Portal Interface 
Purpose
The SAP Enterprise Portal out-of-the-box interface provides all the necessary tools for working in the portal. The default interface can be changed through customization and personalization.
The interface consists of the following elements:
Portal desktop: the entire portal screen, including any content and layout
The out-of-the-box portal desktop consists of the header area, page title bar, navigation panel, and content area.
· Header area: the part of the portal layout that contains the masthead, tools area, and top-level navigation bar
¡ Masthead: contains branding elements, user identification, and the appropriate (based on the portal configuration) function links from among Help, Personalize, New Session, Log Off and Log On
A link can be displayed or hidden by setting the Show Link in Masthead: <Link Name> navigation property of the Masthead iView.
The Help link, by default, launches SAP Help Portal. It is possible to customize the URL so that the link goes to a site of your choosing.
§ In the Portal Catalog, go to Portal Users ® Standard Portal Users ® Default Framework Page ® Masthead iView, and in the Help Link URL property, enter the URL of the site you want launched when the user clicks the Help link.
¡ Tools area: a persistent area that provides access to such key applications as real-time collaboration, or to a search component. Applications may vary based on the company and user.
This area could also include features such as E-mail notification, alerts, people search, and a link to the company phone list.
¡ Top-level navigation: your entry point for navigating the content assigned to your role
It displays the first-level tabs and possibly the second-level sub-tabs of navigation, depending upon the configuration set by the administrator.
The first tab is the highest-level folder assigned to you by the portal administrator, and usually reflects the tasks of a specific work role. The contents of the folder can include pages and other folders.
The second-level sub-tabs are a way of compartmentalizing the role into manageable tasks. When you click a subtab, you launch a page that provides relevant content.
Additional roles and folders that are assigned to you, but not displayed in the top-level navigation bar, appear in a tree structure in the Detailed Navigation iView located in the navigation panel.
· Page Title Bar: an iView below the header area containing items related to the currently displayed content page.
Lets you navigate to pages recently visited, as well as launch various page-specific options.
· Navigation panel:the left-hand pane just below the top-level navigation bar, dedicated to navigating content.
You can reduce, enlarge, collapse, and expand the navigation panel by clicking the appropriate arrow icons.
· Navigation iViews:the areas in the navigation panel related to portal navigation, all of which change contextually according to the content displayed in the content area
¡ Detailed Navigation
This iView contains links to all the content that is assigned to you, displayed in a tree format.
¡ Dynamic Navigation
This area contains iViews whose user interface controls, such as drop-down lists and links, access databases and retrieve data related to the content displayed in the content area. Each link in a dynamic navigation iView is equivalent to a data record.
¡ Related Links Area
This iView contains a list of links whose target topics are relevant to the iView or portal page with which you are currently working.
The links are predefined on the iView and the page levels (Portal Content Studio). Clicking an object in the Related Links iView opens its content in a new browser window that can be customized.
¡ Portal Favorites iView
This iView contains user-compiled links that provide direct access to KM elements, such as folders and documents, and portal navigation objects such as pages or iViews that run as full-page applications.
· Content area: the area of the portal desktop for performing tasks, and in which administrative tools, navigation results, and portal pages with iView content are displayed
Working with Portal Elements
iViews
The portal lets you retrieve data from information sources in your company and on the Internet through the use of mini programs called iViews.
iViews can access documents, E-mail, Web sites, intranets, and data in enterprise applications. iViews assemble for you a personalized picture of all that is pertinent to your business functions.
The work and content areas that make up your portal desktop are all iViews, as are the top-level navigation bar, and the areas you see in the navigation panel.
Working with iViews
You can manipulate the content displayed in the portal content area by using the menu items that appear when you click the icons located in the top right-hand corner of the title bar of each iView:
· Options Menu
¡ Add to Favorites. Lets you save the iView in your Internet Explorer Favorites folder.
¡ Add to Portal Favorites. Lets you save the iView in the navigation panel’s My Favorites.
¡ Details. Displays the portal component name and the page’s full PCD name. Report this information to administrators if requesting help with a particular iView/page.
¡ Help. This option appears only when a specific property has been implemented during development.
¡ Open in New Window. Expands the iView in a separate window.
¡ Refresh. Updates the iView data by reloading the content retrieved by the iView.
¡ Personalize. Enables you to personalize the content displayed in the iView. Selecting this menu item opens a personalization window with parameters you can customize. If the iView does not contain any parameters that can be personalized or viewed, the window opens blank.
¡ Remove. Lets you delete an iView from its page; the iView remains as part of the portal content and can be returned to the page.
It is possible that you may see other menu options that were created by content developers.
· Show/Hide. Displays or conceals the content in the iView. When you hide the content, only the title bar of the iView is displayed.