I was tasked with getting to grips with our 100-strong company's new SharePoint information-sharing system, not as an administrator, not as a developer and not as just an end-user but as a lead contributor managing content and telling the technical architects and administrators what features we need to exploit. This book is excellent in helping me get to grips with what SharePoint offers to a company of 100 people. It avoids over-technical developer-talk but gives a clear introduction to the powerful features of document control and structures based on configurable "web-parts". It leads me through click by click in setting up and managing what I need.

This is a great book to get up to speed on developing SharePoint applications (web parts) quickly! I recommend it to many of my clients.

"Building SharePoint Web Parts" will not make you an expert web portal developer. But it will give the experienced ASP.NET professional a digestible take into WSS, SPS and web parts.

FYI, Bishop does not explain setting up the required environment. That may prove a bit challenging for the true beginner.

One last thing, ASP.NET 2.0 incorporates a "web part" technology. This book may ease learning pains.

As big as it is, with as many pages as it has, the web is really in its infancy. New technologies are constantly being developed. Some of these will suceed and some will not. Microsoft SharePoint Web Parts are one approach that gives the end user some control over the information content and appearance of information coming from an Internet host. The current version of web parts is 2003. This new is not necessarily compatible with the older 2001 version. It does appear however that the system is getting closer to being ready for prime time. Note that these are new features a la Microsoft. Other browsers, or older browners will not support the capabilities.

It is possible for each end user to exercise some control over the pages he sees, but except in extraordinary circumstances, this doesn't seem likely. It seems more oriented to internal corporate users where the web designer can do specific team oriented customized views. In essence the salesmen in the field can see one thing, displayed in a manner comfortable for them, while the accounting department sees something quite different.

The Rational Guide books are somewhat of a new concept in publishing where a small book, compared with most computer books, can hold down the price and the size while devoting itself to one subject. In addition, the publisher has made additional information available on his web site to allow the reader to expand his knowledge beyond just this book. I like this concept. All computer books don't need to be 1,000 pages, much of which is just copied from the previous edition. The audience for this book is considered by the publisher to be a Beginner/Intermediate Developer. Beginner - yes, Web Parts are so new that almost all of us are beginners. But this is not the book for someone just starting out on IIS and ASP .NET.

Excellent concept for a book, well executed.