

Site members are users who have been granted access to a SharePoint site and have certain permissions, typically allowing them to view, edit, or contribute content. The video contrasts the roles of site members in team sites, where all members are expected to actively participate, with those in communication sites, where membership is more about consumption than contribution.

💡Content Publishing

Content publishing in the context of SharePoint refers to the process of making content available to others on the site. The video discusses how communication sites are designed for a few editors to publish content for many visitors, while team sites are for collaborative publishing where all members contribute.

💡Shared Document Library

A shared document library in SharePoint is a location where team members can store, organize, and collaborate on documents. The video uses the shared document library as an example of how team sites facilitate collaborative work by allowing members to share and edit documents within a centralized repository.

Highlights

There are two primary types of SharePoint sites: communication sites and team sites.

Communication sites are designed for informing and engaging, acting as a company's internet for news and policy information.

Communication sites expect many visitors but limit editing to a few individuals, such as HR or IT department members.

Team sites are characterized by all members collaborating and publishing content, as opposed to communication sites.

Team sites are used for work collaboration where all members are expected to contribute and edit content.

A distinguishing feature of communication sites is the expectation of numerous visitors with limited editing rights.

An example of a communication site is Microsoft's demo environment internet, designed for employee engagement.

Team sites, such as the 'Us sales' site, are less customized and focus on team collaboration and document sharing.

Team site members can edit and upload documents, reflecting the collaborative nature of the site.

Hub sites allow for the association of SharePoint sites, providing shared navigation and a unified content experience.

Hub sites offer more flexibility in organizing related sites compared to the fixed hierarchy of subsites.

Association with a hub site can be changed easily, allowing for a more adaptable SharePoint structure.

Hub sites can only be created by global administrators or SharePoint administrators.

The older SharePoint experience referred to communication sites as publishing sites due to their content consumption focus.

Permissions on communication sites are typically restricted, with most users having only viewing access.

The example 'Us sales' team site has a different visual style and navigation to facilitate team conversations and document sharing.

In a team site, even regular members have the ability to edit and contribute to the site's content.

The video provides a chalkboard summary for easy reference of the main points discussed.

