Question

I have seen a SharePoint list (Custom list) where text shows up, whenever a list is empty (only for some views). E.g. to inform users of the guidelines for the list usage.

How can this be implemented?

Ok with javascript/jquery solution

Answer 1

For changing the message that appears for document libraries using jQuery:

// Change text for uploading documents
var docUploadRegexp = new RegExp();
docUploadRegexp.compile('(.+document\\slibrary\\.)(\\s+To\\screate.+\\.)', 'g');
$('table[class*=ms-listviewtable] > tbody > tr > td > table > tbody > tr > td[class*=ms-vb]:first-child').each(function(i, n) {
    var matches = $(n).text().match(docUploadRegexp);
    if (matches) {
        $(n).html(RegExp.$1);
    }
});

(Any suggestions on how to make it nicer very welcome – made community wiki.)

To make this work on a custom list, replace (.+document\\slibrary\\.) with (.+list\\.).