Post by Larry Knight

People always ask me "Larry, why the hell would anyone want to develop SharePoint solutions? isn't the new Microsoft update going to solve all users problems like... for ever?"   After debating my life choices for a second or two and maybe giving them a sneaky kick to the shin area I reply, "because I have been asked the same question for many years, and at all times the next wave coming from Microsoft will save us all from SharePoint hell! all the problems are about to be solved in the next release in 6 - 12 months time (we never learn)"   The problem is the delivery never really matches the ambition and one of the key reasons for this; whatever the changes made SharePoint remains too f*cking complicated to be used by any reasonable human being.   So instead of adding more complexity on top like Viva, Brand Centers, Amplify and an almost incomprehensible amount of AI options how about we listen to someone like Kate M. and give people what they want in a simple, elegant and accessible way.     So in light of the above we saw Microsoft's section designs coming with great excitement, MS are going to solve the big issues we hear about every day from our customers? but once the first wave dropped we started receiving support calls asking if we could turn it off, seems a swing and a miss! despite all of the admirable ambition, so we set out to deliver for our customers and updated the Section Background component in our toolset.   So we added, clip path designs for the top and bottom, Images that can be fixed on scroll or parallaxed for the techies!, including across multiple sections, we also added webparts animating when in-view on top of fixing all elements to the corporate brand, checked for Accessibility and directional gradients.   We rolled out to customers and there we literal tears shed in places, which brings me back to the original question to which I think you now know the answer.   Let me know how you are finding the biggest change in SharePoint for 22 years, are you happy it's rolled out over the top of the solution it is looking to 'fix' or would it be better to make a new start at a new modern baseline which carries it's own problems but is in my view the only real solution to the lifelong struggle of fixing SharePoint. #SharePoint #Intranet #UserExperience #Accessibility #Beacon #SharePointDesign #thestruggleisreal