Reach your audience via SharePoint communication sites in Office 365
Published May 16 2017 10:11 AM 173K Views
Microsoft

SharePoint has always been at the core of collaboration – people working together on files, lists, and libraries. Our customer stories, like Shire Pharmaceuticals, share insights into the value of intranets that connect people and information seamlessly across use cases: from collaboration on to communication. Today, we are excited to usher in a new generation of the mobile and intelligent intranet, allowing you to communicate to people throughout your organization with beautiful, dynamic, mobile-ready communication sites and pages that keep everyone informed and engaged.

 

“The more we facilitate our employees to get information faster, to be more productive, the more that they can do to push therapies towards our patients." -- Nicole Rojas - Head of Digital Communications, Shire. Please review the full Shire video case study and learn more about their intranet they call The Hub.

 

To view more of what communication sites offer, please watch the new, related Microsoft Mechanics video, “An overview of SharePoint communication sites and pages,” and continue reading more information below, with screenshots and additional links.

 

 

Communication sites and related features will be released this coming summer. Let’s look at how they’ll work.

Create beautiful, dynamic communication sites

It is easy to move from working on the details of a project or campaign collaboratively in team sites to create broad-reach communication sites. Like SharePoint team sites, new communication sites are created in seconds by clicking Create site on SharePoint home in Office 365.  It is then easy to adjust page layouts and add web parts and to pull in valuable data and content from other services, like conversations from Yammer and videos from Microsoft Stream. The result is a vibrant, interactive, dynamic experiences for your site visitors.

 

A communication site shown in a desktop Web browser (left) and in the SharePoint mobile app (right). Features include a consistent logo, top navigation, page layouts, and new web parts: Hero, News, Events, Microsoft Stream, Yammer, and People (with more to come).A communication site shown in a desktop Web browser (left) and in the SharePoint mobile app (right). Features include a consistent logo, top navigation, page layouts, and new web parts: Hero, News, Events, Microsoft Stream, Yammer, and People (with more to come).

After the site is created, you create your pages – layering in your content, exactly how you want it to appear.  You select from single and multi-column layouts, leveraging dynamic web parts connected to various Office 365 services. Organizing and reorganizing web parts is easy, just drag and drop to tell your story the way you want.

 

When you create a communication site from SharePoint home in Office 365, you can choose from several site templates.When you create a communication site from SharePoint home in Office 365, you can choose from several site templates.

Communication sites dynamically pull in content from across Office 365. You have the right tools to design sites for upcoming events, campaigns, or product launches, report sites for teams to share their insights and expertise on topics, and many other scenarios where the key goal is to communicate effectively and broadly without barriers.

 

When you create a communication site, you are presented with several helpful tools:

 

Section layouts | You can use a variety of multi-column section layouts on your pages, to arrange information side-by-side – like an important video from Microsoft Stream to the left of a related Power BI dashboard. The page authoring toolbox has new Section layout choices.

CommSite_blog_003_section-layouts.png

 

Web Parts | You can use web parts to bring content and information from across Office 365 into your pages. Five new web parts will let you better inform and engage the audience of your communication site:

  • The Hero web part highlights important content
  • The People web part showcases notable members of the team
  • The Events web part calls out important upcoming events and lets you easily them to your calendar
  • The Microsoft Stream web part presents a gallery of videos from a Stream channel.

CommSite_blog_004_web-parts.png

Learn more about using web parts on pages and news--an article that highlights all web parts available in SharePoint Online.

 

Theming | Preview and apply custom styling and colors to your sites. IT administrators can manage the custom themes that are available to the organization.

 

Top navigation | Make it easy for visitors to get to important pages with the top navigation. Click Edit to add, arrange, and modify menus and submenus.

 

Site usage | How is your site doing? Review charts and reports that show daily unique user trends, most active readers, and page views. These insights are right at your fingertips. Click the upper-right gear and select Site usage.

 

Custom web parts | If you’re a developer, you can use the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) to create fast, modern, client-side user experiences and web parts that authors can add to their pages in communication sites.

