By: Justin Botcheck

Managing large amounts of content on any web site can be cumbersome at times.  Even with the convenient rich text editing tools that SharePoint provides, managing that content on numerous pages can require both a great deal of time and an intricate knowledge of the site’s content organization.  One relatively easy way to simplify that task is with the use of a publishing desk page.

1. Provide a single location for content managers to easily create and modify content throughout a site. A publishing desk page is essentially a collection of SharePoint list views in one convenient location that content publishers can use to create and modify content throughout the site.  Using this page can eliminate the need to locate and navigate to each page or individual list that requires an update.   At its most basic level, this would include content driven by lists such as announcements, links, or a ‘what’s new’ section, which could be shared throughout multiple pages.   Even though these lists are simple to update on their own, if you have several of them to manage, content publishers will appreciate having access to them all from a single location. 
2. Utilize out-of-the-box data view web parts to push dynamic content throughout a site. Publishing desk pages become even more powerful when data view web parts are used to push dynamic content onto your pages. This means content is updated once in a single location and that same content on other pages is updated automatically.  While this method requires a little more effort to set up initially, it can pay off significantly over time.  On a typical web page, publishers would have to type in the content individually for each zone.  While in SharePoint these are easy to move around and export to other pages, they still require individual attention whenever an update is needed.If instead, these content editor web parts were replaced with data views of one or more master publishing lists, content publishers could manage content on every page from a single publishing desk location.  The data view for each dynamic content area only needs to be created once, so the time investment isn’t much greater than the standard content editor web part method.  Once the data views are created, they can be imported to each page quickly and then easily configured to filter content for that specific page. Once the pages have been set up, the content publisher needs only to visit the publishing desk page, create a list item in the list for the zone they want to publish to, and then select the appropriate page from a drop down list.  If every content area was configured in this way, it would give the publisher access to all content on the site without ever having to leave the publishing desk. 
3. Reduce internal development and/or IT resources typically needed to support day-to-day publishing needs. Developing a publishing desk in SharePoint where non-technical, business owners can easily publish or edit site content in real-time without having to engage valuable internal development or IT resources to support day-to-day publishing needs means your employees can be more productive. You’re not only freeing up time for your development teams and IT resources to focus on other projects, you’re also reducing the amount of time it takes to get a simple task like editing content. In the end this saves your employees time, and the company money.

These are just 3 high-level benefits organizations will gain by implementing a Publishing Desk to manage content throughout a site. This could be your website, company portal, partner extranet, or anywhere else you manage content.

If you’re not using a publishing desk to manage content, do these 3 benefits make you want one?

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