I've created a custom content type which inherits from the Article Page parent content type. It contains four fields, all of the Rich HTML control type. These fields are part of a custom page layout. Here is the markup for the fields (only including one):
<Field ID="{E37B4E40-8DDB-4843-9B16-670069EB0DEB}" Name="TopLeftContent" DisplayName="TopLeftContent" Type="HTML" Required="FALSE" Group="Custom Columns" RichText="TRUE" RichTextMode="FullHtml" Sealed="FALSE"></Field>
The fields show up just fine in the page layout, and I'm able to add HTML to them when the page is in edit mode. But there is one strange behavior that I can't figure out: they won't display web parts. For instance, I tried to insert a content rollup web part in one of the Rich HTML fields. If I look at the actual HTML, it acts like the web part has been added; there are a couple of divs in there that look consistent to web part code. But the web part doesn't show up on the page at all.
I created a Rich HTML field through the SharePoint UI and added it to a test page layout, and went through the same test, and the web part showed up. I'd like to be able to keep these custom fields in a solution so I can deploy as a wsp. Does anyone know what might be causing this behavior? Thanks.