Poll on position on allowing users to edit in FrontPage

I'm engaged in a battle within my organization regarding the use of FrontPage
to modify Sharepoint sites. Obviously, there is a risk from a support
perspective since users can really wreak havoc which then creates a support
issue. However, there is a level of customization that you can't do without
FrontPage, like adding links to the QuickLaunch bar.

I'm curious what other organizations positions are with regard to allowing
FrontPage use, and what is Microsoft's position?

Thanks!

DaveCohoon
Thu Jun 08 12:35:01 CDT 2006

In my current organization, all of the front page customizations are done by
an administrator. In past experiences, I have seen super users having access
to front page customizations, but they worked in sync with the Administrator
staff.

I usually allow users to make customizations to a test server, and then
promote them to production myself.


"Deb" wrote:

> I'm engaged in a battle within my organization regarding the use of FrontPage
> to modify Sharepoint sites. Obviously, there is a risk from a support
> perspective since users can really wreak havoc which then creates a support
> issue. However, there is a level of customization that you can't do without
> FrontPage, like adding links to the QuickLaunch bar.
>
> I'm curious what other organizations positions are with regard to allowing
> FrontPage use, and what is Microsoft's position?
>
> Thanks!

Deb
Thu Jun 08 13:37:02 CDT 2006

That would make sense, but in our organization we really don't have a support
team. The administrators were trained on Sharepoint about a year ago, but
it's not their primary function and they are reticent about being called for
help. The model of Super Users sounds like a good practice. Thanks.



"Dave Cohoon" wrote:

> In my current organization, all of the front page customizations are done by
> an administrator. In past experiences, I have seen super users having access
> to front page customizations, but they worked in sync with the Administrator
> staff.
>
> I usually allow users to make customizations to a test server, and then
> promote them to production myself.
>
>
> "Deb" wrote:
>
> > I'm engaged in a battle within my organization regarding the use of FrontPage
> > to modify Sharepoint sites. Obviously, there is a risk from a support
> > perspective since users can really wreak havoc which then creates a support
> > issue. However, there is a level of customization that you can't do without
> > FrontPage, like adding links to the QuickLaunch bar.
> >
> > I'm curious what other organizations positions are with regard to allowing
> > FrontPage use, and what is Microsoft's position?
> >
> > Thanks!

Todd
Thu Jun 08 13:42:27 CDT 2006

We have a large installation, over 600 GB of data and over 10k site
collections. On top of that we write a product that sits on top of WSS and
applies its own site definitions, web parts, etc. FrontPage edits are a
huge concern of ours because of upgrades. That being said, we do not
prevent FrontPage edits because it adds so much flexibility and
functionality. We have made our users very aware that if there are problems
we have to reghost their page, which will likely result in loss of
customizations. As long as they are sure they aren't losing any data,
they've been okay with it. Before each upgrade we test the upgrade in a
replica environment and we have our power users and editors check out their
sites to see how they faired. We work with them to get them fixed, and it
sets their expectations correctly.

We've had a few people get upset that they are losing changes, but once they
realize what the alternatives are (no FrontPage edits or no upgrades) they
come around.

tk
"Deb" <Deb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C7484DA2-F6E0-432F-95F6-53D79FB529FE@microsoft.com...
> I'm engaged in a battle within my organization regarding the use of
> FrontPage
> to modify Sharepoint sites. Obviously, there is a risk from a support
> perspective since users can really wreak havoc which then creates a
> support
> issue. However, there is a level of customization that you can't do
> without
> FrontPage, like adding links to the QuickLaunch bar.
>
> I'm curious what other organizations positions are with regard to allowing
> FrontPage use, and what is Microsoft's position?
>
> Thanks!