Office 365 - A new beginning that might not be worth it?

Office 365 http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/online-services.aspx

I have not updated this blog for a while due to the fact that Microsoft is releasing a new service called Office 365, and as Community Council Member we have been allowed an early peek into this service.  For those who have not heard, Office 365 will be replacing Office Live Small Business: http://ask.officelive.com/smallbusiness/blogs/team/archive/2010/10/19/announcing-microsoft-office-365-and-the-future-of-office-live-small-business-olsb.aspx.  This transition will be occurring in approximately a year (the end of 2011 beginning 2012).
This new service is a cloud hosting service for Webhosting; Microsoft Office Web Apps (Word, Power Point, and Excel); Microsoft Exchange (Outlook - email); Microsoft SharePoint Online; and Microsoft Lync Online (IM, online meeting, ect.).  Office 365 comes at a price though, compared to Office Live Small Business which is free, Office 365 will cost $6 dollars per user, per month ($72 dollars a year for one user), this does not include a domain.  The features that Office 365 has may be more that what the average Office Live Small Business user has a need for.  From my experience most OLSB customers simply want a website for their business as well as email (that works!).
So will it be worth it to transition to the new service?  That depends on what you need, if you fit the "standard" OLSB user I have mentioned above it might be worth considering finding a better host.  From what I have seen so far Office 365 has the same web design tools as OLSB; and actually at the moment, the Office 365 tools actually have less features then the OLSB tools, though supposedly these features are temporarily disabled in the beta.  If however you are a user who needs a little bit more then Office 365 may be just what you are looking for and at $6 dollars per user per month, it is a hard price to beat!

How to Display Multiple Ads in the Left Navigation?

You can find the solution for adding ads to the left navigation at http://solutionsforofficelive.com/googleadsense2.aspx.

The easiest way to add multiple ads to the left navigation is to add two sets of code for an ad and separating them with a <br /> tag.  If you want more ads simply add an <br /> tag between the ad codes.  Also if you want additional space between the ads simply add additional <br /> tags.  You should be able to insert ads from multiple sources if desired.  These codes use the Custom Footer Module or Custom Header and Navigation module as well.

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<div id="adLoader">
Replace this is the first ad code
<br />
Replace this is the second ad code
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var leftNav = document.getElementById('IWS_WH_Elem_LeftNav');
leftNav.appendChild(document.getElementById('adLoader'));
</script>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Example:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<div id="adLoader">
<script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[<!--
google_ad_client = "pub-47734912835080";
/* Left Nav 160x600 Text or Image */
google_ad_slot = "50235832";
google_ad_width = 160;
google_ad_height = 600;
//-->]]>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
<br /><br />
<script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[<!--
google_ad_client = "pub-47734912835080";
/* Left Nav 160x600 Text or Image */
google_ad_slot = "50235832";
google_ad_width = 160;
google_ad_height = 600;
//-->]]>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var leftNav = document.getElementById('IWS_WH_Elem_LeftNav');
leftNav.appendChild(document.getElementById('adLoader'));
</script>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

New Blog

For those of you who do not know this, Windows Live Spaces is transitioning over to WordPress.  This effectively breaks the OLSB Blog module and your webpage if you happen to have the module on one of your webpages.  Since the blog has to be moved, I decided to abandon Windows Live completely (WordPress) and go with Blogger.  I have transitioned the old blog over to WordPress and it can be found here: http://officelivesolutions.wordpress.com/.  The new blog at blogger can be found at: http://solutionsforofficelive.blogspot.com/.

Now that the blog was moved I had to address the issue with the Space Blog Module.  First I removed the module from the homepage, which incidentally was broken because of that!  Next I used a RSS reader from: http://feed.informer.com/.  I tried a number of different ones but this one seemed to work the best for what I wanted.  Once I had the RSS feed setup with feed.informer, I copied the code (I used the JavaScript version) and used the Custom Footer Module to embed it on the homepage.  The results can be seen at http://solutionsforofficelive.com.

The Code:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<![CDATA[
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/FYYSDVKBXC.js">
<noscript><a href="http://app.feed.informer.com/digest3/FYYSDVKBXC.html">Click for &quot;Solutions for Office Live Blog&quot;.</a>
Powered by <a href="http://feed.informer.com/">RSS Feed Informer</a></noscript></script>
]]>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

How to get codes with a <form> tag working in Office Live?

Since my last entry, I have had a number of users say they still are not able to get code to work in Office Live.  There have been two main reasons, 1.  The Custom Footer Module is broken.  The simple solution is simply use one of the other custom modules (Custom Header or Custom Navigation).  The second reason is codes that have a <form> tag in the code, this can include contact us forms, or even Google’s Search box has a <form> tag in it.

To make a code with a <form> tag work in Office Live, use the following base codes, these codes work in all the Custom modules.  There are two base codes, one for strict XHTML and one for codes that may not conform to XHTML standards.  If possible use the strict XHTML base code.  If the code does not work then use the second base code.

