The term portal is used to denote a website that acts as an gateway for providing information about a subject area or group of subjects. From this portal site, information as well as links to other sites providing information about the topics in question may be found. Portals are useful starting places for new web users who do not know where and how to go and look for information about a specific topic or subject.
Many major ISPs provide portal-like information services for their subscribers so that if the latter make this their home page for their web browser, on launching their browser the ISP's portal page is opened. The subject areas covered by these ISP portals are typically subjects of general interest like shopping, local and foreign news, entertainment etc.
Click to view screen shot Fig 8.7 Home Page for an ISP
Other portals offering general information as well as links to other more subject-specific portals and websites include:
- Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)
- Netscape Network (www.netscape.com)
- Microsoft Network (www.msn.com)
- Angelfire (www.angelfire.lycos.com)
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Tutorial: The World Wide Web (WWW)
1. The Mozilla Web Browser (Navigator)
2. Configuring Mozilla Navigator
3. Finding Information on the Internet
4. Using a Portal
5. Using an Internet Search Engine
