A SharePoint master page contains layout elements and page designs that can be used on multiple pages of a SharePoint site. Using a master pages for all common elements helps to make your site more consistent and have a unique appearance. Rather than changing each elements and updates of your site, the master page helps you create the main elements of a SharePoint site. A SharePoint master page can contain anything that you would like to have on your web-page such as a top link bar, Quick Launch, logo and the title of your site.
1. Benefits of Using a Master Pages in SharePoint
- A master page helps you store common elements, structures and the design of a website to a one common file. After you have created your site design, every content that will be associated with the master page will display the new designs of the master page.
- When your content pages display one design from a master page, the SharePoint site gets easier to use. Having a good master page helps an organization to continue to expand and grow it’s pages and sites without confusing their users.
- If you need more than one master page for your organizational SharePoint site, you can use multiple master pages for certain users on a specified web application or site-collection level. SharePoint allows you to set different master pages for running different web application and pages that are unique to an organizational SharePoint site.
2. How to Create a Site Master Page
- By default every SharePoint website has a master page that is stored in the page layout gallery of master page. On SharePoint you can design and create as many master pages as you want but only one master-page can be used as the default master-page of your SharePoint site.
- If you want to create a new master page from scratch, you can use window SharePoint compatible web authoring tools such as the Microsoft-Office SharePoint Designer 2013, 2010 or 2007 depending on the SharePoint version that you have.
- If you don’t know how to design a new master page, you can duplicate an existing page that can be edited to change the elements that you would like to appear different from the original master page.
Creating a Sharepoint Master Page
If you have a Microsoft office designer, you can use the following steps to create a site master page:
- On your “Site-Action” menu point your mouse to “Site-settings” and click on “Modify-All-Site-Settings”
- On the “Site-setting-page” galleries section, locate the “Master pages & Page layouts” tab and click on it
- When redirected to the “master-Page” gallery page, Click the arrow next to the “New” icon and then click on the “Publishing-Master-Page”
- Once you click on the “publishing master-page” option on office SharePoint Designer 2010 and 2007 version, the SharePoint site is automatically opened and the default master page is opened with a new name
- Make all the changes that you want and click on “save” to update the changes you have made
- Exit your SharePoint designer and go back to your “Master-page” gallery page
- Once you find the master page you have just created, publish it and approve it as the new SharePoint master page
