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Web portals are the next evolution in Internet services (e.g., Yahoo, MSN, AOL), providing a more robust one-point access to a variety of content and core services, and ideally offering a single sign-on point. Portals give you a managed online experience, and can be particularly helpful as a start and return point for those new to the web. Portal content is dynamically managed through databases, application windows, and sometimes cookies.
Portals often include calendars and to-do lists, discussion groups, announcements and reports, searches, email and address books, and access to news, classifieds, weather, maps, and shopping, as well as old-fashioned bookmarks.
Web portals often organize information into channels, which are customizable page containers where specific information or an application appears. Channels make it easy to locate information of interest by categorizing content.
But web portals are more than just a page of hyperlinks, and they offer advantages over home pages because they are customizable and personalizable, and therefore capable of offering user-specific views. For example, a university could offer a web portal and have customized, specific content available to you based on your roles (e.g., faculty, student, staff, administration).
Real Estate Portals like 2letservice.com have customized, specific content available to realtors based on their roles (e.g., buyers, sellers, builders, brokers).
Roles help the portal determine your privileges for reading, searching, updating, adding channels, and personalizing content. Then, the portal uses the information stored in the roles to offer the appropriate content and service choices. You can then create further, more specific content organization by selecting from the personalized material and services, thus making the portal work the way you do.
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Portal technology is changing each day, future is full of surprises. For example, a reputed property portal named 2letservice.com has recently announced to include rich features like commentary from reputed real estate researchers, podcasting, video, etc. Their Ad Manager had the following to say:
Podcasting has also skyrocketed in the past couple of years thanks to the popularity of iPod, also are proving popular for information related to real estate. Podcasts are a huge medium at the moment for many media consumers who like to digest their information in other ways than reading.
“We will soon be featuring fact sheets, articles and surveys as well as podcasts. It’s about gaining your information the way you want it, when you want it, all to suit your needs, rather than the needs of the media provider” - says the Ad Manager of 2letservice.com.
The podcast audio programs can also be syndicated in an online network and our network plans to add more personalized forums, blogs, competitions and polls in the next few months along with video. 2letservice.com also have plans to offer virtual walk through, though many will be excluded from making or from playing such videos due to lack of bandwidth and technology.
“We are building a Web engine that can create personalized user experiences across dozens or hundreds of Web sites. The downloadable videos often have home-video quality to them, but the accompanying commentary can let visitors know about the neighborhoods, whether a house roof can support a second floor, what amenities are included and agent contact information” - says the Ad Manager of 2letservice.com.
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