🧐 So, what's this all about?!

Following on from my tutorial on building a Netflix-style user experience in SharePoint for video (check that one out here), I thought to myself.... why stop there? What other websites have engaging user experiences, and how close can we replicate them within SharePoint Online?

Companies spend millions every year conducting user experience research and employing amazing user interface designers to create amazing experiences. From what I tend to see, the same investment is never spent on the user experience of an Intranet. This is fair enough, I suppose....

BUT...

That doesn't mean we can't learn from the big guys and take advantage of their investment to create similar user experiences within SharePoint.

So... I decided to set myself a challenge:

1. Choose a company which is well known for great user experiences
2. Review their website and pick a page which looks beautiful (and not totally out of the realms of possibility to create in SharePoint Online)
3. Recreate it on a site page within a SharePoint Online Communication site
4. Only use the text web part

(Note: I added the text web part piece after I started as I found that I was pretty much only using it anyway 😉)

That all sounds easy enough...right?! 🤥

Well... you'll see... (I might have had to cheat slightly once or twice 🤨)

So, what are we building in this tutorial?

It didn't take too long for me to decide what the target user experience was...

• The company I chose was Apple
• The Apple website page I decided I stood a chance of replicating was the Apple Watch Page

Here's the Apple Watch page...

Fig. The Challenge | Apple Watch Landing Page

Let's see how I did! This is my attempt in SharePoint...

Fig. The Result | Apple Watch Landing Page build in SharePoint

I'd give myself a positive 85% success rate 😁

So why follow this tutorial (apart from watching me struggle with SharePoint that is!)

Well, you can expect to come away from this video with:

• A very good understanding of the text web part and how you can use it to structure content as well as Apple does!
• You will see how you can structure a page so that it has clear and distinct sections to represent sub-topics and how to find a nice balance between text and supporting imagery
• Learn a trick on how to give the impression that you have a background in your section

Watch the build-along video tutorial here...

💡 My thoughts after completing this challenge

The Apple Watch page is a great mix of beautiful images and accompanying text with calls to action to learn more. It's simple enough but, it does rely heavily on striking product images to make an impact.

I think this design style would work great for any type of sub-landing page where you want to make a great first impression on your users.

I can see it well for promoting:

• Big company events where the SharePoint Event template doesn't quite cut it
• Company initiatives such as charities or social groups
• Product Launches (physical or digital) where you can literally use it in the exact same way that Apple does
• Big Ticket Projects or Programmes where you want to provide a location for users to get up to speed on what change is coming without overwhelming them (I did a similar page for a large digital transformation project a few years ago)

Basically, anything that needs to provide impact. Just be sure to use good-quality images! (I can't stress that point enough!)

And with respect to the text web part...

Well, I think it's fantastic! 🎉

It is so often used in the most basic way possible. Large blocks of text with no real formatting. But, with a little thought, you create text hierarchies and use it with images to form content structures that will really help draw your users in. For me, it's one of the best web parts for that!

So that's it, Apple with SharePoint using only the text web part!

Until next time, Dan