SharePoint Himadrish

The question which strike in my mind last week is why we are using stereo type SharePoint page. Where we can feed added value into the page. In other words, in which area, we can change easily (not considering branding here). The objective is to use more webpart and utilize the space available in dashboard. There could be different way we can achieve the same.

First thing we can build, is to create a new page without Quick Launch Bar. So you can add the webpart all over the page and utilize the full page width. People are not bothering about the Quick Launch Bar, and the space gained by its removal will greatly increase the usability of the site. Business is demanding to use more webpart in the dashboard area and other pages to have an enterprise look. Smart way of thinking

Another was is, we can create our custom pages from SharePoint by traveling Create >> WebPart Page >> Select Full Page Vertical template and then click Create. Here you can found different TEMPLATE to create different type of file.

This will basically create a new page without Quick Launch Bar. So people can add the webpart all over the page and utilize the full page width.

How to remove quick launch bar:

The objective is to remove the Quick Launch Bar from the left hand side in SharePoint site. We can off the Quick Launch Bar from one existing site and take a template of this site (i.e. the new look), and then published that template. Therefore the new SharePoint site, which will use this template, will be created without Quick Launch Bar.

To remove the Quick Launch Bar section in the SharePoint site, you need to use SharePoint Designer or FrontPage 2003 .

Open FrontPage 2003, and then click on OpenSite from the file menu and provide the SharePoint url (without default.aspx page name). Once the site will be open up, you can see the default.aspx page.

Double click on default.aspx and it will then open the page in design view. Select the Quick Launch Bar area in left hand side. This is basically a HTML TABLE. Next, click on CODE tab in FrontPage.

Select the entire TD under Navigation HTML comment and remove that part. So, the following code you need to remove. The TD i.e. id=”webpartpagenavbar” represents the first column area in the dashboard. Quick Launch Bar basically resides in this area. Check the class name i.e. ms-nav has been used for that TD.

HTML CODE:

<TD id=”webpartpagenavbar” widthchange=”175″ height=100% class=ms-nav>
<table height=100% border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 class=ms-navframe>
<tr>
<td valign=top id=”onetidWatermark” class=”ms-navwatermark” style=”padding-top: 4px;padding-right: 0px;” dir=”ltr”>
<![if !vml]><img border=0 width=19 height=183
src=”default1_files/image001.gif” alt=”Quick Launch” v:shapes=”navWatermark”><![endif]><script>
if (browseris.ie5up && document.all(“navWatermark”) && document.all(“onetidWatermark”)) {
document.all(“navWatermark”).fillcolor=document.all(“onetidWatermark”).currentStyle.color;
}
</script></td>
<td valign=top style=”padding-top: 8px;padding-right: 0px;padding-left: 0px”>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 cellspacing=0 BORDER=0 width=126px style=”margin-right: 3px”>
<TR><TD class=”ms-navheader”><p><A HREF=”_layouts/1033/viewlsts.aspx?BaseType=1″>Documents</A></TD></TR>

<TR><TD style=”height: 6px”>
<!–webbot bot=”Navigation” S-Btn-Nobr=”FALSE” S-Type=”sequence” S-Rendering=”html” S-Orientation=”Vertical” B-Include-Home=”FALSE” B-Include-Up=”FALSE” U-Page=”sid:1004″ S-Bar-Pfx=”<table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0>” S-Bar-Sfx=”</table>” S-Btn-Nml=”<tr><td><table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src=’_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0>&amp;nbsp;</td><td valign=top><a ID=onetleftnavbar#LABEL_ID# href=’#URL#’>#LABEL#</td></tr></table></td></tr>” S-Target TAG=”BODY” startspan –><em>[The link bar feature is not available in this web]</em><!–webbot bot=”Navigation” endspan i-checksum=”44189″ –></TD></TR>
<TR><TD class=”ms-navheader”><A HREF=”_layouts/1033/viewlsts.aspx?BaseType=1&ListTemplate=109″>Pictures</A></TD></TR>

