Which is the best online resource for mastering SharePoint?

Question

Please suggest.

Thanks.

Answer 1

There are numerous blogs about Sharepoint, the ones I've used are:

• Robert Shelton's blog
• Nikhil's blog

Inevitably you will want to create a machine for doing development in. I find making a vmware machine (or vpc) the best and here is a great blog about this: Eli Robilliard's 'How to build a sharepoint development machine

But probably the best is: Microsoft's Training kit

Answer 2

I would suggest to take it slow and focus on a small area at a time and let the other things filter in over time.

For example you could start performing some simple administration, maybe look at the crawl settings, things like content sources and crawl rules. Once you start getting more of an idea move to creating and extending web applications, try to understand what SharePoint is doing under the covers in regards to the IIS settings etc.

Over time you'll find that you've gained a greater knowledge of how all the elements fit together.

Answer 3

Well, my most frequently used resource on the web to master SharePoint is Google ;-)

That aside, i recommend Chris O'Brian's Blog, SharePoint Blogs and the MSDN Pages for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Second in line would be the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog, Erika Ehrli's Blog and Jan Thielen's Bloggins

Answer 4

I'd also highly recommend the MSDN Virtual Labs:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/virtuallabs

They are self-guided 90-minute tutorials where you are using a pre-configured server via an ActiveX Remote Desktop viewer. It's a really great way to try out all kinds of crazy things without having to setup tons of servers. And it's free.

Answer 5

Unfortunately, after working with SharePoint for a while now, I've yet to find any one particular resource that stands out as a main go-to comprehensive SharePoint resource, either online or in printed form. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent "Programming Windows"-Petzold-type comprehensive resource for SharePoint. All the books I've seen on the subject have been pretty terrible, the MSDN documentation can be pretty sparse, and lots of stuff seems to be undocumented.

It seems that the vast collection of SharePoint blogs seem to be taking the place of a more official big comprehensive online resource. Good SharePoint documentation and best practices seem to be a lot more decentralized, and most good examples I've found have been through the blogs of people like Heather Solomon and Ishai Sagi and other Microsoft MVPs. Google Blog Search is really your best resource if you have a specific question.