By: Siddharth Mehta | Comments | Related: > Sharepoint Design
Problem
Every enterprise has a set of commonly used links, which is required to be standardized and made available to end users as a collection. Examples of such collections are; "Quick Links", "Intranet Links", "Corporate Services" etc... One way to standardize and make these links available to end users, is by making them available in the form of a webpart. In this tip we will look at how to implement this process.
Solution
In order to realize the solution, first we need to create a few links. Follow the below steps to create some links:
1) First, go to the home page and select "Create" from "Site Actions" menu. This should bring up a page similar to the below figure. Select "Links" listed under the "Tracking" category.
2) After selecting "Links", a page similar to below should appear. Provide a relevant name for the list and a description. Keep in mind, the name provided for the list will be the name for the webpart. If you select "Yes" for the "Display this list on Quick Launch?" option, the link with the name provided will be displayed on the home page on the left side. This link will point to the list of links that we are going to create in the next step.
3) After you select "Create" a page similar to below will appear. Select "New" as highlighted in the below figure, to create new links.
4) After selecting "New", a page similar to below will appear. Add the URL of the link, provide a name that you want displayed for this link and a relevant description. Click "OK" and this should create the link. Repeat step 3 and 4 to create more links.
5) One feature of Sharepoint is that when you create a custom list, Sharepoint creates a List View Webpart with the same name that we gave to the list. To use this webpart, go to your page of interest or homepage and select "Edit page" from the "Site Actions" menu. This should navigate you to another page. From this page, select "Add Web Part" and a pop-up window similar to below should appear. Under the "List and Libraries" category, you should be able to see the webpart with the name of the list you created in Step 2.
6) Select "TestLinkList" webpart and you should be able to see the webpart on your page, similar to the figure shown below. All the links that we created in the "TestLinkList" list should be available now on the page.
One point that should be kept in mind is that this webpart will be available only in the site in which we created the list and it will not be available in the Web Part Gallery. The reason for this is that Lists are available only in the site in which they are created.
Next Steps
- Create a set of lists like "Corporate Services", "Community Sites", and others that are relevant to your site. Create a few links to the sites and a few links to other resources.
- Select the most used links to be displayed in the Quick Launch section and try to use the rest by adding as a webpart.
About the author
Siddharth Mehta is an Associate Manager with Accenture in the Avanade Division focusing on Business Intelligence.This author pledges the content of this article is based on professional experience and not AI generated.
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