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In this post, a range of links to SharePoint 2010 Templates, Themes and Master Pages are provided with descriptions. Some references to information that can help when implementing third party themes and templates, as well as developing your own in order to incorporate your companies branding.

Branding SharePoint 2010 can be difficult depending on the amount of experience you have with integrating a theme and branding into a website or Intranet, but many free templates that are available for SharePoint 2010 and earlier versions can help immensely with the process. There are also free templates available that contain a set of tools and features that are arranged in ways that can help serve specific purposes such as a Help Desk or site to assist with tracking projects.

Contents of this reference sheet:

1. Free SharePoint 2010 Themes and Master Pages


2. Free SharePoint 2010 Site Templates


3. Useful articles and Tutorials to assist with implementing custom Master Pages and Themes into your SharePoint 2010 Sites


4. Other Information and Resources relating to Sharepoint 2010 Site Templates, Branding and Themes

Free SharePoint 2010 Themes and Master Pages
In this section, references to Free SharePoint 2010 Site Templates, Themes and Master Pages are provided, with some information providing an overview of the features of each.

Metro UI - SharePoint 2010 Foundation Master Page
This is a free Master Page and Custom CSS File for SharePoint Foundation or SharePoint 2010 available to download for free from codeplex. This Master Page can be applied to existing sites to incorporate a new layout and theme.

GreenShade (Free SharePoint 2010 Theme)
This template comes with a Master Page with custom styles and is available to download for free. Instructions are included on the page to help install and use the theme on SharePoint 2010 Sites. This is a highly aesthetic and user friendly theme provided by TopSharePoint.com.

Synesthesia
This is another Free SharePoint 2010 Theme provided by TopSharePoint.com that features an attractive and practical colour scheme and layout. Similar to the GreenShade theme, instructions are provided to assist with incorporating the theme into a SharePoint 2010 environment.

SharePointMasterPages.com Freebies
This site includes a free "Simple Master Page" with visual enhancements such as rounded corners for browsers that support this. SharePointMasterPages.com also provide a set of different colour schemes or themes that can be incorporated into sites as well as a PhotoShop Design file to help with the visual presentation and branding of templates in SharePoint.

Free SharePoint 2010 Master Pages (3 in total)
This is a collection of Master Pages with CSS available to download from codeplex for free:
FreeSPMP Version 1.2 http://freespmp.codeplex.com/releases/view/65277
Information about these Master Pages and the Project is available form the blog: http://engageinsharepoint.co.uk/

Starter Master Pages for Sharepoint 2010
These Master Pages are designed to help you create your own custom Master Pages that incorporate company branding and themes. They are equivalent to the Minimal Master Pages in SharePoint 2007, but have been developed as a starting point for creating a custom Master Page for Sharepoint 2010. Three variations are included in the project, one for use in SharePoint Server 2010, one for SharePoint Foundation 2010 and another for Meeting Workspaces in SharePoint 2010. Comments have been included to help with using the Master Pages.


Free SharePoint 2010 Site Templates
In this section, references to free Site Templates designed to suit specific needs are provided.

Free Sharepoint 2010 Templates (21 in total)
These templates for SharePoint 2010 are provided by TechSolutions.net and are designed for a range of different purposes. The templates have a focus on Health Organisations, but the concepts would be applicable to many organisations and industries. These templates have more of a focus on the tools and features incorporated to serve different purposes as opposed to the branding and theme:

Healthcare Workflow (2 Templates)
Includes templates for Case management and Clinical Trial Management

Human Resource Management (4 Templates)
Training Sites, Employee Activity Sites, Absence and Vacation Management, Event Planning

Information Management (4 Templates)
Includes a Knoledgebase template and a Template to help maintain Policies and Procedures.

Management and Finance (6 Templates)
Includes Business Reporting templates, Templates to assist with management of Expenses, Scorecard template to help track organisational metrics.

Operations (5 Templates)
Call Centre, Help Desk, Asset Tracking and Management, Inventory Tracking, Cafeteria Menu Management

Project Tracking
Budgeting and Tracking sites to manage concurrent projects, Change Request Management, IT Team Workspace site to help manage software projects, Project Tracking Workspace.

Free Templates for SharePoint 2010 (22 in total)
These templates are provided by SharePointHoster.com, and are designed to serve specific functional purposes. The list of templates is below, which are available to download for free from the site:

• Absence Vacation Schedule
• Board of Directors
• Budget Tracking Workspace
• Bug Database
• Business Performance
• Case Management
• Clinical Trial
• Compliance Process Support
• Document Library Review
• Employee Training
• Expense Reimbursement Approval
• Help Desk
• Inventory Tracking
• IT Team Workspace
• KnowledgeBase
• Lending Library
• Manufacturing Process
• Project Tracking Workspace
• Room Equipment Reservations
• Sports League
• Team Work Site
• Timecard Management

Useful articles and Tutorials to assist with implementing custom Master Pages and Themes into your SharePoint 2010 Sites
In this section, a range of articles and tutorials are listed to help with installing templates and Master Pages in SharePoint 2010, as well as creating you own custom Master Page, Themes and Site Templates for SharePoint.

How to Create a Custom SharePoint Master Page
This tutorial lists the main steps required to create a custom Master Page for SharePoint 2010 using SharePoint Designer starting from the OOB Master Page (v4.master).

SharePoint 2010: Add User Control to Master Page Using SharePoint Designer 2010
This tutorial explains how to incorporate custom User Controls in a Master Page in SharePoint 2010. User controls can be implemented on pages in SharePoint using either SharePOint Designer or Visual Studio. This article explains how to add User Controls to pages using SharePoint Designer, but the process is the same to achieve using Visual Studio.

Deploying a custom master page in SharePoint 2010
This tutorial demonstrates how to include a Master Page in a site feature that can be deployed and activated on SharePoint 2010 Sites. This may be required when developing custom solutions for SharePoint 2010 that are packaged and activated on sites as a feature, as you can include the custom Master Page as part of the feature. Using Feature event handlers, it is also possible for the Custom Master Page to be enabled when a feature is enabled on a site in SharePoint.

SharePoint 2010 custom masterpage with code behind file – Part 1
This tutorial demonstrates how to create a Custom Master Page for SharePoint 2010 with a code behind file, which allows you to integrate custom functionality into the Master Page. Depending on how the Master Page and code behind file are implemented, you may or may not need to enable code blocks in the Master Page.

Other Information and Resources relating to Sharepoint Site Templates, Branding and Themes

Free SharePoint 2007 Master Pages (3 in total)
Three Master Pages that use various color schemes and styles to customise the look and feel of SharePoint sites. These Master Pages have been developed for MOSS 2007.

Free Sample Master Pages by Microsoft (4 in total)
These Master Pages provided by Microsoft are compatible with SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) and WSS 3.0. References are provided from the page to assist with installing and customising Master Pages for SharePoint.