SharePoint University

We have a huge project based upon MOSS 2007 and I am having a terrible time wrapping my head around what it takes to create and use custom layouts and how to allow sites and subsites to use whatever combination of custom master page and custom layout is needed.  Maybe this is not possible, but if it is and anyone knows of any good books that deal with this topic, that would be a HUGE help.

TIA,

Mike

I would start on the net. MSDN, TechNet and many of our Blogs have plenty of info. If those are not enough, I always recomend starting with the "Office SharePoint Server Administrators Companion" by Bill English. It covers some of the basics on the customization side of things. For the web you may want to start with some of these:

 Site definition customizations versus using feature stapling Part 1 

2.       Site definition customizations versus using feature stapling Part 2

3.       Going Down The Rabbit Hole - The MOSS 2007 Publishing Site Definition

4.       SharePoint Solution Generator - part 1: create a site definition from an existing site

5.       SharePoint Solution Generator - part 2: the internals of the created site definition project

FFFor more information you can search for "SharePoint" + any of the following - Site Templates, Site Definitions, Master Pages, Page Layouts, Customization, Branding.

I'm surprised someone hasn't jumped on this sooner: Heather Solomon blog. 'Nuff said.

Mark
EndUserSharePoint.com

Excellent point... she's probably one of the best on customizing SharePoint.