There are two approaches for customizing WebFacing Web projects:
- Use the Web Site Designer tools in WebSphere Development Studio Client.
- Choose from one of the predefined styles that ships with the WebFacing
Tool or customize one of the predefined styles.
- Enable for Web Site Designer
- Select Enable for Web Site Designer when you want
to use the Web Site Designer tools in Development Studio Client for style
customization of your WebFacing project. Web Site Designer will allow you
to easily design a web site with a consistent theme and integrate it with
WebFacing or other Web applications with the same layout and style. If you
choose Enable for Web Site Designer, the predefined
WebFacing styles will no longer be available for your project. You can use
the Style properties pages to modify the style, but you must use the Web Site
Designer tools to maintain and save the style. See the related topic Editing
a Web site style for more information.
- Select classic WebFacing style
- You can choose a predefined style or one that you have created using the
Style properties pages. By creating your own styles, you can reduce the need
to later customize the appearance of your converted application. For example,
if there are specific graphics and color schemes that you want to use, by
creating a style that incorporates these, you can affect the appearance of
multiple pages rather than editing these pages individually after your application
has been converted.
The following function is available only
in WebSphere Development Studio Client Advanced Edition for iSeries, V5.1.2
and later. For WebFacing portlet projects, choose from one of the predefined
styles that ships with the WebFacing Tool specifically for WebFacing portlet
projects or a customized style based on one of the predefined styles for WebFacing
portlet projects.
The main difference in the styles that are available
for portal applications is the look and feel of the command key buttons. This
is because most of the look and feel for your WebFacing portlet will be based
on the selected portal theme.
The WebFacing portlet styles do not include
any color-specific declarations. This allows the application to automatically
apply the portal color declarations based on the theme selected for your portal
application or page. To override the color displayed by portal themes, edit
the Styles properties pages or edit the apparea.css file directly. Otherwise,
modifications to your portal theme will take effect automatically based on
the selected portal theme. See the portal documentation for more information
on customizing portal themes.