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Getting Started > About the Interface

About the Interface

Oracle CRM On Demand is built around a Web page interface. If you are familiar with the Web, the look and feel of the user interface will be familiar to you. All pages in Oracle CRM On Demand share the same basic, interface framework.

TIP: In the Internet Explorer browser, performance is better if you deselect the check box for the Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk option. If this option is selected, JavaScript code is not cached and must be downloaded every time. In Internet Explorer Version 6 and later, this option is available under the Tools menu. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options, then Advanced.

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How Themes and Theme Styles Determine the Appearance of the User Interface

In Oracle CRM On Demand, the background color, hyperlink color, text color, tab style, and so on that you see in the user interface are determined by the theme that you use. Two theme styles are available in Oracle CRM On Demand: the classic style and the modern style. If you typically use a tablet computer to work with Oracle CRM On Demand, then you might find that a modern style theme is more consistent with user interfaces for other applications on your tablet computer. For example, in themes that have the modern style, the tabs that you use to access record-type homepages are presented as buttons. Several predefined themes are available: some in the classic style and some in the modern style. Your administrator can also create custom themes in either style.

The following table describes some of the differences in the appearance and functionality of the user interface with the different theme styles.

NOTE: The instructions provided in the online help typically reflect the functionality in themes that have the classic style.

Other differences in the look and feel of the theme styles include the following:

• Some of the icons are different in the classic and modern theme styles. As an example, in themes that have the classic style, an up arrow icon is used to indicate high-priority tasks in task lists. In themes that have the modern style, an exclamation mark icon is used.
• There are differences in the appearance of the Calendar pages in the theme styles. For more information, see About Calendars and Theme Styles.

About Default Themes and Tablet Themes

You can select two themes in your personal profile, a default theme and a tablet theme. The default theme is automatically used when you sign in to Oracle CRM On Demand using a desktop or laptop computer. The tablet theme is automatically used when you sign in to Oracle CRM On Demand using a tablet computer or other touch-screen device, provided that the tablet computer or touch-screen device is detected by Oracle CRM On Demand. If you do not select a default theme and a tablet theme in your personal profile, then the themes that are specified for your user role are used, and if no themes are specified for your user role, then the themes that are specified for your company are used. If a tablet theme is not specified at any level, then your default theme is used. For information about selecting themes, see Setting Your Theme.

About Switching Between Your Default Theme and Your Tablet Theme

A global link allows you to switch between your default theme and your tablet theme, if both of the following conditions are true:

• A tablet theme is specified in your personal profile, or for your user role, or at company level.
• Your default theme and the specified tablet theme are not the same.

After you switch between themes, the new theme is used each time that you sign in to Oracle CRM On Demand from the same browser on the same computer, as long as you are signed in to the same user account on that computer. However, if you sign in to a different user account on the same computer, and then sign in to Oracle CRM On Demand, then your default theme or tablet theme is used as appropriate for the computer. Similarly, if you sign in to Oracle CRM On Demand from the same computer using a different browser, or if you sign in from a different computer, then your default theme or tablet theme is used as appropriate for the computer.

Action Bar

Your company administrator assigns an action bar layout to each user role. Your company administrator can also make the Action bar unavailable to your user role.

If the Action bar is available to your user role, then it appears on the left side of all Oracle CRM On Demand pages by default. You can hide and show the Action bar as required. For more information, see About Showing or Hiding the Action Bar.

The Action bar can contain some or all of the following sections:

• Message Center

  The Message Center section contains notes for yourself, notes received from other users, and notes added to the records to which you subscribe. For more information about the Message Center, see Working with the Message Center.

  The Message Center only appears if the company profile has Message Center enabled.

• Search

  The Search section lets you find existing records. For example, you can perform a search to determine if a record exists before creating one, thereby reducing the duplication of records. For instructions on using the Search section, see Searching for Records in the Action Bar.

• Create

  From the Create section, you can open a form to add a new record. The form works independently of the main Web pages so you won’t lose your place within the application.

  For example, you can create an opportunity from the Create section of the Action bar while you are updating information in an account in the main section of the Oracle CRM On Demand page. When you expand the Create section of the Action bar and click Opportunity, a form opens. You can then enter the required opportunity information in the form, and save the record. The new opportunity is saved to the database and you can continue updating the account information.

  For instructions on using the Create section, see Creating Records.

• Recently Viewed

  The Recently Viewed section provides links to the 10 most recently viewed, edited, or created records, including records from previous sessions. Drilling down to the Detail page for a record triggers that record’s inclusion in the Recently Viewed section.

  This feature allows you to easily access your active records. You can view a longer list by clicking Show Full List to open the Recently Viewed page. In that page, you can see a list that includes up to 10 of the records that you most recently viewed, for each record type. You can sort and filter the records in the list by record type. You can return the list of records to its original order by clicking the heading of the Order column. The Keywords column in the Recently Viewed page shows the values (if any exist on the record) in some of the fields that support type-ahead search in targeted searches in the Action bar. For more information about type-ahead search and a full list of the fields that support it, see Support for Type-Ahead Search in Targeted Search.

