Introduction
In this article, we will explore the various types of modern site collections available in SharePoint.SharePoint is a powerful collaboration platform developed by Microsoft that enables organizations to create, manage, and share content, documents, and resources efficiently. With its continuous evolution, SharePoint has introduced modern site collections, which offer a range of features and capabilities to enhance productivity and streamline teamwork.
First, let’s understand what actually Moder Site Collection in SharePoint is:
What is a Modern Site Collection?
In SharePoint, a modern site collection refers to a group of related sites and subsites that are built using modern SharePoint features and user interface. It is a collection of sites that share a common top-level site and are organized under a single site collection URL.
Key Characteristics of Modern Site Collections
Here are some of the key characteristics of Modern Site Collections:
- Modern User Interface: Modern site collections offer a streamlined user interface, ensuring a consistent experience on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
- Improved Performance: Optimised modern site collections improve loading times and responsiveness for a smoother user experience.
- Modern Web Parts and Features: Modern site collections offer user-friendly web parts and features for easy page customization with dynamic and interactive elements, with no technical expertise required.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Collaboration with real-time co-authoring, integrated chat, and seamless Microsoft Teams integration for enhanced teamwork.
- Hub Sites Integration: Hub Sites in SharePoint centralize related sites for better organization
- Search and Content Discovery: Modern site collections utilize SharePoint's advanced search, enhancing content discovery for users with quick access to relevant information.
So, this was all about the Modern Site Collection. Let’s understand the types of Modern Site Collections:
In total, there are four types of Modern Sites available in the Modern Site Collections. Let’s look at each of them one by one:
SharePoint Team Site
SharePoint Teams Site is a type of site collection that is primarily used for the collaboration within a team or a department actively working on a shared content. Think of it as a digital hub that brings everyone together, making it easy to access important files, track projects, and communicate with team members.
Let's say you work in a marketing team for a company, and you're responsible for launching a new product. Your team needs to create marketing materials, such as product brochures, sales presentations, and promotional videos. You also need to keep track of the marketing campaign's progress and have a centralized place for discussions and updates that we term a Team Site where teams collaborate and work together to achieve the productive needs that the business wants.
Moreover SharePoint Team Site is also connected with Microsoft 365 Groups, which in turns are connected to other components such as planner and outlook to get the most effective out of it.
SharePoint Communication Site
SharePoint Communication Site is a type of site collection used to broadcast a message or simply tell the story to our organization. SharePoint Communication Sites are used to share news, reports, strategies, and other information. This all sharing happens with a large number of audience(the entire organization). Communication sites often have a visually appealing layout with easy-to-read content, images, videos, and links to external resources.
Let's say you work for a large multinational company with employees spread across different regions and time zones. The company regularly introduces new initiatives, policy changes, and important updates that need to be communicated to all employees consistently.
In this scenario, the company can use SharePoint Communication Site
SharePoint Hub Site
SharePoint Hub Sites are like central hubs that connect multiple Team Sites and Communication Sites together. They provide a way to organize and unify related sites, making it easier to navigate and manage them.
One central site that works like a Hub has many associate sites that inherits the Properties of the Hub site and together works as a family of related sites.
So, the site admin can either register the site as a Hub Site or associate it with an existing hub site collection. In this family, associate sites inherit the look and feel of the hub site. Also the users that have permission to the hub site will start to see the content, news, and activity being rolled up from other associate sites that are associated with that hub site.
SharePoint Home Site
SharePoint Home Site is our Organization’s designated intranet landing site. The SharePoint Home site is like the main entrance to the digital office. It's a special and important place because it serves as the starting point for everyone who uses SharePoint in the company. When you first log in or visit SharePoint, you'll land on the Home Site. It's designed to be user-friendly and has essential information, links, and announcements that the company wants everyone to see right away.
Just like a physical office's reception area, the SharePoint Home Site welcomes you and directs you to different places in SharePoint.
It aggregates content from across organizations through news, events, videos, conversations, and other resources. We can only designate one site from the entire organization as the organization’s Home Site.
In Short, the SharePoint Home Site is the central hub and welcoming page for a company's SharePoint, providing quick access to important information and guiding you to other areas within the SharePoint "office."
So, these were all the types of modern site collections that we can use as per our needs.
I hope this article has provided you insight into the SharePoint Modern Site Collections and Its various types.
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