Creating attractive SharePoint pages

SharePoint is continually evolving and there are so many features you can use to create a great site.  This time we've highlighted a few tips for creating pages that your users might find engaging.

Creating engaging pages

SharePoint Online sites feature a page library for collating all your site news and site pages together, meaning you can find all your content in one convenient place. In addition, modern SharePoint pages and news items allow you to showcase your site’s content using rich content such as images, videos and audio files, fine tuning page images, add web parts or change layout options all from the new page toolbox. You can also link to other resources both inside and outside of your site, keeping your site users up to date with upcoming events and news.

Microsoft is also rolling out other changes including Copilot integration with a page’s 'text' web part. Using the available features, licensed Copilot users can create engaging text and make it formal, casual, informative or creative.  

Find some extra tips on modern page and news authoring on the SharePoint Maven's blog, including how to use headers and page anchors to organise your content.  

Recent SharePoint features now available

• Sharepoint lists  
  • New notifications feature for form responses in lists so you know when people have responded.  
  • Schedule availability for forms in lists, enabling or disabling them for given dates.    
  • Drag and drop list items to change the order they appear in. 
• 

  SharePoint pages

  • Design ideas to help you create new pages quickly and attractively.   
  • Content pane and toolbox for SharePoint modern pages. 
• Copilot in SharePoint
  • Copilot authoring assistance in modern page text web parts, using natural language and AI to author your pages faster and easier while collaborating with colleagues in real time. 

Features rolling out soon   

Keep an eye out for these features which we heard will be available in the next few months. Visit Microsoft’s roadmap for SharePoint to find out more about updates and new features.

• New tools to create and align sections in modern SharePoint pages.  
• Use Copilot Agents in SharePoint sites to help users get the most out of your site content with Copilot prompt-driven queries. 
• Inline comments for pages and news posts will allow authors to leave collaboration notes in modern SharePoint page types.  
• New Editorial Card web parts – helping you to create engaging eye-catching content to enhance user experience on your site.
• Conditional branching in Microsoft List Forms – More dynamic options for forms, enabling users to pick optional paths when completing a form.  
• Add attachments to Forms – Finally a much-demanded feature for forms in SharePoint Lists, allowing you to add an attachments picker to your organisation-shared forms. 

SharePoint Online training, help and advice 

Our popular Up and Running with SharePoint courses are underway - book now for November. More dates will be available in early 2025. 

An extensive help and support section and frequently asked questions can be found on the University’s SharePoint Service Home site. And don't forget that the SharePoint Online pages on the IT Help website are packed with lots of useful information about using SharePoint Online and more.

All university members are welcome to join the Nexus365 User Group (NUG) on Teams. You can then follow the SharePoint Online User Group channel where you can find informal support as well as sharing your experiences or tips and tricks for using SharePoint Online with others across the University.

Did you know? 

SharePoint features lots of different ways to share links in your sites. SharePoint blogger, The SharePoint Maven, shares an example of how to build an intranet landing page using the 'Quick links' web part.