New IT Unity Article: Content Query Versus Content Search in SharePoint 2013 and Office 365

One of the most common requirements in any SharePoint environment is the aggregation and summarization of content across lists, libraries, sites and site collections. Administrators could not easily achieve these requirements without custom code until the introduction of the Content Query Web Part (CQWP) in SharePoint 2007/2010. The CQWP gave administrators a useful out-of-the-box method for collecting data from various lists into a consolidated view. Even better, it could aggregate data from different sites – something the built-in List View Web Parts could never do. But, the CQWP certainly has its limitations – the number of sites it can query is limited, modifying the display requires expert XSL transformation skills, and the behind-the-scenes heavy lifting required to execute its queries can place a significant load on the infrastructure, especially when used on heavily trafficked pages…

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