  If you delete a record, it is removed from the Recently Viewed list. If another user deletes a record, it remains in the Recently Viewed list, and if you select the record, a message is displayed informing you that the link no longer exists.

  NOTE: If you close the browser window to exit Oracle CRM On Demand instead of clicking the Sign Out link, then when you sign in again to Oracle CRM On Demand, the records that you viewed during your last session might not appear in the Recently Viewed section of the Action bar. It is recommended that you always use the Sign Out link to exit Oracle CRM On Demand.

• Favorite Records

  The Favorite Records section provides links to the records that you have marked as your favorites. This feature allows you to quickly access the records that you use most often. The Favorite Records section in the Action Bar can contain up to 10 records at a time. You can view a complete list of your favorites by clicking the Show Full List link. When you click the Show Full List link, the Favorite Records page opens, and you can manage your favorite records. You can have a maximum of 100 records in your favorites. For more information about the Favorite Records page, see Favorite Records Page.

• Favorite Lists

  The Favorite Lists section provides links to the lists that you have marked as your favorites. This feature allows you to quickly access the lists that you use most often. The Favorite Lists section in the Action Bar can contain up to 10 lists at a time. You can view a complete list of your favorites by clicking the Show Full List link. When you click the Show Full List link, the Favorite Lists page opens, and you can manage your favorite lists. You can have a maximum of 100 lists in your favorites. For more information about the Favorite Lists page, see Favorite Lists Page.

  TIP: You can add lists to your favorite lists by clicking the Add to Favorites icon, which is displayed beside the list name on the Manage List page and in the title bar of the list page itself.

• Calendar

  This section contains a calendar with the current date highlighted. When you click a date in the calendar, the Daily Calendar page is displayed for that date. The calendar section does not appear by default, but you can add it to the Action bar in your personal layout. To edit the Action bar in your personal layout, click the My Setup global link, click Personal Layout, and then click Action Bar Layout.

• Custom Web applets

  Your company administrator can create Web applets that can be added to the Action bar to display HTML Web content (for example, polls, videos) and RSS feeds. For more information about custom Web Applets, see About Custom Web Applets.

You can expand or collapse the sections in the Action bar. Your Action bar settings persist when you move through Oracle CRM On Demand. If you hide the Action bar, then the settings for the sections within the Action bar persist even though the Action bar is hidden, and the settings are available if you show the Action bar again.

If your user role has the appropriate privilege, you can change the layout of your Action bar through the My Setup global link. You can display or hide any of the Action bar sections that your company administrator has made available in the Action bar layout for your user role, including Web applets. For more information, see Changing Your Action Bar Layout.

Record Type Tabs

Across the top of each page are tabs that open the homepages for the top-level record types that are available to you. For example, if you click the Contacts tab, then the Contacts Homepage opens. The number of tabs that you see depends on the size and resolution of your browser window and on how many tabs are in your tab layout. To learn more about the tab layout, see Displaying Your Tabs.

Sections

Each page contains areas called sections. These sections group together relevant information for the types of records you’re working with.

For example, the Accounts Homepage can show sections for Account Lists, Account Tasks, Recently Modified Accounts, and the Account Analysis Chart.

A section can contain the following types of information:

• Lists. Shows records in rows.
• Forms. Shows fields for the records in a form.
• Charts/Graphs. Shows information in a variety of charts and graphs.

On Detail pages you can expand or collapse the whole form as well as the individual sections in the form. This is useful for avoiding a lot of scrolling and for hiding information in which you are not interested. To collapse a form or section, click the minus icon (-). To expand a section or form, click the plus icon (+). The buttons in each section are visible even when the section is collapsed. The expanded or collapsed state persists across sessions.

List pages and Edit pages do not have this expand and collapse functionality.

Error Messages and On-Screen Help Text

Error messages, when displayed, are indicated by the following icon:

On-screen help text is indicated by the following icon:

Field-Level Tooltip Text

Your administrator can optionally add tooltip text for fields. If tooltip text is available for a field, then the text label for the field is underlined with a dotted line in the record Detail and Edit pages, and in the column headings in List pages and related information sections in the record Detail pages, as shown in the following example:

To see the tooltip text, rest your pointer on the field label. For more information about tooltip text, see Oracle CRM On Demand Page-by-Page Overview.

Scrolling Text Bar

A scrolling text bar might appear at the bottom of each page in Oracle CRM On Demand. This text bar is used to display alerts that are created by your administrator. For more information about the scrolling text bar and alerts, see Reviewing Your Alerts.

Global Links

On each page in Oracle CRM On Demand, global links at the top of the page allow you to access certain resources and to access your personal profile, where you can personalize your settings, page layouts, and so on. The following table describes the action that occurs when you click each of the standard links. Your company administrator can add custom links on the Oracle CRM On Demand pages and can also hide some of the standard links.

Additional Links

Each page also contains several links that appear just to the right of the page name. This table describes the action that occurs when you click each of those links: