So you know how to do basic column and view formatting in SharePoint Online. What if you want to get better? There’s only so many options you’ve got in the SharePoint interface, right?
Well there’s a LOT more options available when you dive into the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) formatting that controls those columns and views.
“But Steve, I’m not a coder. I know nothing about being a developer”
I hear you. You don’t need to be a developer for this. If you’ve got a basic understanding of HTML (which you can learn here), you can still create very customized output. In fact, even before you understand, you can use customized outputs in your columns and views. That’s because they’ve already been created and are ready for use.
Enter the PnP (Patterns and Practices) Community. This is a very large group of users just like you that use SharePoint and other Microsoft products, and contribute solutions and snippets (like JSON formatting examples) that you can incorporate into into your site. You can find these samples on the PnP Github site, where you can start browsing a very LARGE amount of content, all free
And if you want to jump straight to JSON formatting examples, there right here:
https://github.com/pnp/List-Formatting
Here’s some of the great examples you can implement in your site:
These solutions and snippets are great examples you can start using today. Better yet, as you get more proficient with HTML and JSON, you can start customizing these to make them your own. All without being a developer.
I encourage you to check out these examples to get ideas of what you can do to improve your own lists and libraries, and improve the experience your users have on your sites.