For those who may not be familiar with some of the concepts associated with web portals, here is a brief explanation of what it's all about.

For some years, people have been publishing content to the world wide web in a relatively manual fashion.  They would use software to create the pages of their website, then upload those pages and their resources to a web server.  This way of publishing content meant that the "webmaster" had to be very familiar with a number of Internet technologies - for instance, HTML coding, Javascript coding, and FTP program usage.  Along with these skills, the webmaster also needed a fair eye for visual design.  Unfortunately, not everyone who needed (or wanted) to publish their content on the web had all of these skills.

Enter the web portal.  Web portals utilize a set of technologies to provide non-technical people the ability to produce websites that are professional looking and manageable.  Web portal technologies allow people to create and manage their web content from any computer with a web browser without having to learn a lot of technical skills.  Another significant benefit of web-based content management is that the management of large web sites can now be spread out among many people.

Websites on Worxoft.com are built with the DotNetNuke web portal system.  A site is comprised of a number of pages that can be arranged in any fashion that makes sense to the site.  Each page is made up of a number of "modules".  A module is simply a container for content.  However, depending on which module is used, the content can take the form of a simple block of text (like this) or a more complex interactive feature such as a survey, slideshow, or data capture form.

Each website uses a "skin" which gives each page its design.  Skins are used to determine the layout of the page, what colors and fonts are used, and what graphics are used to give the site its unique "look and feel".  Once a skin has been applied to a website, all pages within that site will share the same look and feel.  With DotNetNuke, skins are interchangeable so that if you want to change the look of your site, you can change the skin in one place, and all pages automatically take on the new look.  This allows you to keep your site looking fresh without having to re-create it from scratch.

"What about security?" you may ask.  "I don't want someone hacking into my site and wrecking it."   Good question.  DotNetNuke utilizes advanced authentication security that keeps your site safe from access by unauthorized people.  In order to manage the content of your site, you need to log into the site with your secure account and password.  Once you are logged in, you have access to all of the management tools you need to do your job.  DotNetNuke also allows you to create accounts for your users in order to keep parts of your site private - such as a "clients only" area.

There are many other features of DotNetNuke that make it the foremost open source web portal system in the industry.  If you have any questions about how a Worxoft.com web portal can benefit you or your organization, please do not hesitate to contact us.