Here we are with new SharePoint 2013. With this edition
comes lots of fun and also up to some level disappointment. Well, there are
more fun than disappointment hence a good news.
First let us see what all new features of SharePoint 2013
and what all product family now we have.
First SharePoint 2013 is of course a next version of
currently successfully running SharePoint 2010.
Just like SharePoint Foundation 2010 we also have
SharePoint 2013 foundation which is again a free utility that can be downloaded
if you have Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 or new Windows Server 2012.
we also have licensed SharePoint 2013 on premise version
or the cloud version which is in office 365.
Covering everything about SharePoint 2013 would be very difficult in a single post. So we will divide the posts and will post them as separate posts.
It would only run on 64 bit machines and will require SQL
Server 2008 R2 with SP1 or new SQL Server 2012.
Ideal RAM should be between 8 GB to 24 GB. (making
hardware more expensive with each iteration)
Plus Microsoft has come up with new Visual Studio 2012
which is tightly integrated with SharePoint 2013. Visual Studio 2012 has a lot
of new features eases the SharePoint 2013 development.
Of course we now also have SharePoint Designer 2013 as
well as Office 2013 products.
So let's dive into the new features that has been
introduced or enhanced from the previous version.
1) Everything is App
Now we need to think of almost everything as an App.
Lists, Libraries, Calendar and even sites are apps. You can create an app and
then publishes to the corporate app web application or to the Microsoft Store.
Remember that when you create an app, you will work with client object model
and not server object model. You can use ECAM script, HTML and jQuery to
interact with SharePoint 2013. you can options to host your app either in SharePoint
itself or on the cloud - provider hosted.
The advantage is Microsoft is going to have a dedicated
store for SharePoint where developers from all around the world would be
publishing their apps for SharePoint which then can be consumed by other
developers based on contract/license.
Company developed apps can be hosted in internal app
catelog. They enable you to use cross-platform standards, including HTML, REST,
OData, JavaScript, and OAuth.
We already have few apps ready to go for SharePoint 2013
and here they are.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps-for-sharepoint-FX102804987.aspx
2) Create / Edit Master Pages
This is one of the biggest improvements over the last
version.
You can simply create an HTML page with CSS and images
and then convert this HTML page into the master page. Does that really make you
read twice? Yes, you're right. We can now convert HTML into the fully
functional master page. you also get a preview of new master page before
applying.
3) Image duplicity
You can have all your images in a site and then can
define the variants of those images that you would like to use. You can have
one single image and can use this image in different way like with different
height, width and even by cropping an image.
4) Windows 8 Style
You feel like you are using Windows 8 UI metro look as we
have now tiles at most of the places.
5) Contemporary view for Mobile
We now have new contemporary view for mobile. This view
is available in HTML 5 to those who uses Windows Phone 7.5 or above and IE 9
and above, iPhone 4 or above, Safari 4 or above and Android 4 or above.
We can also have full desktop view of SharePoint in smart
phones.
6) Drag and Drop to library
Now we can upload the documents using drag and drop from
the desktop. Files will be uploaded to the document library showing the
progress bar.
7) New context menus
We now have more clear context menus for list items and documents.
8) Share the documents
Now we can select document and then share it with specific
person / user with personalized message. After this email will be sent to the
user so that user can access the document.
9) Social experience has improved
Now you can follow a document, list item and also users,
posts etc. You can do a micro blogging.
There is a new community site available where you can
define you ideas, team, contributors and can also give them ranks / raputations
based on the answers that they give when someone post a question. You can
create badges.
10) Preiew of Documents
Now in document library when you hove the mouse over the
document, we get to see the preview of that document right there.
11) SkyDrive integration
You can synchronize your contents to your desktop with
the SkyDrive.
12) BCS enhancements
Now it also suports oData. automatic generation via
Visual Studio.
13) create an app for Office 2013
We can create an app specially for Office 2013 so that
users using office 2013 can interact with SharePoint 2013 right from office. We
can use new development tool called "Napa" along with Visual Studio
2012.
14) App event handlers and remote event handlers
apps have their own events that we can handle like when
app is installed or deleted. Remote event handlers can work with the remote
components of the app for SharePoint.
15) Translation service, PowerPoint automation service,
enhanced excel service and enhanced access services.
With new PowerPoint automation service you can now
convert ppt or pptx files to PDF and other open XML formats.
Translation
Service is a new service application in SharePoint 2013 that provides
translation of files and sites. When the Translation Service application
processes a translation request, it forwards the request to a cloud-hosted
machine translation service, where the actual translation work is performed.
The Machine
Translation Service application processes translation requests asynchronously
and synchronously. Asynchronous translation requests are processed when the
translation timer job executes. The default interval of the translation timer
job is 15 minutes; you can manage this setting in Central Administration or by
using Windows PowerShell
There is a lot of things that can be talked about
SharePoint 2013. We will cover them as an when we come across to them and share
it.