Reach and engage your audience

When you publish a page, you can be confident that your page reaches your audience wherever they are, no matter what device they are on. Your communication site looks great on the web, on PC or Mac, on mobile browsers, and in the SharePoint app. It, too, is easy to share communication sites and pages with others via email – just like you would share a document via the built-in share button in the upper right of the page.

 

Add the Yammer web part to engage your audience, to spark conversation, to encourage best practice sharing, and to solicit feedback. The Yammer web part embeds the feed from any Yammer group or topic into a SharePoint page in the browser. A new web part, coming this summer, will bring that experience to mobile devices as well.

 

A community built with a SharePoint communication site, including a web part showcasing featured community members, and an informative chart alongside a related Yammer discussion.A community built with a SharePoint communication site, including a web part showcasing featured community members, and an informative chart alongside a related Yammer discussion.

Collaborate and communicate throughout your intranet

With the combination of team sites connected to Office 365 groups and the reach of communication sites, SharePoint gives you the tools to collaborate, inform and engage, with a few core people or with broader audiences across the organization. Throughout the lifecycle of your projects, your launches, and your internal campaigns, the SharePoint intranet helps you move seamlessly from concept to final product – all with powerful, dynamic user experiences that do what you want them to do to clearly communicate your message throughout your company.

 

Thanks,
Mark

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will communication sites be available in Office 365?

A: Communication sites will begin roll out to Office 365 First Release customers Q2 CY 2017, with full worldwide rollout scheduled for Q3 CY 2017. This includes the five new web parts, section layouts, theming, editable navigation and the new site usage page. The same innovations will be available in SharePoint team sites, as well.

Q: How do communication sites compare to intranet sites based on the classic SharePoint publishing infrastructure?

A: Communication sites are complimentary to the sites and portals you’ve built using the SharePoint publishing infrastructure. The publishing infrastructure continues to be supported both on-premises and online. Communication sites are out-of-box sites you can use for internal campaigns, reports, product launches, and other scenarios that address broad audiences across the organization. Communication sites are easy to create: they require no code or design expertise. Simply point-and-click to add pages and parts. Communication sites are mobile-ready by default, looking great across browsers and devices, and in the SharePoint mobile app. For scenarios that go beyond those supported by communication sites today, Microsoft’s vibrant partner community has great expertise and offers services and tools that can help you build your mobile, intelligent intranet with SharePoint in Office 365.

158 Comments
Copper Contributor

Awesome and many thanks for the reply and confirmation @Mark Kashman :)

Deleted
Not applicable

Dare I ask when Communications sites will be made available to GOV tenants? I have resigned myself to the fact that none of the features in the roadmap while release to the GOV tenants at the same time as GA, but it seems as though the necessary checks and certifications could be done quicker, at least for some features that aren't exposing GOV tenant content outside of the tenant. I wold have thought the Communication site feeature would ahve been one of those.

Brass Contributor

@Mark Kashman will we be able to use all the new page layouts and web parts in existing team sites attached to groups?

Steel Contributor

Congratulations on this Mile Stone Sir!

Brass Contributor

 @Mark Kashman Thanks you for all the information and let me note that I loved the 18 minute video that covers oh so much, so well!

I apologize if my questions are answered already, but from my reading, there are conflicting answers/opinions.   1) Our organization also has the 'Create Site' option disabled.  Therefore I think we have no way to create a Community Site - is that correct?  I don't see 'community site' as an option from the SharePoint Admin center 2) Will the new web parts (new layout, hero, etc) be made availabe to the modern site page layout (ie: we'll be able to take advantage of them even if we don't have a community site)?  

Thanks again!

Bronze Contributor

According to a message in our tenant, rollout starts late June to First Release customers, completed by the end of July. Looking forward! 

Microsoft

@Cameron Monks Simple answer: absolutelyes! #newword

Microsoft

@Deleted I don't think there is any significant delta for rollout to GOV tenants, beyond the normal ramp up out to First Release first, and then out to WW 100% production which typically spans 4-6 weeks from when we begin rollout. I'll include more details holisitcally when we begin rollout, with some noise coming soon off of the Office Blog (blogs.office.com). Thx, Mark

Microsoft

@Kelly Meyer answers:

1) You have a few options - turn on "Create site" and limit who can use it, or let all use it and enable an opt-in custom form where you build your own questions and logic (more here:"Manage site creation in SharePoint Online" - https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-site-creation-in-SharePoint-Online-e72844a3-0171-47c...). Or use the SharePoint Online Management Shell to create new sites using the community site template; more documentation on this one coming soon.

