Portlets can be displayed in either grid view or list view depending on your requirements. The layout for each portlet can be individually set and the settings are retained when you close and re-open your browser.
If you don't see the icon to change your portlets to grid layout, check to see if WCAG mode setting is ticked in your Personal Settings on the RM Workspace settings tab. If WCAG mode is ticked, grid layout is not available.
Portlet in grid view
When a portlet is displayed in grid view, you can see less information about more records. If you need to see more records, but minimal record metadata, this is the best layout option.
In grid view, you can also customise a number of portlet features.
When portlets are displayed in list view, you can see more information about fewer records. If you need to see more record metadata for each record, this is the best layout option.
Note: Some portlet customisations set up in grid view are retained when you switch the portlet to list view including:
icon to switch to list view. 
icon to switch to grid view.