Overview of Look and Feels

A Look and Feel is a selectable combination of skins and skeletons that determine the physical appearance of a portal desktop. A look and feel XML file (.laf) contains references to the skins and skeletons to use for the look and feel.

Skins provide the overall colors, graphics, and styles used by all components in a desktop interface. Skins are collections of graphics and cascading style sheets (CSS) that allow changes to be made to the look and feel of a portal without modifying the portal components directly. References to images and styles are made in the skin rather than being hard coded into the portal definition. The look and feel file provides a path to the skin directory to be used. A skin is made available to administrators in the administration portal.

Skeletons are used, in conjunction with skins, to render a portal. They are the JSP files used to render individual portal components, such as desktops, books, pages, headers, footers, and portlets. Skeletons allow the developer to customize the display and behavior of the portal components without modification of the underlying portal framework. The skeleton acts as the underlying structure for the portal, with the skin providing the surface details. A skeleton is combined with a skin to create a look and feel.

A look and feel is a portal resource that is available to you in the Portal Management tools for you to apply to a portal or desktop. Developers assemble skeletons, skins, and other elements to create a single look and feel that you can select and apply to your portal.