Web portals… What are they?

Definitions of portal on the Web:

• usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is or is intended to be the
first place people see when using the Web. Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web
sites, a search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to
entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web.
www.brighton-webdesign.co.uk/glossary.html

• A Web site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as email,
forums, search engines, and on-line shopping malls. The first Web portals were online
services, such as AOL, that provided access to the Web, but by now most of the traditional
search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to attract and keep a larger
audience.
smartbizconnection.com/advertising_glossary_index.htm

• Web sites that serve as starting points to other destinations or activities on the Web.
Initially thought of as a "home base" type of Web page. Most major search engines and
directories have positioned themselves as "portals". Often portals offer free services like e-
mail or search functions with the objective of building traffic so they can generate
advertising revenue and sell products.
www.netsetgo.com/glossary.php

• A Web site "gateway" that provides multiple services, which could include Web searching
capability, news, free-email, discussion groups, online shopping, references and other
services. A more recent trend is to use the same term for sites that offer services to
customers of particular industries, such as a Web-based bank "portal," on which customers
can access their checking, savings and investment accounts.
mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/netterms.htm

• Portal is term in widespread use since early 2000's that describes the general approach to
delivering a wide range of relevant information in a simple, concise, and attractive format
for an audience.
www.business-financial-research.com/business_research_glossary.htm

• An Internet portal Web site is intended to be the first Web site a user will find or use when
seeking information or a service from a particular organization. It provides guidance to
users for finding information, using electronic services, and sending questions and
comments. Portals provide a broad array of resources and services, including a directory of
other Web sites, a facility to search for other sites, news, e-mail, phone and map
information, and sometimes a community forum.
www.communication.gc.ca/glossary.html

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On Web portal - by Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Web portals are sites on the World Wide Web that typically provide personalized capabilities to
their visitors. They are designed to use distributed applications, different numbers and types of
middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources.

In addition, business portals are designed to share collaboration in workplaces. A further business-
driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as
personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones.

Development of Web portals

In the late 1990s, the Web portal was a hot commodity. After the proliferation of Web browsers in
the mid-1990s, many companies tried to build or acquire a portal, to have a piece of the Internet
market. The Web portal gained special attention because it was, for many users, the starting point
of their Web browser. Netscape Netcenter became a part of America Online, the Walt Disney
Company launched Go.com, and Excite became a part of AT&T during the late 1990s. Lycos was
said to be a good target for other media companies such as CBS.

Many of the portals started initially as either web directories (notably Yahoo!) and/or search
engines (Excite, Lycos, AltaVista, infoseek, and Hotbot among the old ones). Expanding services
was a strategy to secure the user-base and lengthen the time a user stayed on the portal. Services
which require user registration such as free email, customization features, and chatrooms were
considered to enhance repeat use of the portal. Game, chat, email, news, and other services also
tend to make users stay longer, thereby increasing the advertising revenue.

The portal craze, with "old media" companies racing to outbid each other for Internet properties,
died down with the dot-com burst in 2000 and 2001. Disney pulled the plug on Go.com, Excite
went bankrupt and its remains were sold to iWon.com. Some notable portal sites, for instance,
Yahoo!, remain successful to this day. To modern dot-com businesses, the portal craze serves as a
cautionary tale about the risks of rushing into a market crowded with highly-capitalized but largely
undifferentiated me-too companies.

Regional Web portals

Along with the development and success of international Web portals such as Yahoo!, regional
variants have also sprung up. Some regional portals contain local information such as weather
forecasts, street maps and local business information. Another notable expansion over the past
couple of years is the move into formerly unthinkable markets.

"Local content - global reach" portals have emerged not only from countries like India (Rediff) and
China (Sina.com) but also like Italy (Webplace.it) and so on. Such portals reach out to the
widespread diaspora spread across the world.

Government Web portals

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At the end of the dot-com boom in the 1990s, many governments had already committed to
creating portal sites for their citizens. In the United States the main portal is FirstGov.gov; in the
United Kingdom the main portals are Directgov (for citizens) and businesslink.gov.uk (for
businesses). A number of major international surveys are run to measure the transactional
capabilities of these portals, the most notable being that run by Accenture.

Many U.S. states have their own portals which provide direct access to eCommerce applications
(e.g., Hawaii Business Express and myIndianaLicense), agency and department web sites, and
more specific information about living in, doing business in and getting around the state.

Many U.S. states have chosen to out-source the operation of their portals to third-party vendors.
The most successful company to date for this is NICUSA which runs 18 state portals. NICUSA
focuses on the self-funded model, and does not charge the state for work. Instead it is supported by
transaction fees for its applications.

Mini Portals
Some localized portals are based on local interests, and edited and maintained by individuals.
While they do not provide the same levels of services as major portals, they are a good place for
collaboration of ideas, for commonly interested people. Some examples of Web Portals are KNET
at www.silvernet.bravehost.com and xbox.net, and the Web Index.

Standards
• Web Services for Remote Portlets v1
• JSR 168 (Java Portlet Definition Standard)

Emerging standards
• Web Services for Remote Portlets v2
• JSR 286 (Java Portlet Definition Standard v2)
• IBM

Other Sources
• Bauer, H. H., M. Hammerschmidt, and T. Falk (2005), "Measuring the Quality of E-
Banking Portals," International Journal of Bank Marketing, 23 (2), 153-175
• Web Applications in the Open Directory Project
• Enterprise Management Portal in the sourceforge.net

An Educative Powerpoint Presentation on

Web Portals
• Miller, P. (2003). Portal proliferation: Good, Bad or just Confused?
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/presentations/heirnet/ppt/portals.ppt.

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4
 An Example of a Government Web Portal

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FirstGov.gov TM is the U.S. government's official web portal:
Office of Citizen Services and Communications, U.S. General Services Administration
1800 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20405
If you have questions about the federal government, check our frequently asked
questions, e-mail FirstGov, or call 1 (800) FED INFO (1-800-333-4636).