# How Do I: Personalize a Desktop Header or Footer?

You can target users with personalized content and campaigns in the header or footer or your portal desktops. This lets users see personalized content continuously regardless of the page being viewed in the desktop.

To Add Personalization to a Desktop Header or Footer

1. Use the WebLogic Workshop Portal Extensions to create a JSP that implements the personalization functionality you want.
2. In WebLogic Workshop, create a shell in your portal application.
3. In the shell file, create opening and closing <netuix:header> and/or <netuix:footer> tags. For example:
   Change:
   <netuix:header/>
   To:
   <netuix:header>
   </netuix:header>
4. Add a reference to the personalization JSP to the header or footer. Add a <netuix:jspContent... /> tag inside the <netuix:header> or <netuix:footer> tag. For example:
   <netuix:header>
   <netuix:jspContent contentUri="/MyJSPs/myHeader.jsp"/>
   </netuix:header>
   Where contentUri is a relative path to the personalization JSP. The path is relative to the portal project (Web application).
   You can also add the errorUri attribute to point to an error page to display when the contentUri file cannot be rendered; and you can add a backingFile attribute. See Creating Shells for more information.
5. Save the shell file.
6. In the WebLogic Workshop Portal Extensions Portal Designer, open a portal file, select the Desktop icon in the Document Structure window, and in the Property Editor window, select the new Shell in the Shell field. (Selecting a Shell in the Portal Designer simply gives the portal a default Shell setting. Portal administrators can use the WebLogic Administration Portal to change the Shell used.)
7. Save the portal file.

With the flexibility of the WebLogic Portal framework, your portal can contain multiple shells that each implement different personalization JSPs in the headers and footers. Then, when a portal administrator or end user changes a portal's shell, they can see a different type of personalization.

If you modify a shell, all portals that use that shell are automatically updated.

Note: Do not add business logic to skeleton header or footer JSP files. Skeletons are for physical portal rendering only and are not meant to contain business logic.

## Samples

The Sample Portal Header-Footer Visitor Shell, located in <BEA_HOME>\<WEBLOGIC_HOME>\samples\portal\portalApp\sampleportal\framework\markup\shell\headerFooterVisitor.shell and used as the default shell in the \sampleportal\sample.portal file, references a JSP that displays header content for Avitek Inweb.

Related Topics

Creating Shells

Changing What is Displayed in the Desktop Header or Footer

Look & Feel Architecture

How Do I: Create a Personalized Portlet?