2) Yes :).

@Sean Squires in case of any follow up; he's more SME than me for "Create site" :-).

 

Thx,

Mark 

Steel Contributor

@Mark Kashman and that rollout is beginning next week right?  I feel bad for you Mark... that said, we're all excited about the upcoming Communication Sites, so whenever you're thinking, "my goodness people......... relax......" remember, it's because you guys have shown us a really sweet product that can't come too soon!

Iron Contributor

@Mark Kashman how would I go ahead and have a Communication site as the main site for a group? I guess it would be possibel to use the same functionalities to build my own Communication site once we get the webparts and multi column layout?

 

I would really love to have or be able to recreate a communication sites for some of my O365 groups. Just link to a subsite / another site collection with the communication site as a template ("click here for our communication site") sounds a bit lame.

Steel Contributor

The first time that the new "canvas" was visibile in Office 365, was via the Blog feature in Delve. The easy publishing tools, fresh look and feel was great! But it never took off, because there was no information structure, company-wide sharing or overall governance in relation to the feature. 

 

I still think that user-generated blogging is a separate type of feature compared to both Yammer, Teamsite News / Pages or Communication Sites. So I wonder: What is the roadmap for user-generated blogging in Office 365 / Delve, @Mark Kashman?

Microsoft

@Dennis Gaida There's not a quick fix answer here. You could certainly treat your team sites where the home page is your front door to what you want to share about your team/project/campaign - and can soon use the capabilities of a communciation site in the context of your existing group-conencted site (aka, use of multicolumn layout, hero web part, people web part, events, etc.. - whatever makes sense for your needs; knowing that the layouts, news and web parts are common between both site types. The main thing is that communication sites won't be tied to a particular Office 365 Group; though you can use group(s) to help manage permsisions - you mainly don't get a default group and no other service is provisioned like with group-connected team sites where you also get a shared calendar, planner plan, group inbox, etc...).

 

And certainly, you can create a new comuncaiton site and have it front end in a similar fashion. Know, too, that comucnation sites have similar behind the scenes list, library and app capabilities - so this too may help.

 

There is no "make my team site a comm site" button; though if the above rambles in the territory of what's possible, think there's a zone of what can work with what you describe.

 

- Mark

Microsoft

Hi @Morten Myrstad - we agree with you. The first instance of the authoring canvas was the blog feature in Delve. And then we brought it to pages/news/home of team sites, where we made some architectural changes, building off of the blog canvas, but not in a way we could simply upgrade it too at the same time. We're thinking through how to update it and potentially where and how it surfaces - with the want to to also bake in much of what you describe: governance, broad sharing, create on behalf "review/approve" cycles... We hope to have more to share at Ignite, and know it's an area we'd like to add to the left-to-right authroing offering in the mix of news, pages, team sites, communication sites, ... blog. :)

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

Mark

Steel Contributor

@Mark Kashman -- will that little white space above the site icon and site nav be where the global nav can go?  If so, will that be available immediately?  I'm guessing based on how Team Sites rolled out (and the outcry from the global nav ommission) that you guys WILL indeed have the global nav be available for use right away, even if it's manually built.

Copper Contributor

Dear Microsoft,
Any new update on delivery of Communications sites to first release?  I'm starting to feel like this suggested quarter's release date might be slipping with still no firm committment on this thread, and the end of the month is this week.  Would love to share updates with customers.

Thanks,
Ted

Microsoft

@Ted Green - it's still June, and we're still on target. :) Can you hear the calm before the storm? I don't think the Earth will cycle the Sun around more than one more time before the release engines warm ... just a guess ... there's a rumbling I hear over the digital divide.

