News Flash: Wandering Office 365 Waffle, Or “Who Moved My Waffle?”

Call it the waffle or the App Launcher or whatever you want (internally it has the CSS class ms-Icon–waffle2, so I think Randy Drisgill [@drisgill] is right, as usual), but if you use Office 365 or the soon to be available SharePoint 2016, you probably click on it dozens of times a day.

Recent changes to the Suite Bar (CSS classes start with suiteBar) have made it more responsive for different sized screens. This is a good thing, as the Suite Bar can now scale from a wide-screen desktop monitors down to a phone screen. How modern.

The implementation may confuse, though, so be prepared for some quizzical looks from your users.

Desktop Mode

Tablet Mode

Phone Mode

As you can see, the waffle is where you’d expect it in desktop mode, and I get to see my Sympraxis Consulting logo as well.

The phone mode also seems to make sense. The logo is gone – there’s not really any room for it – and the icons are all hidden, albeit behind the dread ellipses rather than the hamburger most people are used to.

It’s the tablet mode that will probably throw your users. “Where my waffle?”, you might ask? Well, it hops over to the right, jumping over the Suite Bar title (“Sites”, “Outlook”, etc.) to hang out by the notifications icon (at least for now – the Suite Bar changes frequently).

It looks like the media query kicks in at 1024px, which may be the width of some of your users’ regular desktop screens, even in this day and age. Even if they have higher resolution monitors, they may not use their browser in full screen mode. (I’m a full screen guy myself.)

All in all, it’s no harm – but some of your users may cry foul. Be prepared for it. I’m seeing it in my own First Release tenant as well as in several non-First Release tenants as well.

Thanks for Stefan Bauer (@StfBauer) for the heads up on why this is happening.

by Marc D Anderson via Marc D Anderson's Blog

SP2016 - SP2013 - O365 - SP.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions - Set ImageRenditions using Javascript

ImageRenditions allows the author to use the same image to display it in different sizes. More details about the ImageRenditions within the SharePoint can be found on the below articles.

• SharePoint 2013 Design Manager image renditions - MSDN
• Image Renditions in SharePoint 2013 - Waldek Mastykarz 

In this post, we will see how to set the ImageRenditions in the SharePoint using Javascript.

Javascript API:

• SP.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions.getRenditions - Gets the current list of ImageRenditions.
• SP.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions.setRenditions - Sets the given list of ImageRenditions to the site.

Prerequisites of the site:

• Publishing Site Collection
• Blob cache enabled

Get the Current Site:

RegisterSod("sp.js", "/_layouts/15/sp.js");
SP.SOD.executeFunc("sp.js", "sp", function () {});
RegisterSod("sp.publishing.js", "/_layouts/15/sp.publishing.js");
SP.SOD.executeFunc("sp.publishing.js", "sp.publishing", function () {});
var context = SP.ClientContext.get_current();
var sourceWeb = context.get_web();
context.load(sourceWeb);
var targetSite = context.get_site();
context.load(targetSite);
context.executeQueryAsync(function(){},function(){});

Get the current list of ImageRenditions:

var imageRenditions = new SP.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions.getRenditions(context);
context.executeQueryAsync(function(){},function(){});

• The above scripts get the full list of image renditions from the current site.

• "imageRenditions" contains the List of SP.Publishing.ImageRendition object.

[{"SchemaVersion":"15.0.0.0","LibraryVersion":"16.0.4316.1217","ErrorInfo":null,"TraceCorrelationId":"66cc419d-afa7-400e-443e-6f840d116d47"
},10,[
{
"_ObjectType_":"SP.Publishing.ImageRendition","Group":null,"Height":100,"Id":1,"IdCsom":1,"Name":"Display Template Picture 3 Lines","Version":1,"Width":100
},{
"_ObjectType_":"SP.Publishing.ImageRendition","Group":null,"Height":100,"Id":2,"IdCsom":2,"Name":"Display Template Picture On Top","Version":1,"Width":304
},{
"_ObjectType_":"SP.Publishing.ImageRendition","Group":null,"Height":220,"Id":3,"IdCsom":3,"Name":"Display Template Large Picture","Version":1,"Width":468
},{
"_ObjectType_":"SP.Publishing.ImageRendition","Group":null,"Height":68,"Id":4,"IdCsom":4,"Name":"Display Template Video","Version":1,"Width":120
}]
]

Create the new ImageRendition:

var customImageRendition = new SP.Publishing.ImageRendition();
customImageRendition.set_group("Intranet");
customImageRendition.set_height(100);
customImageRendition.set_width(100);
customImageRendition.set_name("thumbnail");
imageRenditions.push(customImageRendition);

• The above script creates the new SP.Publishing.ImageRendition object.
• Updates the "imageRenditions" list with the new ImageRendition.

