As many of you know, I have been bouncing off the walls with excitement since the May 4th announcement surrounding the SharePoint Framework. When it was announced on August 17th at SharePoint Fest Seattle that it was transitioning to Public Developer Preview, my geek-o-meter turned up to 11. As I sit here in Vienna at the European SharePoint Conference, my excitement level may have just broken a Guinness world record: The SharePoint Framework has made its way to First Release Tenants.
This is especially exciting for myself and my company, as we have been advocates of SharePoint Branding since our inception. For all of my fellow SharePoint branding fans, you will be very happy with the progress of the SharePoint user experience and user interface that this new release brings. What am I really talking about? The Introduction of the Client Side Rendering (CSR) Model. This model will allow developers to insert solutions right into SharePoint. What does that really mean? Now, you can development the front-end of SharePoint without even saying hello to the back-end. You are free to customize SharePoint to your heart’s content, and then some. For those of you more technically inclined, check out my blog on the SharePoint Framework to read more on what the CSR can do.
On the other hand, the SPFx update has many Front-End Developers more nervous than America is for 2017. This new release swaps out the Script Editor Web Part, the linch-pin for most developers, for the brand new Type Script. The transition will make adapting quickly a challenge. But as the new standard bearer, Type Script looks not only to open doors but bust down walls for developers to improve on what was already great.
It’s okay if you’re not 100% sold on this yet. The SPFx has its limitations. But think about it like this: Yes there will be some growing pains. But this new creative foundation is pretty darn exciting as the possibilities become more and more endless.
Check out the Microsoft Dev Center to learn more and get yourself started. Also, check out the PixelMill blog for another great look into this new update.
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