A (web) portal is a web-site that brings together information from diverse sources in a unified way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying information (a portlet); often, the user can configure which portlets to display.
A portal can be seen as a collection of small/mini web-applications (providing limited features and information) normally called portlets.
Many portlets are presented on a single page of the portal known as a portal-page. The following image shows a typical portal-page:
A portal supports a lot of features like authentication, authorization, content-aggregation, customization, and personalization.
The main use of the portals is content aggregation. The portal brings togather content from various diverse sources into one place and hence helps in creating a rich user experience.
Examples of Portal Solutions:
- liferay Portal
- IBM Websphere Portal
- gatein Portal
- jboss-portal