 

Thx,

Mark

Iron Contributor

I apologize in advance for the naive question. My team has been building a SharePoint Online site, but I don't think it is a team site because it isn't associated with an Office 365 group. So, I don't know what to call it: I don't think it is a team site or a communicaiton site. Does that makes sense?

 

From my limited knowledge, what is new about communication sites is that the target audience is much larger (i.e. whole corporation). Is that right? Or can you still restrict access to certain people/groups/teams within a communications site? I'm looking for a solution that allows us to restrict access, but that will be accessed accross multiple different groups of teams/employees, per se. (i.e. don't need a group, planner, onedrive...etc.)

 

 

Iron Contributor

@Mark Kashman Thanks for your responses to others that answered a lot of the questions I have.  I am eagerly awaiting this, as we are in the process of migrating from SP2010 to SharePoint Online.  While we are working out some processes, procedures and retention rules, we turned off Site creation on the SharePoint home page.  It appears from one of your responses below, that is the only option for creating one of these sites.  I currently create sites from the Admin portal for our test sites and sites we are rolling out.  I saw the link to the support article on managing site creation.  I did change the option to "Show the Create site command to users who have permission to create sites".  I am having a difficult time finding anything regarding how to designate which of my users have the ability to create sites.  Any info or links to how to manage who can create sites?

Thank You!

Copper Contributor

H , I am not sure whther you have answered this alreday or not, i have created a page layout for classic pages in one of the publishing sites, i just want to know whether i will be able to use those page layouts in future coming communication sites or not in publishing my article pages, Apologies if i am asking this question again (if you have already answered), i just want to clarify my doubts.

Microsoft

FYI to all, SharePoint communication sites have begun rolling out to First Release cusotmers today (6/27); more details on the main announcement blog on blogs.office.com: https://blogs.office.com/2017/06/27/sharepoint-communication-sites-begin-rollout-to-office-365-custo... + tomorrow's AMA (6/28 @ 9am PT) within the MS Tech Community SharePoint space, here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Communications-Sites-AMA/bd-p/CommunicationsSitesAMA. We'll aim to transition any further communicaiton sites Q&A to tomorrow's AMA space, and going fwd.

 

Cheers and thanks for all the excitement sop far - lots and lots to come. - Mark.

Steel Contributor

@Mark Kashman -- this is huge news!  Thanks for sharing and I think we're all looking forward to it.  You can finally relax.......... a little.

Microsoft

@Carol DeMuth - yes, we're working out the details on how we'll bring the communicaiton site creation to the admin UI, and for the "Create site" button question, let me loop in my colleagues who can answer better than I: @Andy Haon @Sean Squires @Dave Cohen (US)

 

We'll all be on during tomorrow's "SharePoint community sites AMA" - and this one would be a good one to ask when all our SMEs are engaged (6/28  at 9 am PT): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Communications-Sites-AMA/bd-p/CommunicationsSitesAMA

Microsoft

Hi @Awake Kapoor - you will not be able to use a page layout from a classic publishing site within a new communicaiton site. We're committed to enabling the ability to create a page layout design for communicaiton sites, and it won't be based on previous page templating methods, nor is it tied to the publishing infrastructure you are describing for your classic pages.

 

Thx,

Mark

Brass Contributor

Thanks for the update @Mark Kashman

I notice the post says it will be rolled out to first release cusomers over the next 2 - 3 weeks - do you have any further details of what the rollout is (eg are some regions later?)

If we switch to First Release Select Users will this ensure we get it earlier?

Microsoft

@Cameron Monks - you got it - First Release "Select Users" will light up first :-). We don't target specific regions - it's more of a grid appraoch based on some algorithmic smarts in the flighting engine :-). - Mark.

Brass Contributor

@Mark Kashman  I see them!  I see the web parts! Can't wait to try them out tomorrow!  Thank you for all your helpful information these past few weeks!

Iron Contributor

@Mark Kashman

 

I figured out the issue with some trial and error.  My root site for my domain's permissions had the Member group (which included "Everyone except external users") with Edit rights.  This meant when I changed the Setting from the SharePoint Admin center, to only show the Create Site link to people who could create sites, everyone could still create sites!  So I changed the permission on the Member group to Contribute.  Then I added a couple of people in a new Site Creators group.  The permission I granted to that group was to create subsites.

