Why is my folder layout different from what I expect?

Difference between a folder and a page

A folder is a container for items stored in the Oracle Portal repository. A page is a collection of portlets. Each portlet publishes a specific type of infomation from a data source called a portlet provider. Folders can be published as portlets enabling a folder's content to appear on one or more pages. A page can also publish information from multiple content areas.

Difference between the style applied to a folder and a style applied to a page

A folder's overall appearance is determined by a combination of the page style, style, and navigation bar style. The portal administrator is responsible for creating a page style to apply to the entire content area page. A folder's content is displayed in the folder portlet which is defined by the page. In addition to displaying a folder portlet, the content area page can contain other portlets such as a category portlet, navigation bar portlet, perspectives portlet, and so on. When a page is viewed by users, any portlets added to the page will also display.

For content areas, the content area administrator or style administrator initially decides on a style to apply to a given folder and navigation bar. When creating a style, the folder owner or style administrator, decides on the style and layout of the navigation bar, banners, and content area which includes the folder regions. This entire folder portlet area is under their control. However, they do not have control over the content area page's other portlets which appear on every content area page. Thus, if the content area administrator has decided to display the folder portlet at the bottom of the content area page, then this is where all the folder contents including the folder's style and layout will display.

In short, the folder owner or style administrator do not control the entire geography of the content area; they only control the folder portlet's region or navigation bar region. They cannot remove any portlets defined by the page.

If the removal of portlets is required to achieve a certain appearance on the page, then users can contact the content area administrator to discuss editing or creating another page to apply to the content area.

Notes

In the content area, you must be logged on as the style administrator or creator of the style to perform editing tasks on a style. Authorized users with the Edit Style privilege at the folder level can choose another style to apply to a given folder.
Be careful when changing the style applied to the folder since any changes affect the appearance of all other folders and navigation bars using that style.
You cannot define access to a content area page. Access is defined at the folder level.
You cannot apply a page style to a content area page. Styles are applied at the folder level.
Content area pages are accessible only through the Content Area Manager. You cannot access content area pages through the Navigator.
You cannot use any page as a content area page. The only pages you can use as content area pages are those created in the Content Area Manager.
To see the results of your recently updated items, you can quickly go to the page that publishes the items, by adding a URL item to the folder or its navigation bar that points to the page.

Related Topics
If you're the portal administrator Editing a page Content area administrator checklist Choosing a content area page Editing a content area page	Adding items by category to your page Adding items by perspective to your page Adding portlets to a page Adding regions to a page