I'm not sure why, maybe there is a good reason. But Help->About does not present the About box in the same dialog fashion as is standard in the app. It changes the history and navigates to the new url. The background is not greyed out. When the about box is closed you no longer have the default Help canvas unless you use browser back. It should pop up the same way as when you click the rhq logo in the top left corner.
Code for the Logo Help MenuBarView:101 private Canvas getLogoSection() { final AboutModalWindow aboutModalWindow = new AboutModalWindow(extendLocatorId("AboutModalWindow")); HLayout logoSection = new HLayout(); logoSection.setOverflow(Overflow.VISIBLE); // NOTE: This image will either be an RHQ logo or a JON logo, but must be 80x28 Img logo = new Img("header/rhq_logo_28px.png", 80, 28); logo.addClickHandler(new ClickHandler() { public void onClick(ClickEvent event) { aboutModalWindow.show(); } }); logoSection.addMember(logo); return logoSection; } Code for Help About HelpView:93 private NavigationSection buildProductSection() { NavigationItem aboutItem = new NavigationItem(new ViewName("AboutBox", MSG.view_help_section_product_about()), "[SKIN]/../actions/help.png", new ViewFactory() { public Canvas createView() { final AboutModalWindow aboutModalWindow = new AboutModalWindow(extendLocatorId("AboutModalWindow")); aboutModalWindow.setTitle(MSG.view_aboutBox_title(productInfo.getFullName())); aboutModalWindow.show(); return aboutModalWindow; } }); aboutItem.setRefreshRequired(true); return new NavigationSection(SECTION_PRODUCT_VIEW_ID, aboutItem); } They both instantiate the same AboutModalWindow via the .show() method. just that one is from a NavigationItem invoked from ViewFactory and one is from a Img clickHandler().