When to and when not to code?

It is interesting working with SharePoint over the years that you can produce a very good solution for a client without using a single piece of code.  So configuring Search with out of the box options through to creating a teamsite with publishing, changing images and display colours.  Now of course there is a point where a little bit of code can go a long way with the styling or some simple functionality but as a non code (well a little occassionally) SharePoint Consultant I tend to spend a lot of my time showing what can be achieved with very little further investment.

Now what is code to me is using SharePoint Designer with some major page changes to webpages through Visual Studio and JQuery.  What isnt is a little bit of XSLT and powershell although the former is not something I have extensive knowledge in.  As for what is left then there are a lot of options with configuration in SharePoint using notes, tags and many of the other configuration settings for a site.  Add to this the security model at a farm, web application and site level then we have alot of power out of the box.

My most recent client involved me spending the first day showing them how to do the simple things with webparts and pages.  A little imagination and good content later and we have a very business focused informative portal site with some very powerful Business Intelligence.  Now I wont confess to knowing all the BI work but everything else was configured out of the box.

So what are the most often used out of the box options with SharePoint 2010.

*  Announcements - This is a SharePoint list which is often refered to as News and uses the expiry option to display content.  Most clients I work with use this as is.
*  Notes - Can be used against a site page or an item.  So for example a list item can have notes created against it which can be displayed in the edit and view forms for that list item.
*  Tags - Dont be afraid to tag things in SharePoint 2010 either from a webpage or through using options in a document library.  Then we can start using a tag cloud on a page.
*  Content Query Webpart - The good old Content Query Webpart is never far from the top and allows us to display content across lists, libraries and sites.
*  Page Viewer - If you have a site which you want to display rather than link to then use the Page Viewer option.  Can be configured a number of ways to display other applications inside the SharePoint brand.
*  Search Settings - Spend a little time with search settings and this can go along way to making your search experience richer.

There is of course a lot of power with views of content in a list or library which is a blog in itself and often alot of config solutions involve some clever work with views, groups, calculated fields all in a list or library.

But there will always be a point you get to with SharePoint where configuration doesnt achieve the required result and a quick search on the internet starts returning responses which involves some style of code.  At that point you know you want to invest in the time to bring someone in who can produce bespoke components, but until that time stick with what can be achieved with SharePoint out of the box.  It really can do more than people appreciate.