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Portal |
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portal A Web "supersite" that provides a variety of services including Web search, news, blogs, discussion groups, shopping and links to other sites. The major general-purpose portals are Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL, all of which offer free Web-based e-mail accounts. TV networks and newspapers provide general-purpose portals, but not e-mail. Many portals allow the home page to be personalized (see personal portal). Prior to the Web, CompuServe and AOL functioned as portals, aggregating information from various sources.The Vortal Portals also serve vertical markets. Trade magazines, associations and special interest groups host vertical portals (vortals) and provide news and articles for their industry such as IT, banking and insurance. The vortal may also include general information such as top news stories and weather; however, their search capabilities are often limited to their own archives, rather than the entire Web. See corporate portal, business intelligence portal and portal server. portal 1. an entrance, gateway, or doorway, esp one that is large and impressive 2. Anatomy a. of or relating to a portal vein b. of or relating to a porta portal [′pȯrd·əl] (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the porta hepatis. Pertaining to the portal vein or system. (engineering) A redundant frame consisting of two uprights connected by a third member at the top. (mining engineering) An entrance to a mine. The rock face at which a tunnel is started. portal 1. An impressive or monumental entrance, gate, or door to a building or courtyard, often decorated. 2. A structural framework consisting of a beam supported by two columns to which it is connected with sufficient rigidity to hold virtually unchanged the original angles between the intersecting members. (See illustration p. 752.)
Portal in architecture, an opening, usually an entrance into a building. Typical ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek portals were simply ornamented and had level crosspieces. In ancient Mesopotamia portals were arched, and in the Near and Middle East peshtak portals were typical; these were rectangular and had a cut-out lancet arch. Beginning in the 11th century arched, or perspective, portals became widespread in romanesque, gothic, and ancient Russian architecture. These portals were projections whose corners had columns joined by archivolts. Renaissance and baroque portals usually had pilasters and columns that supported the entablature or frontal. Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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