SharePoint Designer Updates FrontPage

The SharePoint Designer Web design application has shipped to volume license customers. The new product supports customization of Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) and SharePoint Server sites, enabling users to define custom Web site templates, approval processes, and Web-based reports for SharePoint sites without writing code. However, the product does require technically savvy users.

SharePoint Designer is one of two new Web design products descended from FrontPage 2003 (which has been discontinued):

• Expression Web Designer targets professional designers creating public Web sites, which might or might not run on Windows Server
• SharePoint Designer targets users and designers customizing sites built with WSS and SharePoint Server sites, which support Web-based team collaboration, Web content management, and document management.

Workflow, Master Pages Lead Improvements

Compared to FrontPage 2003, which also supported customization of WSS and SharePoint Server (formerly SharePoint Portal Server), SharePoint Designer has several particularly noteworthy new features.