The column layouts are great and used in many portals. Some implementations that I recall also had the concept of 'wide' and 'narrow' column widths and allowing a portlet to pre-define itself as a 'wide' portlet or a 'narrow' portlet to coincide with the layout. By allowing the layout identifers like column width and allowing portlet designers to pre-define the expected size/scale of their portlet will allow users to auto-render their own page much quicker, simpler, and more effectively (with probably better results). I would even borrow from some of the desktop UI's the 'docklet' idea of small, square portlets with just minimal graphical or textual information (i.e. CPU usage, mem, have-new-mail, network latency, etc). So, to summarize: Column width identifers for layout managers and allowing portlet designers to pre-define their portlet's intended width. ---narrow--- ------wide------- -docklet- View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3965852#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...