BSCW manages two basic types of objects:

• Objects that do not contain other objects:
  • document
  • URL
  • user
• Objects that may contain other objects:
  • folder
  • calendar
  • discussion
  • search
  • email RFC 822
  • group (members of a workspace)
  • your own calendar
  • your own address book
  • community
  • project
  • your clipboard
  • your wastebag

In its Web-based user interface, BSCW displays the contents of container objects in pages that share a common basic structure and functionality. The page of a folder may be taken as a model of these pages. Therefore, we occasionally use the term "folder" to stand for any object that may contain a collection of objects.

The HTML-pages of folders, calendars, discussions, your address book, your clipboard etc. all have a two-part structure consisting of:

• Header
• List of entries (body)

The following sections describe the general structure and functionality of such pages, using the folder page as an example.