<TR><TD style=”height: 6px”>
<!–webbot bot=”Navigation” S-Btn-Nobr=”FALSE” S-Type=”sequence” S-Rendering=”html” S-Orientation=”Vertical” B-Include-Home=”FALSE” B-Include-Up=”FALSE” U-Page=”sid:1005″ S-Bar-Pfx=”<table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0>” S-Bar-Sfx=”</table>” S-Btn-Nml=”<tr><td><table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src=’_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0>&amp;nbsp;</td><td valign=top><a ID=onetleftnavbar#LABEL_ID# href=’#URL#’>#LABEL#</td></tr></table></td></tr>” S-Target TAG=”BODY” startspan –><em>[The link bar feature is not available in this web]</em><!–webbot bot=”Navigation” endspan i-checksum=”44189″ –></TD></TR>
<TR><TD class=”ms-navheader”><A HREF=”_layouts/1033/viewlsts.aspx?BaseType=0″>Lists</A></TD></TR>

<TR><TD style=”height: 6px”>
<!–webbot bot=”Navigation” S-Btn-Nobr=”FALSE” S-Type=”sequence” S-Rendering=”html” S-Orientation=”Vertical” B-Include-Home=”FALSE” B-Include-Up=”FALSE” U-Page=”sid:1003″ S-Bar-Pfx=”<table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0>” S-Bar-Sfx=”</table>” S-Btn-Nml=”<tr><td><table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src=’_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0>&amp;nbsp;</td><td valign=top><a ID=onetleftnavbar#LABEL_ID# href=’#URL#’>#LABEL#</td></tr></table></td></tr>” S-Target TAG=”BODY” startspan –><em>[The link bar feature is not available in this web]</em><!–webbot bot=”Navigation” endspan i-checksum=”44189″ –></TD></TR>
<TR><TD class=”ms-navheader”><A HREF=”_layouts/1033/viewlsts.aspx?BaseType=3″>Discussions</A></TD></TR>

<TR><TD style=”height: 6px”>
<!–webbot bot=”Navigation” S-Btn-Nobr=”FALSE” S-Type=”sequence” S-Rendering=”html” S-Orientation=”Vertical” B-Include-Home=”FALSE” B-Include-Up=”FALSE” U-Page=”sid:1006″ S-Bar-Pfx=”<table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0>” S-Bar-Sfx=”</table>” S-Btn-Nml=”<tr><td><table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src=’_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0>&amp;nbsp;</td><td valign=top><a ID=onetleftnavbar#LABEL_ID# href=’#URL#’>#LABEL#</td></tr></table></td></tr>” S-Target TAG=”BODY” startspan –><em>[The link bar feature is not available in this web]</em><!–webbot bot=”Navigation” endspan i-checksum=”44189″ –></TD></TR>
<TR><TD class=”ms-navheader”><A HREF=”_layouts/1033/viewlsts.aspx?BaseType=4″>Surveys</A></TD></TR>

<TR><TD style=”height: 6px”>
<!–webbot bot=”Navigation” S-Btn-Nobr=”FALSE” S-Type=”sequence” S-Rendering=”html” S-Orientation=”Vertical” B-Include-Home=”FALSE” B-Include-Up=”FALSE” U-Page=”sid:1007″ S-Bar-Pfx=”<table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0>” S-Bar-Sfx=”</table>” S-Btn-Nml=”<tr><td><table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src=’_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0>&amp;nbsp;</td><td valign=top><a ID=onetleftnavbar#LABEL_ID# href=’#URL#’>#LABEL#</td></tr></table></td></tr>” S-Target TAG=”BODY” startspan –><em>[The link bar feature is not available in this web]</em><!–webbot bot=”Navigation” endspan i-checksum=”44189″ –></TD></TR>
<TR><TD style=”padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px”><img width=1px src=’/_layouts/images/blank.gif’ ID=’100′ alt=’Icon’ border=0></TD></TR>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</TD>

TD valign=top id=”onetidWatermark” class=”ms-navwatermark” represents the inner TD where Quick Launch Bar water mark image resides.

Ok, now it is time to save the modified HTML. Save the file and check whether the same is reflected in SharePoint site. Next, take a backup of this site by going to Site Settings and then Save Site As Template.

Once you done the process, the following information will be displayed that the site template has been added into the collection gallery.

Published the template through STSADM command. Very simple process. You have done your job.
Let’s check the same by creating new SharePoint site. Once you select the newly created template and create the site, a new site will be created without Quick Launch Bar in the left navigation area.

That space has been occupied by the webpartzone, and you can enjoy your dashboard!