Base code for XHTML compliant codes:

Your code would go on line #5

1: <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
2: <xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
3: <xsl:template match="/">
4: <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[</form>]]></xsl:text>
5:
6: <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[<form>]]></xsl:text>
7: </xsl:template>
8: </xsl:stylesheet>

Example:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl=http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[</form>]]></xsl:text>
<div align="left" >
<form action=http://solutionsforofficelive.com/search.aspx id="cse-search-box" style="background-color:#1b1b1b; background-repeat:repeat;width:275px; height:40px;">
<input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-0488902814979569:dku8ma-8ngn" />
<input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:11;NB:1" />
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" />
<input type="text" name="q" size="19" style="height:25px; vertical-align:middle; background-color:#ffffff; background-repeat:repeat; border : 1px solid #ff9900; font-size:12pt;"/>
<input type="image" src="/documents/mag_glass.gif" style="vertical-align:middle;" alt="Search" name="sa"/></form></div>
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[<form>]]></xsl:text>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Base code for non-compliant codes:

Your code would go on line #6

1: <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
2: <xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
3: <xsl:template match="/">
4: <![CDATA[
5: </form>
6:
7: <form>
8: ]]>
9: </xsl:template>
10: </xsl:stylesheet>

Example:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl=http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<![CDATA[
</form>
<div align="left" >
<form action=http://solutionsforofficelive.com/search.aspx id="cse-search-box" style="background-color:#1b1b1b; background-repeat:repeat;width:275px; height:40px;">
<input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-0488902814979569:dku8ma-8ngn" />
<input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:11;NB:1" />
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" />
<input type="text" name="q" size="19" style="height:25px; vertical-align:middle; background-color:#ffffff; background-repeat:repeat; border : 1px solid #ff9900; font-size:12pt;"/>
<input type="image" src="/documents/mag_glass.gif" style="vertical-align:middle;" alt="Search" name="sa"/></form></div>
<form>
]]>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

How to Get Code to Work in Office Live

Essentially, with Office Live, you have two options for inserting code in Office Live. 

Method one (1) is to insert the code in the HTML module, this is the easiest, since you do not have to do anything special with the code, just paste it in the HTML Module.  However, not all codes work with the HTML module, about the only thing that works with the HTML module is plain HTML.  It should be noted, that the HTML module is an IFrame created through JavaScript.  Also NEVER NEVER try to use JavaScript that has external reference (<script type=”text/javascript” src=”somejssource.js”></script>) into the HTML module, it will lock up your site!  Solutions for Office Live does not recommend using the HTML Module!

Method two (2) is to use the Custom Modules (Header, Navigation, Footer).  It is recommend to use the Custom Footer module, though some people have errors with the Custom Footer module, in which case, you can try the Custom Header module.  With the Custom Modules, you can get most codes to work in Office Live, this method however is not as easy, since it requires modifying the code.  You can find several solutions for modifying codes to work at http://solutionsforofficelive.com, just use the search bar at the top of the site!  If you can’t find a specific solution, often a solution that is close/similar will work just as well.  If you still cannot find a solution follow the directions below.

The Custom Modules use XSLT, which requires a “base” code, currently there are two versions, each have there purpose, if possible you will want to use the first “base” code, which only supports Strict HTML/JavaScript and any comments will be removed (which is why the Google Adsense code requires further modification: http://solutionsforofficelive.com/googleadsense.aspx).  The second base code uses <![CDATA[  ]]> tags which basically tell the web server not to process the code.  Note, that there already is code in all of the Custom Modules, just make sure you remove that code before using any of these other codes!

First “Base” Code (For Strict HTML/JavaScript)
Your code, would go on line #4 (between the <xsl:template> tags.  The code can go all the Custom Modules.

1: <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
2: <xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
3:  <xsl:template match="/">
4: 
5: </xsl:template>
6: </xsl:stylesheet>

Example:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<marquee style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt"
direction="right" scrollamount="3" loop="-1" behavior="scroll">
replace text, replace text, replace text, replace text
</marquee>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Second “Base” Code (For any codes that will not work use first “base” code)
Your code, would go on line #5 (between the <![CDATA[  ]]> tags.  This code can go in all the Custom Modules.

1: <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
2: <xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
3: <xsl:template match="/">
4:  <![CDATA[
5: 
6:  ]]>
7:  </xsl:template>
8:  </xsl:stylesheet>

Example:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/Footer">
<![CDATA[
<!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN –>
<script type="text/javascript"> addthis_url = location.href; addthis_title = document.title; addthis_pub = 'yourid'; </script><script type="text/javascript"
src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/addthis_widget.php?v=12" ></script>
<!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END –>
]]>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

New Business Application – Image Gallery

We have just released a new application for Office Live Business Applications that will allow you create a simple image gallery that will allow you enlarge images using Lightbox!  You can see it in action here: http://solutionsforofficelive.com/image_gallery.aspx and you can download it at: http://solutionsforofficelive.com/businessapps.aspx.