Portals are Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Web applications that provide a framework for many portlet applications via one or more pages. Portlets are Java-based Web components that process requests and generate dynamic content on a portal site. Within a portal, portlets can display a variety of information at a glance, or even transfer information, as shown here.
Image of a working portal, showing the activity in one portlet affecting the information displayed in another portlet.



The creation and customization of a portal occurs in the Portal Designer. In the Project Explorer, edit the Portal Configuration. You can set or customize the portal's look, page organization, and portlet layouts. Here, the Listing Search and Listing Detail portlets that were just seen in action are added to the Listing page of the Auction Portal.
Image of a portlet being added to a portal in the Portal Designer.



You can easily change the look and feel of your portal through themes and skins. Themes affect the overall look of your portal, and skins change your portlets. You can customize any element of a provided theme or skin, or create your own.
Image of the Portal Designer showing the application of a skin to a portlet in a portal.



You can also change the style elements of your portal with the CSS Designer. All of the styles for a portal are defined in the Styles.css file.
Image showing a new banner image being applied to the portal using the CSS Designer.



If you have the separate Portal Test Environment installed, you can test the operation and appearance of your portals and portlets on your own computer. Here, a portal is launched, and its operation tested, within the WebSphere Portal v5.0 test environment.
Image of a portal being tested within the workbench using the Portal Test Environment.



The Web Perspective contains a new wizard and tools for creating portlets. The Portlet project wizard creates basic, JavaServer Faces (JSF), or Struts portlets.
Image of the New Portlet Project wizard.



You develop portlets in the Page Designer. Here, the Click-to-Action feature is added to the Listing Search portlet, which is how the itemid Data type is communicated to the Listing Detail portlet.
Image of a JavaServer Faces portlet being edited in Page Designer.



Other assistance is available to guide you through the process of developing a portal or portlet. To create the portal and portlets seen in this tour, refer to the tutorial entitled Create a portal application. Several working samples are available in the Samples Gallery. You can also access the Information Center for documentation.
Image of a tutorial entitled Create a portal application in the Tutorials Gallery.
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This concludes the Portals and Portlets tour.