Transcripts

there are primarily two different types

of SharePoint sites that we can create a

communication site and a team site but

to be fair these site types could be

used in all sorts of different ways

which might make you think that there

should be other types of site on this

list too such as I don't know a

community site or a news site but what

we tend to see is that we simply have

these two types of site which then get

customized to turn it into whatever you

need it to be for the scenario that you

have in mind but anyway we'll start off

with a communication site and in a

nutshell these types of sites these

communication sites are designed to as

Microsoft says inform and engage and

basically this simply could be your

company Internet it's where you would go

to see company news or to get links to

where you need to go to submit expenses

or to request time off or to find out

the company's policy on working from

home you know the kind of thing but a

distinguishing feature about these

communication sites is that we expect a

lot of visitors but only a few editors

so we are expecting pretty much every

single person in the organization to

visit it at some point aren't we but we

do not expect all of those people to be

able to edit the site so no we expect

only a handful of people to actually

have edit rights perhaps a couple of

folks in the HR department and maybe a

couple in it or whoever the individuals

are who are responsible for the content

on the internet but anyway let's look at

a quick example of a communication site

and you can see that I'm in the

Microsoft 365 portal here and don't

worry once we do start digging in deep

into SharePoint I will hide the tabs at

the top here to give ourselves a bit

more room on the screen but if I just go

into SharePoint from here and I'm just

going to dive into the landing so this

is the example internet from Microsoft's

demo environment and you can see

straight away that it does look quite

corporate doesn't it it looks like it

has been designed with a view to

engaging employees we've got various

links across the top here which pop out

to lots of sub Pages for information and

whatnot and as I scroll through you can

see that there's various feeds for news

and events and whatnot so yes very much

an internet type of look and feel and

you will also notice that if you were to

sort of look around the other options

here I do not have the ability to edit

this site because I am a mere user I'm

not an editor or anybody important to do

this internet so I can't make changes to

this site which is what you would expect

for an internet and in fact if I do go

into settings and look at site

permissions what you will see that there

are just a handful of site owners who as

you can see do have full control and

there are again a handful of site

members who have limited control but the

vast majority of people in this

particular example are simply site

visitors with no control they can only

view the site content and that is often

what we would expect to see for an

internet for one of these communication

sites and in fact in the older

SharePoint experience these kinds of

sites used to be known as publishing

sites and that kind of makes sense

because you can see that the idea here

is that the content is published for

other people to consume but not to edit

so yes with the communication site we

are assuming that there are lots of

visitors but only a few editors whereas

for a team site we are assuming that all

members of the site are publishing

content that is very much the key

characteristic of a team site as opposed

to a communication site this time we're

a group of people we're all members and

we're all collaborating we're all

publishing content we're sharing stuff

this team site is where we go to get our

work done so we're not just consuming

content that somebody else has decided

to publish to us like with a

communication site no this time we're

all jumping in and sharing and we're

rolling up our sleeves here and getting

the work done and if I just take you

back into SharePoint and show you an

example of a team site this time so let

me just go back to the SharePoint start

page and go into this Us sales site and

in fact you can just guess by the name

of the site here that this is much more

likely to be a team site rather than a

communication site it's where the

members of the Us sales team go to get

their work done and in fact what you're

looking at here has hardly been

customized at all as we will see this is

very much how it looks straight out of

the box but you can see that it visually

looks different it's got a different

style of navigation rather than the

navigation bar across the top like we

saw with that internet example we've got

this navigation down the side and this

is all about having conversations with

the team or sharing documents with the

team or having a shared notebook and

there are other things we can add as

well as we will see but for example if I

click on the shared document Library

here then I've got various folders and

various documents that I am sharing with

members of the team so this is a team

working experience this time rather than

it being open to the whole company like

we would expect for the internet example

well this time we can see at the top

right hand corner there are only seven

members of this site and if I click that

what we get to see is that yes group

membership there are seven seven people

there are just a couple of owners who

are the ones with the superpowers so

there's a generic administrator login

there and also James is an owner

everybody else is a member of the site

but I can still jump in and start

sharing content I can edit these files

or I could upload my own and even if I

need to edit the way this team site

looks as well you can see here I do have

an edit button available even though I

am just a member of the site and not a

site owner in any way because it's got

that different emphasis we're assuming

that we're all working together towards

a shared goal here so yes although we

could change these permissions the

expected behavior is that everybody will

be able to edit the site and publish

content to it so yes as I said these are

the two primary types of SharePoint site

but I do have one more thing to add to

this list because you might hear

reference to the idea of a hub site now

let me explain any existing site

although usually admittedly a

communication site can become a hub site

and the idea is that other SharePoint

sites can then be associated with a hub

site and this is all about organizing

related sites but when you have got

sites associated with the Hub site it's

the Hub that provides shared navigation

across the associated sites and a kind

of rolled up experience for content and

search and it's instead of trying to

create a fixed hierarchy of SharePoint

sites by creating subsites because

that's not very flexible they kind of

pretty much permanently attached to the

parents site in the hierarchy whereas

with these hubs you can change which Hub

a particular site is associated with the

point being it's then much easier to

change your SharePoint structure rather

than trying to move those older style

subsites around but this is a diagram

that I snipped from the Microsoft

documentation on SharePoint hubs you can

see the hubs in Orange here so I've got

three HR sales and Emir and you can see

that each Hub has got a number of

SharePoint sites associated with it

either communication sites shown in the

green or team sites shown in blue and as

I said that Hub provides us with the

shared navigation and whatnot across the

sites associated with it but if our

organization changes then it's going to

be easy to for example change this team

site here so that it's associated with

this Hub instead so as I said it's much

more flexible than trying to manage

subsites but anyway I have put a link to

where I got this in the skill if you

want to learn more about hub because I'm

not really going to say too much more

about them in this course because hubs

sites can only be created by global

administrators or SharePoint

administrators and we'll hear a little

bit more about those different

administrator roles in the next video

but for now let me just show this

chalkboard here again which I think will

serve quite well as a summary for this

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