Look alive. Here comes a buzzard.

Yahoo recently released a set of style sheets for creating various page layouts using divs instead of tables. I guess I just don't get why this is so desirable. Looking at the code you have to create, I don't see how it's any less code than doing tables. And I don't quite buy the argument that this allows you to completely redesign your site without having to touch the markup. In my experience we design our content to fit a particular layout and changing that layout will also result in a change needed in the content. So the savings just aren't there.

But, I could be wrong. This could be a great thing. It just seems like tables are one of those things that are perfectly suited for creating layouts on a page that won't go all funky when you resize, have a different browser, etc. I'm all for moving styling into CSS, but I just don't see the reason to move away from tables for layout.

Well everybody else is blogging about the new SharePoint 2007 eBook that was released recently.  I figured I'd add my voice to the fray - mostly because our company is one of 9 companies mentioned in the introduction.  We've been working with SharePoint 2007 and Office 2007 since Beta 1 and have actually deployed several portals and solutions built on this technology.  It's been a bit bumpy, but all in all this is going to be a great release for Microsoft.

Get the book here [pdf]. 

Okay – best new feature might be going a bit far, but from my perspective content types are one of the best additions to SharePoint 2007. The funny thing is, they take a back seat to some of the sexier additions like Workflow and Content Management. Content types however play a critical role in both of these new features and many others. They are – in my opinion – the backbone of SharePoint 2007 and one of the new key concepts to understanding SharePoint.

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Why oh why don't your collection classes have a Contains() method across the board?  I can't tell you how dirty I feel every time I have to loop through a collection to find out if a particular Field or Group or List already exists.  It just feels wrong and it clutters up my code. 
Honestly though, if I could have a single request granted, it would be that all collection classes in the SharePoint object model implement a Contains method. 

SharePoint 2007 is in Beta now and while all of the licensing changes are still somewhat of a mystery one thing that is very clear is that the new features and functionality available out of the box are very compelling.

One of the most interesting new feature areas is Workflow.

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So I've been listening to the long awaited Peeping Tom album by Mike Patton (and others) and I must say it is really great.  This is the first new album I've heard in a long time that actually made me want to go out and buy it.  I have a Rhapsody subscription to I listen to a lot of stuff on there.  But after a few listens I realized that every time I got in the car I wanted to hear it.  Anyway - long story short - go get it - it's great.

According to the Ipecac web site, the band will in fact tour - that will be something to see.

I created this blog post using Word 2007 Beta 2. It actually works pretty well. Other than the fact that the publish date doesn’t come through correctly (1/1/1970??) it was really easy to set up. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find support for WordPress. I figured Microsoft would support SharePoint Blogs and some other MS-based blog sites/services. I’m glad to see they are thinking about some of the other and more prevelant options out there.