Starting a new webdesign from scratch

Question

Hi!

In my organization, we're using Sharepoint 2010 as a foundation for both intranet and a shared space for colaboration between ourselves and other organizations. 

Now, we're in the process of creating a new public website and we're thinking about using Sharepoint 2010 as a foundation and CMS for that site as well. But, with a completely different design than that which comes as standard. So, what's the first thing I need to think of when doing this?

I've been tinkering a bit with the CSS and HTML etc and find that I break a lot of the stuff. Also, there's a lot of code in there that I really don't need. So would it be better, or possible to start from scratch?

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for your post.
I'm trying to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue. There might be some time delay. Appreciate your patience.

Thanks & Regards,
Emir

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Emir Liu

TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

Hi Kenny,

I hate to say it, but it really all depends on what exactly you are trying to do when it comes to customizing the master page and css for SharePoint. You don't want to start from scratch as SharePoint needs a lot of those items to run.

When looking at a public facing site, I would look at starting with Randy Drisgill's Starter Master Pages on Code Plex: http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com/

Also please keep in mind that you don't want to delete the asp:ContentPlaceHolders that you may not want to use. Please make sure you place those into an asp:Panel that is set to be hidden.

Then when it comes to customizing and making changes. Create your own divs and classes and go for it. You will probably also want to combine a custom master page with custom page layouts to further extend your solution.

I'm not saying that this will be an easy process, but it is entirely possible with some time and effort.

Hope this helps you start out at least.

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Cathy Dew SharePoint MVP Blog: www.sharepointcat.com Twitter: @catpaint1

Answer 3

Hi Kenny,

Thank you for your forum posting. As Cathy has stated you can attempt to use that master page or the minimal.master, master page. Other then those it would all depend on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Gregg

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MSFT