It works!   I am still waiting for my Communications site though...

 

@Carol DeMuth - yes, we're working out the details on how we'll bring the communicaiton site creation to the admin UI, and for the "Create site" button question, let me loop in my colleagues who can answer better than I: @Andy Haon @Sean Squires @Dave Cohen (US)

 

We'll all be on during tomorrow's "SharePoint community sites AMA" - and this one would be a good one to ask when all our SMEs are engaged (6/28  at 9 am PT): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Communications-Sites-AMA/bd-p/CommunicationsSitesAMA

 

Bronze Contributor

I'm interested in how the SharePoint Admin Setting for the "Create Site" button affects the creation of communication sites, specifically if you select "only websites that are connected to Office 365 Groups", since CommSites are not connected to groups.

Steel Contributor

They are beautiful, fast, easy to use. That said, it's even clearer now the global navigation just isn't something they want us to use.  It's gone again, and we will see if it makes a return, but after last time with everyone wanting it back immediately, the only reason to not include it in common sites, at this point, is to continue to hint that SharePoint Home is the one stop spot and we should move on... 

Bronze Contributor

@Clint Lechner I wouldn't even mind the "SharePoint Home" approach in general, it's just not feasable in its current form. Microsoft needs to merge the Exchange Group Discovery Page from Outlook on the web with SharePoint Home. 

SharePoint needs a) to show all sites that exist (the new SharePoint Admin UI will be able to do that), b) let users easiliy see all the sites that they have permission to (at least) READ and b) a way to filter groups (e.g. private vs. public, owner, classification, ...)

 

Copper Contributor

I'm currently working with this feature to function for us as some sort of news centre for the company. While I was looking into the new features, I noticed that even when I try to change the top banner into a photo I like(The area where you name your page), it uploads it but shows noting after uploading. Will there be a patch update for this soon? Thank you.ScreenShot017.png

Copper Contributor

Hi @Mark Kashman Thank you for replying on my question, as per my understanding there will be page layouts in communication sites as well, so may i ask by when we can create Page layouts in communication sites is this also planned or its in phase of planing.

Steel Contributor

@Ivan Unger @Mark Kashman I agree, the Sharepoint home could be the go to place, but it's just not feasible without having all sites listed somehow, being able to somehow control order, placement, etc.  And with the featured links area hidden in the lower-left, it's really not often accessed.  Additionally, if you strip out the global nav, that means that users need to hit the waffle every time they want to navigate to a site, find the SharePoint icon (which moves around randomly like other programs in the menu), then find the site they are interested in.

 

It's just disappointing.  I walked through everything else I could and basically, Communication Sites could have been ready for prime time in our tenant, that's how solid they are so far for me.  Now, I can't use them.  I suppose I could build the navigation with an SPFx web part.... because...... I want to do that everywhere.  It's also a punch in the face as the global nav is honored everywhere else in the site (site content, etc).  It's like the new beautiful pages are taunting me.  And to add insult to injury, to use the early version of Microsoft Forms, your tenant needs to be in First Release for Everyone.  You will not break me Microsoft!

 

Brass Contributor
@Mark Kashman eager to see com sites in action in our environment, keep up the good work! But I can only agree with others regarding the "home" experience.. (I put it between quotes because I don't really feel like home, on the sharepoint home...) MS should go even further and merge both O365 and SharePoint homes, or at least allow admins to customize the O365 home further. Which means, the possibility to customize the O365 home just like any modern sharepoint page but with the option to integrate tenant-wide webparts: - Search - Customizable app Launcher - Sites / groups directory (with most visited, favorites, featured on top + search box and link to see all) - People directory + org chart view - News list / hero banner The default behavior should always be that Office Graph populates those web parts but with the option for the user to pin / promote certain items. Anyway very interesting discussions going on on this thread! Ben,

Great stuff, can't wait.

Bronze Contributor

@Benoit DELVAUX Great suggestion. 

