Assembly Development vs Artifact Development in SharePoint / Usage of SharePoint Designer in Production

This has been a hot topic for me recently. This article explains how SharePoint Designer can and should be used in a production environment by explaining Assembly Development vs Artifact Development or "Content" Development.

Team-Based Development in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb428899.aspx

Some key points:
- Content Developers can use SharePoint Designer to create and modify content

- Content Developers have the ability to modify the existing production environment and conduct publication using a content management path to the production Web Farm.

- The authoring environment can exist within the production environment

- From a team perspective, the shared authoring environment is more effective than individually separate authoring environments.

- SharePoint Designer artifacts do not need to be integrated with enterprise source control

- Enterprise source control (such as Team Foundation Server) should be used strictly for assembly development in a team environment, while the effort to integrate content management items into source control is not a supported process.

- Attempts to integrate items into enterprise source control that are considered SharePoint Designer content items and part of a content development require extensive workarounds involving manual processes and procedures.


"For content design and publication, a single authoring environment - in which multiple content developers can use SharePoint Designer to create and publish content - can simplify time spent in migrating content artifacts from separate environments into a production environment.

Useful SharePoint 2010 Links

Just sharing some handy SharePoint 2010 links...

Microsoft SharePoint Product Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/

Building a SharePoint 2010 Development machine
http://www.sharepointdevwiki.com/display/sp2010/Building+a+SharePoint+2010+Development+machine


SharePoint 2010 Demo Videos (Note: HUGE FILES)
Overview:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint2010_Overview_SneakPeek_Rizzo_mobile.wmv

For Developers:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint_SneakPeek_For_Developers_Andrew_mobile.wmv

For IT Pro's:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint_SneakPeek_For_IT_Professionals_Riley_mobile.wmv


SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Video
http://edge.technet.com/Media/SharePoint-2010-Central-Administration/



Compare SharePoint Editions
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/Pages/Editions-Comparison.aspx

Planning and architecture for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261834.aspx

Deployment for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262957.aspx

Operations for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262289.aspx

Technical reference for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262798.aspx


SharePoint 2010 Top 10 Features and Resources
http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=267


Upgrading Features in SharePoint 2010
http://weblogs.asp.net/jan/archive/2010/08/08/upgrading-features-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx

The Ultimate SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Content Management ECM Cheat Sheet
http://blogs.kma-llc.net/microknowledge/2010/08/the-ultimate-sharepoint-2010-enterprise-content-management-ecm-cheat-sheet.html

Wiki FAQs with SharePoint 2010
http://socialmedia.mikegannotti.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=404