·      Sandboxed Solutions (scoped within a site collection)

·      Client Object Model

·      Silverlight and Javascript

SharePoint Online provides both server and client object models for developers. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 provides a range of specialized templates for creating sandboxed solutions that contain a variety of SharePoint items, such as site and list definitions, workflows, Web Parts, event receivers, and content types, to include in your SharePoint solutions. You can check out the SharePoint Online Developer Resource Center to discover more about solutions created using Visual Studio.

If you are not a programmer or even if you are, but want to understand all the things you can accomplish in SharePoint Online with SharePoint Designer 2010 (SPD 2010) before jumping into code, continue reading. There is no way possible that I can list All of the customizations you can perform using SPD 2010, but the following information will give you a good idea of what’s available. You can pick up our SharePoint Designer 2010 book and be assured that most of the functionality explained in the book applies to SharePoint Online. Also, especially check out the related resources and video links listed in the paragraphs below to see for yourself the amazing things you can accomplish with this tool within the SharePoint Online space.

Asif Rehmani is an independent SharePoint trainer and consultant. He writes for www.SharePoint-Videos.com