Set the ImageRenditions:

var siteimageRenditions = new SP.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions.setRenditions(context,imageRenditions);context.executeQueryAsync(function(){},function(){});

• Updates the Site ImageRenditions with the updated list.

The equivalent CSOM api is also available - Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Publishing.SiteImageRenditions.

by Balamurugan Kailasam via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

Recent Changes to Task Management Conventions on Office 365

If you’ve been using Task Lists in SharePoint as long as I have, you will notice even the tiniest changes. Task Lists have never worked exactly the way people want them to – why doesn’t marking a task %100 complete also mark it as Completed? – but by adding a few extra columns to each list to customize them for your organization, they have always gotten the job done.

I wrote about how I generally use Tasks Lists years ago in my post Simple Best Practices for Using SharePoint Task Lists. I’m no longer a huge fan of the “best practice” term – there can be many different “better practices”; rarely is a “best practice” the best for everyone – but I’ve been following that model for Task List usage since I wrote the post in 2009. That’s through SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, and SharePoint Online.

Well, sometime in the last few weeks or months, the way Task Lists work in Office 365 seems to have changed, and my model doesn’t work so well any more. These changes seem to apply only to Task Lists that have been created since the changes, as my older Task Lists still work the same way they always have.

I don’t see anything in the Office 365 roadmap to explain the changes (I admit I didn’t pore through every item, but the prose there is difficult to follow, IMO), so I figured I’d capture what I’m seeing. Here’s what’s different:

• If you change the Task Status from Not Started to In Progress, the % Complete column is set to 50% on save
• When you change the % Complete column to 100%, the task is marked as complete on save

These two little changes can make a big difference. I think that they are actually an improvement, but for anyone who is used to the old way, it’ll be frustrating. This will be the case especially if you have some older Tasks Lists and newer Tasks Lists in the same site!

My new suggested model will change a bit:

• When you start working on a task assigned to you, set the Task Status to In Progress, then immediately change the % Complete from 0% to whatever is appropriate. SharePoint seems to respect the % Complete you set rather than updating it to 50% on save.
• When you’ve completed a task, leave the Task Status in the In Progress state, as we have before. Now, however, mark the % Complete to 99%. This will prevent SharePoint from marking the task as Completed when you save it.
• When the person who originally made the request decides you have completed the task appropriately, they can change the % Complete to 100% or just tick the Completed box, which is generally to the left of the task, at least in the default view.

One of the main goals I’ve always had in my model is to make it an exception – rather than the norm – for people to mark tasks complete which they work on. We don’t need to enforce it strictly, but by convention. These tweaks under the new Task Lists behavior still supports the goal.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…

by Marc D Anderson via Marc D Anderson's Blog

Is Your Intranet Strategy Integral with the Office 365 Ecosystem?

In past blogs we have talked about the Office 365 Ecosystem and its position as the next generation Microsoft Office platform that will dominate the business world. The capabilities and functions present in Office 365 make it ubiquitous and the number one platform used by businesses, for good reason. 

As part of this Office 365 Ecosystem, a lot of organizations are looking to deploy an Intranet and Office 365 provides a great platform to do this. As a result, a lot of Intranet companies are offering stylish and modern out-of-the-box solutions. The problem arises though when these Intranets are not integrated with the Office 365 interface but instead replace it, and this will be disastrous for organizations that choose enticing over enduring. 

Microsoft has very specific guidelines, made clear at Ignite 2015, that are core to its Office 365 integration strategy regarding a common look and feel driven by its native themes and designs. And, for this reason Microsoft has repeatedly stated that customers should be using native Office 365 branding capabilities. 

The look and feel of Intranet portals need to follow the Office 365 experience as well as the native Office 365 themes and layouts. You can reference this guidance in the Microsoft Dev Center section, "SharePoint site branding and page customization solutions."   

So what does all of this mean and why is it important? Core to the Office 365 interface is the app launcher, which presents a set of collaboration components, such as Skype for Business, Delve, Videos and so on. These components transform Office 365 into a far-reaching platform that increases organizational productivity and internal collaboration.