A global rollup page/portal might be great. A tough nut to crack design wise, but definitely great. I'm kind of expecting a natural merger between the current Landing Portal, SharePoint Home and Delve, heck even the Planner-Hub, in the future, though not before next year :p

Copper Contributor

Will the community sites be available for on premise?

Microsoft

Hi @Carol DeMuth - re: question of how admin settings work for "+ create site" link on SPHome, check out the following article: 

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-site-creation-in-SharePoint-Online-e72844a3-0171-47c... HTH!

Iron Contributor

Thanks @Sean Squires that was the support article I was using, but it opened site creation up to everyone.  I figured out how to control it though.  On my tenant root site, the "Members" group was 'Everyone except external users', and the permissions were set to Edit.  I changed the permissions granted for that group to Contribute.  Then I created a new group called Site Creators.  The permissions I gave to that group were 'Create new subsites' only.  Now only the people in the Site Creators group can see the Create a Site button on the SharePoint home page.

Microsoft

Hi @Jan-Niclas Saxinger. We do not have immediate plans to include communication sites for on-premises, and know that any and all SharePoint Online innovation is considered for on-premises at some point in the future with the right delivery vehicle. As you may know, we've had two Feature Packs to date, FP1 & FP2; both bringing cloud capabilities to SharePoint Server 2016 on-prem. We're committed to our on-premises and have no plans to make SharePoint Server 2016 our final version of our on-premises server. At Ignite 2017 (Sept 25-29; Orlando, FL), we will share more about the exciting future of SharePoint Server where you can learn more about what's next for SharePoint on-premises, in between, and in the cloud.

 

Thx, Mark.

Brass Contributor

First release select users still waiting. I am holding back development until this is available but need to publish the new intranet on 1st Septmeber... but this is an infuriatingly painful wait. Several times a day I am checking... it looks like I am going to have to ditch this in favour of something else, sadly as I cannot hold on for much longer 

 

I wish microsoft would be more honest and upfront about this... it was released it was then a few days at least before it was announced within the next 2-3 weeks.... at this rate if we are lucky it will be the very last day and some may get it. At least give tenants a timeframe or something. PLanner was supposed to be available on the google pay store - big announcement...but it took over two weeks for that to appear.... irksome and infuriating. Stop it Microsoft. Please.

Microsoft

Hi @Ian Cowan. I hear your frustration. The service is not a spigget we turn on full blast out of the gate. That method that does cause issue at scale. And the roll out plan for communication sites follows a fairly established plan that has proven well for the SharePoint workloads across the last two years, with the balance of many customers asking for more control and communication about adjustments to the service. And know that each service within Office 365 releases a little differently per the needs of the services itself, variance of app vs Web, and the methodology of each engineering team based on where and how they roll out, update v. new, et al.

 

All that said, let me loop in @Andy Haon who might have some thoughts, and you can preemptively review what he shared about the roll out plan all up during the SharePoint communication sites AMA: https://twitter.com/sharepoint/status/880122709312544769.

 

If you are First Release "Select users" - you will have the capability soon, well ahead of your Sept. 1st deadline. And to your advantage, they truly are fast and easy to set up.

 

Hang in there, and thanks for hanging in there,

Mark 

Deleted
Not applicable

How are permissions established with Communication sites?  Do you set permissions in the same manner as SharePoint team and project sites?  Or are permissions wide open to everyone in an organization?

Copper Contributor

Hi

 

We have started using communication sites :) But I have a question. In the Sharepoint App we don't seem to get the menu to see all pages/sub pages? Is that some feature I need to switch on? Our Office 365 groups have the menu. It looksIMG_4126.PNG

 

 

Copper Contributor

@Mark Kashman thanks Mark. I understand... just feel somewhat frustrated reading about and seeing others use new releases way way ahead of when I get it in my tenant for 300 users. Always seem to be last despite having always been insider and tenant on fast rung....

 

Can't wait much longer though as I have to get started this weekend (and I really don't want to be faffin about with another teams site) on intranet with all the 365 groups. There are third party interface portals which have to be paid for - look and feel good, but I have little option to meet deadlines..

 

Thanks anyway and keep up the good work.

