The Design Drifter – Civilized Creative

Editing Pages in SharePoint Designer 2010

No comments // Feb 2nd, 2010 // SharePoint 2010 Branding, SharePoint Designer 2010

There are a lot of changes in the new SharePoint Designer 2010 product that are worth talking about. Some of them are really great and some are just different and can easily trip you up if you’ve become accustomed to Designer 2007. One such “hitch” for me was figuring out Safe mode vs. Advanced mode. read more...

Simple Contemporary HTML email template, very light weight!

2 comments // Jan 22nd, 2010 // CSS/XHTML, Canned Code, Code & Markup

I am frequently asked to build HTML email templates for clients and internal projects. Recently, I created a template as a base to start from. The template is available for download, feel free to download and use it if you are looking for a neat clean standards complient start to your email marketing campaign. read more...

SharePoint 2010 Branding: Create a Left Nav Style

No comments // Jan 20th, 2010 // CSS/XHTML, Code & Markup, SharePoint 2010 Branding

SharePoint 2010 presents a few branding challenges with the introduction of the “ribbon” into the Master Page. However, while the ribbon adds a level of complexity to the branding exercise other parts of the job seem to be easier. Adding a little style to the left or current navigation is a breeze. read more...

How to make the IE Developer Tool Bar work for you

No comments // Jan 13th, 2010 // CSS/XHTML, Code & Markup, SharePoint 2010 Branding

The developer tool bar is one of the most powerful weapons in your arsenal when it comes to SharePoint branding. Digging down into the master pages and numerous style sheets to determine what classes are at work is so important, but if you are new to the IE Developer Tool Bar it’s not always obvious how to make it work for you. With just a couple of simple steps you can pick apart the SharePoint style sheet properties like a pro. read more...

SharePoint 2010: Starter Master Page Error – File cannot be found

No comments // Jan 7th, 2010 // SharePoint 2010 Branding

UPDATE:
As much as I was hoping this problem would be resolved with the new version of SharePoint Designer…it’s not. It’s more of an example of Designer doing me a favor I didn’t ask for than a real bug. Fortunatly it’s a really easy fix provided you recognize the problem right away. With a simple change in the way you create master pages you can avoid the issue altogether. read more...

Understanding PhotoShop Layer Effects

No comments // Jan 6th, 2010 // PhotoShop, Tools

One of the most powerful tools available in PhotoShop is the Layer Effects tool but is can also be a bit confusing unless you understand a bit more about what’s going on when you use them. Layer Effects allow you to quickly apply a number of commonly used effects to the layer of your choice. Many of the effects are commonly used “cliché” techniques such as outer glow, drop shadow and stroke. read more...