Now, the Intranet’s role in all of this is its ability to put these components in the context of the organization and its needs. The Intranet is just one component of this Office 365 Ecosystem and therefore should integrate but not take over the user interface. 
​
By replacing this interface instead of integrating with it, as a lot of newly available Intranets do, an organization is actually putting itself in a position where they will not be able to take advantage of all the components in one place. And, in the future when Microsoft adds more components, which it surely will, if your organization has deployed an Intranet that has replaced this interface, how are you going to be able to take advantage of these components if they aren’t there? You can’t and sadly you’re going to have to start over from scratch.  

Let’s take a look at an analogy that puts this into perspective. Every business has standard wall plugs into which you can charge your devices. If all of a sudden an up-and-coming company unveils a fancy new device with its own electrical source, adopting this is not going to be a good strategy for your organization. Yes it might make your life easier and offer some features that provide short-term gratification. But if you don’t look at the long-term impact of the incongruent electrical source it could be your downfall. 

So, what can you do? The obvious answer is to go with the smart choice and pick a device that will align now and in the future. SP Intranet 365 is an example of an Intranet that does just that because it plugs into the Office 365 Ecosystem, instead of replacing it or covering it up or hiding it. 
​
Everything is presented in one easy to find, easy to use place. SP Intranet 365 is a natural extension of the Office 365 interface that not only looks good and also does all of the things those fancy Intranets do but the difference is it will work not only now but in the future also. 

Visit SP Marketplace online to learn more about SP Intranet 365 and to see a tutorial video. 

by Darrell Trimble via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

The Biggest Problems With Microsoft's SharePoint Security Model

Dear all,

I wanted to share with you my thoughts on SharePoint security model, and why it's clearly outdated for today's corporate environment.




SharePoint's groups-based security model

SharePoint security is based on groups. Whether you favor SharePoint groups or Domain groups, either way the groups model is based on hundreds of long lists of people’s names.

Groups must be manually populated with the people who should get access to information - a tedious task which is highly prone to human error.

SharePoint makes it simple to add new users who transition into relevant roles and assignments, but there is no clean-up of permissions when they transition back out.

And besides, organizations aren’t typically structured around groups – they are structured around people having roles, credentials and assignments. People move around and shift focus all the time.

SharePoint also provides very little support for an information owner trying to add the correct group to their SharePoint site. It is far too easy to make a mistake, and there is no help to detect if one has been made.

And so, without confidence in their actions to secure their information in SharePoint, the information owner will often feel it could be better to start yet another new group. And the wheel gets reinvented again!



The importance of maintenance

Modern organizations are dynamic places. People move around organizations regularly. Organizational structures change regularly. In fact, change may be the only real constant!

And so, because SharePoint security is based on lists of people's names, those lists must be constantly maintained. We need to ensure that the set of people getting access to information remains appropriate as business circumstances change.

But groups in SharePoint include no clear link to the original reason a person may be a member – so how are we to evaluate if it remains appropriate? Especially when the maintenance task falls to IT - who may be quite distant from the information involved, and who often don't have first-hand knowledge of the information or people involved. How can they possibly be expected to make good proactive decisions about who should keep their access?

Experience has shown that as many as 30% of SharePoint site owners have left their company or moved jobs. Over 50% of SharePoint sites are abandoned within 3 years, but sensitive documents remain accessible.

Permissions in SharePoint often get in a tangled mess - and people tend to accumulate access to information as they move around over time.

And the larger or more complex the organization, the more DIFFICULT, EXPENSIVE, and INACCURATE maintenance becomes.



'Silent' permissions

SharePoint includes several ways to gain access to information. Some of these are not visible to information owners.

For examine, information owners can’t see who are members of Domain groups. Also, Domain groups can be nested inside other groups, also without information owners knowledge.

Site Collection Administration rights, and Web Application Policies can effectively provide ‘silent’ access. That is, permissions for people to information without the knowledge of information owners. Although this function exists for the legitimate purpose of enabling administration of the system - the fact that information owners can't see this can create significant problems.

Ultimately, lack of visibility undermines trust.



The consequences of lack of visibility

SharePoint is designed to promote information sharing, but security information is not clearly visible.

Take a standard SharePoint document library. Exactly who can access it? Its not easy to tell. Users can’t easy know what permissions are on the SharePoint sites they are trusting their documents to.

SharePoint's ‘Shared With’ dialog is slow and unreliable. The ‘Manage Permissions’ page is buried inside settings.

