How to Develop Portals

Web portals were originally lists of links to other websites.

Developed and popularized in the mid 1990s, a web portal wasoriginally a list of links to other pages on the Internet. Popular sites such as Yahoo began as web portals. Over the years, the structure and function of a portal has changed to offer more specialized information. Portals currently can include links to sites and web applications within an organization, like intranet portals created to serve companies or universities. Some portals allow users to customize their experience by enabling or disabling features.

Things You'll Need

• Web host
• Content management system

Instructions

1. Choose the information you want to offer through your web portal. By selecting your portal's subject matter, you can more easily plan the type of features your portal should have in order to serve your portal audience. For instance, a portal about dogs may have a list of links to different dog breeds, a calendar for local dog events and RSS feeds of local dog owner groups.

2. Choose a content management system (CMS). A CMS is an application that allows a web administrator to serve and manage dynamically generated content. The advantage of a CMS is that it allows the administrator to create an overall user experience without having to individually code every page. Popular CMS options include XOOPS, Joomla and Drupal which are all open source applications and free for private or commercial use. Commercial portals include Microsoft Sharepoint, which is popular in enterpise computing, while HyperOffice is a small business option.

   When choosing your CMS, review your original plan for the portal site and pick a CMS that has the modules that support the features you would like to implement. For more information, consult the CMS documentation.

3. Choose a web host that supports your CMS server requirements. CMS web applications require supporting technologies such as scripting and databases. Most commercial web hosts will meet the server requirements of most CMS applications, but you should confirm with your individual host provider.

   Many free web hosts are not able to offer users the level of access necessary to install a CMS. There are a handful of free hosts that offer a free CMS installation but may run ads to help support the service. Free CMS hosting providers include Free Hostia, Free Joomlas and Drupal Cafe.

4. Install and configure your CMS. Installation and configuration of your CMS will vary depending on the CMS you choose but will usually involve uploading the CMS files to the web server, creating any dependent databases and accessing the installation to configure the options. Consult the CMS documentation for more details.

5. Enable your portal modules. While configuring your CMS, you will enable the portal modules needed to display the content that you want on your portal. Most CMS applications will have some modules enabled by default, such as calendars or forums, but if the modules that you need for your portal were not enabled by default, you will have to enable them separately. Consult your CMS documentation for more details.

6. Upload portal content to your CMS. Once your initial installation and configuration is complete, you can begin uploading content to your website.

References

• IBM: Creating a New Portal: Introduction
• Free Hostia
• Free Joomlas

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• XOOPS
• Joomla
• Drupal
• HyperOffice
• Microsoft Sharepoint
• Drupal Cafe