In response to the overwhelming amount of electronic information available on the Internet, there has been a trend towards portals of various kinds in the last few years that help the user to "wade" through the vast number of websites available. These resources, whether "gateways", "web portals", "vortals" or "portals", all provide a single interface from which the user can search either wide ranging or more specific topics.  Some go further than this to offer the user the option to customize or even personalize their own page, selecting the types of information they would like displayed, such as news, entertainment, or weather. More specialized still are the institutional portals found in universities, libraries or corporatations. These are designed to provide users with access to more specific information that is available only to those within the institution.

The development of this type of resource has also been attributed to the human desire to individualize experiences. As Andrew K. Pace stipulates, "I don't think it's just information glut that has created the demand for personalization; it is a desire to set yourself apart from everyone else."¹

This website will first look at some of the many definitions of what constitutes a portal and will move on to examine some examples of gateways, vortals and portals which differ in purpose, audience, range of content and level of sophistication. It will then look at some issues involved in portal design and some of the portal software options available.