A portal web design allows its users to search different types of information in a concise way. A good portal web design will shape to the user combining functions that are personal to them, like email, news, and entertainment without having to navigate too much and still keep that user working under their own profile, thereby personalizing their surf. Some web portals that most people use are Yahoo!, AOL, and Google. These are however not the only type of portal web designs available.
There are different types of portals, either horizontal or vertical. Horizontal portals cover a wide variety of areas or serve as a platform for many similar companies or types of manufacturing. Vertical portals are sometimes called vortals and focus on one specific area or industry niche. In addition portal design is sometimes categorized as personal, regional, and government.
A personal portal would specialize in a personalized pathway to the internet for the visitor. This design allows the user to navigate through many types of applications and sources. This information is set up in such a way that it can be delivered through most internet devices including personal computers, PDA’s and cell phones.
Regional portal web design is set up to provide local information to the user. Things like weather forecasts, maps, and business information are available to aid the user in researching other areas of the world for use in e-commerce type applications.
A third type of portal web design is for government research. Most industrialized countries have some type of web portal set up for their citizens to research information. The type of searching done on these types of .gov sites include information on health initiatives, government programs, and outreach. In addition there are often links on these websites to specific government agencies like education and defense. Some countries have joined forces with their unions to form larger portals. For example the European Union has a portal called Europa which provide information on topics from all across Europe.
