I am reading the new book from Apress titled SharePoint 2003 Users Guide, written by Seth Bates and Tony Smith. So far, I have only made it thru the first 6 chapters, but I wanted to get my thoughts published as I go along.

The first half of the book covers the core SharePoint features and in my opinion covers them very well. The book provides step-by-step instructions for most tasks, as a Users Guide should. This book is also a good reference for users familiar with WSS who are transitioning to SPS. There are many places where the text takes the "pieces" from WSS and SPS and stitches them together.

Sprinkled throughout the chapters are tips. I found many of these to be very helpful. As an example:

"When filtering a paged view the filter is applied to the entire list, not just the items on the currently displayed page."

The best content that I have read so far is the coverage of lists. The introduction to the chapter on Custom Lists has the following quote:

"Lists in SharePoint also allow you to control how the information is displayed, who has the ability to alter or view the information, and whether new content must be approved before it appears in the list. The ability to customize lists allows SharePoint content structure and data to be maintained by business users rather than having to rely on your IT staff."

This is a very powerful idea, and every content manager should keep this in mind. In my experience, the best SharePoint installations occur when content managers understand this idea and exploit SharePoint's features. The rest of the chapter provides all of the information a user would need to follow this advice.

The chapter on the built-in lists (called Template Lists) is recommended for all WSS/SPS users. The authors cover each list type in detail and contain examples of common uses. In particular, I liked their coverage of the lists in a meeting workspace.

The second half of the book covers SharePoint-based solutions (Document collaboration, Meeting Managment, etc.). Look for another post when I complete those chapters.