Administrative permissions, such as Site Collection Administration rights, and Web Application Policies are hidden from users and information owners.

Membership of groups is hidden – we only see the group name, which may or may not be descriptive, helpful or consistent. And there is no way to view the membership of Domain groups

Without the trust of information owners, adoption and value is compromised.

And this can lead to an attitude of security being ‘someone else’s problem’ – rather than promoting a culture of shared responsibility!


Risk to the organization constantly grows



Since SharePoint began 15 years ago:

The volumes of information we deal with,
the general dynamism of organizations, and
the intensity of the security threat
...have increased exponentially! SharePoint’s groups-based security model has seen very little evolution over that time.

Ultimately, these factors create weaknesses in your information security armour - increasing risk to the organization of a serious security incident. You can read more here on solutions to tackle these challenges.







Let me know your thoughts :)

Peter

@TorsionIS
Let's #MakeTorsionGreatAgain together!
by Peter Bradley via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community

Money Money Money, Must Be Funny…

Why is money such a dirty little secret?  Have you noticed that no-one will talk actual money with you, apart from saying they’re broke; or if they’re wealthy, they won’t say a thing or tell you how they did it.  Why is this?

I made a critical error in judgement some years ago by looking at my peers and friends and thinking they were rolling in the bucks.  They were living the lifestyle, had all the toys, fancy cars …. turns out, they weren’t and that they were in debt up to their eyeballs. Their lives were a lie.  And before I blinked, I ended up with car and home loan debt where I had none before.  Had to keep up with the Jones’s and all… It’s a stupid game with no winners.

No-one wants to tell you how much they earn, what their expenses are, how much debt they have, how much their toys and hobbies cost, how much profit they make, what investments they have and why; so you have nothing concrete to measure against. Most people will lie about their financial situation and use it to manipulate the people around them.  Most people were not taught how to work with money, I know I wasn’t, and that can follow you around your whole life.

Just try and make everyone’s salaries public and see what happens. Why is a salary such a confidential thing? It’s just money. Why is it that some people just seem to attract money whilst others just never do?

And then don’t forget those ever present golden handcuffs – a lot of people in my industry will be able to relate to those. Funny how no-one wants to admit they have them, and if they don’t have them, they want them; but they don’t realise the consequences of having them because all they see is the facade of the people who have them. They compare apples with onions. You need to learn to ask the right questions.

I know it sounds flippant and cliche coming from someone who drives a nice car and just bought a fairly big house (all owned by the bank!) – but I promise you, the joy is short-lived.  You have got to have inner peace and strength no matter what or you will feel emptier than you ever have in your life regardless of how many “things” you acquire.

We end up fighting and scratching each other for peanuts because we are taught there is not enough money for everyone. Please explain how you owning a yacht and a mansion takes money away from me? It doesn’t.  Please explain how me giving up my house and car gives money to the people living in a township? It doesn’t. We owe it to ourselves to become successful so we can uplift the people around us.  My new favourite saying is “when you have everything you need, don’t build bigger walls, buy a bigger table”.

We live in an infinitely abundant Universe and there is enough for everyone. The fact that a lot of it is being held by a bunch of psychopaths is another story, but it still doesn’t stop other normal people from becoming independently wealthy. Blaming others for your financial woes is futile, there are plenty of very wealthy people out there who simply just worked for it.  Sometimes it’s just that simple, no magic formula, just hard work. (I get that some people are screwed out of lots of money by highly unethical people, that’s a different story too).

Am I financially free?  Far, far from it!  Do I have a plan in place to get there?  Yes I do. Did I figure it out on my own?  No I didn’t.  Was it worth it to get expert advice?  Yes it was. What do I have to do now?  Stick to the plan. Did I have a leg up somewhere in my life?  Yes I did. Did I spend it wisely?  No I didn’t.  I am 46 years old and only starting this now; better late than never. But I can tell you one thing, I will chart my own course from now on and not compare myself to my peers again, because my success criteria and the things that are important to me are vastly different to theirs.

Filed under: Thoughts on Life
by Veronique Palmer via Views from Veronique

The Sway Way - Softer, better, faster & stronger

Standing out of the crowd

Nowadays it is extremely difficult to grab people’s attention towards a certain subject. Whether this is during a speech or through a written document, if your first impression fails, do not hope for a second chance. Besides, the attention span of the average knowledge worker hardly lasts longer than the one of an intelligent jelly fish. Therefore, once you’ve got people’s attention, it is key to keep them interested in what you want to say. Of course, some preconditions must be met in order to make people listen to you. First of all, your message needs to be transferred in a structured way. Secondly, graphic visualisations have to make sure that your audience continues listening. How lucky we are that the technological evolution made it possible to go beyond the traditional blackboard or flipchart.

