PORTAL TECHNOLOGY

[JohnCP]

Hi all, Is there anyone out there that can explain what portal technology is and how it is used in web development? I know this question is very vague...Basically I am trying to build a legit business website with email subscription, a database with member profile information (biography)...The site is up and running, but very basic...i wanted to use PHP/MYSQL, but i'm not sure where portal technology fits in or if i even need to use it?? Please help, Thanks in advance...JP

[justsomeguy]

"Portal technology" is a meaningless term invented by some marketroid to make their website sound advanced. If a portal is a website (like Yahoo) where people go to as a "home page" or something, something that offers a jumping-off point to various other places, then "portal technology" is anything that website uses, which is .. well, basically, everything. So portal technology is all of the technology that websites use.You can do a fine job with PHP/MySQL to handle subscriptions and manage site content. And when you are all finished, you can say your website leverages the versatility and utilizes the extensibility of portal technology, and it might even be Web 2.0-enabled. Congratulations.

[JohnCP]

"Portal technology" is a meaningless term invented by some marketroid to make their website sound advanced.  If a portal is a website (like Yahoo) where people go to as a "home page" or something, something that offers a jumping-off point to various other places, then "portal technology" is anything that website uses, which is .. well, basically, everything.  So portal technology is all of the technology that websites use.You can do a fine job with PHP/MySQL to handle subscriptions and manage site content.  And when you are all finished, you can say your website leverages the versatility and utilizes the extensibility of portal technology, and it might even be Web 2.0-enabled.  Congratulations.

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Thank you for your help. So basically a web portal is jsut a launching point to another site? I'm confused, why can't a person just use a ref link to do that? would that be similar to a portlet within a portal? Thanks, JP

[justsomeguy]

The definition of a portal is very vague. In the loosest terms, any website is a portal. In common practice, I would say a portal is a customizable site (user logins) that allows a user easy access to things that might be relevant to them. If you want to read up any, look here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_portalNotice though that not once does that article list any specific technology, only concepts. How you approach the concepts you want to include is pretty much up to you.