Iron Contributor

Feedback coming up @Mark Kashman:

  • Will we / when will we get all new features in other Modern pages? I see the new WebParts, but where are Section layouts?
  • Can we please improve keyboard-based scrolling in modern pages and these new "communication site modern pages"? When I open a communication site I CAN NOT scroll using Page Up/down or the arrow keys. I first have to click on the scroll bar, then I can use the keyboard - this sucks for keyboard based users as well as people with disabilities.
  • Hero WebPart: Why is it called "layers"? Tiles is perfectly fine, but layers usually means layers on top of each other (think Photoshop, think Onion). I would say we are looking at "panels" here. Please rename before GA. It ain't layers.
  • Choose a new section layout (e.g. One third right column). Place the Hero webpart in the smaller right column and try to edit options and you get "Can't show layout options. Make your window larger and try again." No matter how much I zoom out, I can't set any options.
  • I was looking forward to the new Events webpart (what are we calling these SPFx-based things anyways? They do not show up with ?contents=1, so they are not really WebParts. Add-In Parts? App-Parts?)! I was very sad to see that it's just a simple view of a regular calendar list. I thought we would be getting a new kind of events list - why not improve the old calendar list? Responsive views?! Touch-based layout? Modern JavaScript framework things?
  • Image gallery:
    • Let me choose how many images are displayed.
    • Let users use a Masonry layout (Tiles, but better) - masonry is all the rage and looks pretty on pages.
  • What is the "Form Templates" document library for in all Communication sites? Since InfoPath is a dead horse I don't know why this is included in this new site template?

What else is new and only available in Communication Sites? I see the top navigation is a bit different and the navigation editing experience?

Microsoft

Hi @Deleted. Permissions are as you set them for communication sites, and can be different per each site. When you're on the communication site, you click the upper-right gear icon, and then select Site permissions - where you can then add the group and people whom you waist to grant access in the way that you wish them to have access: owner, member, viewer. 

 

Site permissions panel flies out from the right after clicking the gear icon > Site permissions.Site permissions panel flies out from the right after clicking the gear icon > Site permissions.

 

Hope that helps,

Mark

Microsoft

Hi @Pia Hersild. The SharePoint mobile apps have a coming update that enables native rendering of communication within the SharePoint app. What you're seeing now is an HTML rendering, like a custom portal would trigger, and there are a few issues with how they render on mobile in an HTML rendering. And, the good news, the mobile apps in Google Play and App Store will be updated soon - looking like 2-3 weeks from now. And when you see this update, you'll notice that communication sites load with better performance, render more natively v. Translated HTML, and that "x" you see in the upper left will be the biggest clue that it's rendering natively within the SharePoint app.

 

The mobile motto: install today, update often. With a little "sometimes wait when new tech is introduced in service"

 

Thx,

Mark

Microsoft

Hi @Ian Cowan. Putting my consultant "solution creator" hat on for a moment. One thought might be to create a group-connected site, and make it open "Public" to your intranet - you can add whomever to help you be owner member, and for the site itself, ensure you use one of the broader auth types, like "Everyone except external users" as a 'user' of the site and set it as a "Site viewer" - that way, everyone can visit your site, and a few can actually edit. You do all this from the upper right gear icone when you're in the site, and then select Site permissions; this will open the Site permissions pane on the right and you can then click "Share" and add the groups/people you wish ands assign the levels: Owner, Member, Viewer as you require.

 

Once you have that established, you can then create the home page as you like, with the components you like - and as much are turned on in your tenant, with the ability to quickly update when new components arrive (like section layouts and the Hero and People web parts). And then for your comms to draw people in, it's just a link you send in email, post to Yammer, and ensure you create news articles that highlight the things you most want to emphasize about the site - the news articles will then reach users on their personal news aggregation within the SharePoint home in Office 365 (where you land when you click the "SharePoint" tile within the Office 365 app launcher) and the SharePoint mobile apps (the news tab); encourage folks to install and update often (iOS: http://aka.ms/spappios, Android: http://aka.ms/spappandroid, Windows Mobile: http://aka.ms/spa--windows).

 

Cheers,

Mark

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‎May 15 2017 09:38 PM
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