Anno 2015 people are so used to visual stimuli that it is very hard to stand out of the crowd. A lot of tools are marketed as being good at engaging the audience, but none of these succeed in doing this as good as Sway does. Microsoft well realized the fact that not everyone is endowed with a graphic design talent. Hence, the company came up with a tool that allows users to easily create and share content. Since Sway takes care of the look and feel of the presentation, people can keep calm and concentrate on what really matters, namely the content of the message they want to transfer.    

Softer, better, faster & stronger

Sway is a web-based application and part of the Office Suite. By using Sway, you can quickly create and share visually attractive presentations in the cloud.  Moreover, Sway provides a seamless integration with multimedia files, like pictures, photos and music. This obviously leads to an enhanced user experience.

A desktop version of the application doesn’t exist yet. However, given the cloud-based and mobile-first world of today, this poses no problem. After all, here at Spikes we are convinced of the fact that Sway makes your message softer, better, faster & stronger. When this is relevant and how to get started? Let’s move on, so we can explain you the basic principles!

Softer

Sway is your best friend when it comes to supporting your storytelling. Uh, storywhat? Storytelling enables you to connect with your audience in a friendly and easy-going way. Instead of just delivering your key message, you try to engage with the people you are talking to. Your ultimate goal when it comes to storytelling is making your audience actually remember the things you said. Which is not an easy task – indeed. Luckily, Sway can help you a great deal along the way.   

Better

If you ever googled Sway before – or even better: if you used it for a while – you might have noticed some similarities with PowerPoint already. Both applications are used to present content in a visually attractive to an audience in order to make it easier for them to understand your message. The difference however is the precise context in which either Sway or PowerPoint is used. PowerPoint definitely has the edge over Sway when it comes to formal presentations on a detailed subject. When a company wants to present its annual report during a shareholders meeting for instance, using PowerPoint might be the best option. Sway on the other hand is the right tool for presenting less formal content. Here you should think about organising a short ski with a few colleagues, a monthly newsletter that needs to be distributed in the company, et cetera. As you can see, numerous examples exist in which Sway can add more value to your message. Moreover, a Sway presentation looks good on any device, be it a laptop or a smartphone. Long story short: neither Sway nor PowerPoint are best suited in any case. But, depending on the specific situation you are in, Sway might be your best friend!

Faster

Everyone who ever created a PowerPoint presentation knows the struggle. It is very tempting to start focussing on small imperfections with regard to the layout of your presentation. Although you should definitely pay attention to the layout, esthetical nit-picking should not become the core activity when making a presentation. Nevertheless, a lot of people give in to that temptation. Sounds familiar, isn’t it? Sway doesn’t test your self-control any longer. Thanks to the library of templates you won’t feel the need to start designing on your own. Besides, there are only a few functionalities that let you design a Sway presentation. There’s little chance that you will lose your thread of thought because of transitions, animations and SmartArt. The absence of those bells and whistles makes it easier for you to concentrate on what really matters for you and your audience: the content of your presentation.

But what if there are a thousand miles separating you and your audience? No problem! Sharing content in the cloud might already sound familiar to you, since it makes sending overly attached e-mails no longer necessary. Sway definitely uses the power of the cloud, as it makes sharing presentations easy as pie. So Sway does not only make it easier to create your presentation, it is also possible to share it with a single click!  

Stronger

Softer, better & faster, so far. These different aspects of Sway let users communicate their message in a more powerful way than ever before. It is almost like greeting new people: even though the intention is not bad at all, there is nothing worse than a weak handshake. Your content deserves to be that firm handshake that leaves a strong impression instead! Especially when people tend to have less time to absorb all those fragmented bits and pieces of information, it is key to stand out of the crowd.

Get started!

Among our colleagues PowerPoint has the upper hand as far as formal presentations, which contain a lot of technical details that need to be explained in a structured way, are concerned. The audience in this case may vary from important customers to a company’s shareholders. But as soon as the content gets more straightforward or informal, Sway is definitely worth a shot. In such a situation, do not hesitate to use Sway to tailor your message in a softer, better, faster & stronger way!

by Sarah Geers via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community