What is the difference between a web portal and a website?

Question

Plz explain.

Answer 1

A portal is generally a vehicle by which to gain access to a multitude of 'services'. A web site is a destination in itself.

As such the term website refers to a location on the internet  that is unique and can be accessed through a URL . By that definition a web portal is in fact also a website.

However there is a distinction between the two terms based on the subject and content of the website.

A website is also a web portal if;

It transmits information from several independent sources that can be, but not necessarily are, connected in subject; thus offering a public service function for the visitor which is not restricted to presenting the view(s) of one author.

Answer 2

i believe a portal is like yahoo's homepage. Where it's just a big jumping off point to a bunch of other web sites / pages. While it is a website, web portal is just a way of describing it.

that sounds about right, but i'm pretty much guessing

Answer 3

A web portal is a specific type of website.  Web portals got their name because many people use them as their homepage.  It's the first thing they see every time they run their browser making them the starting point or portal for the rest of the web.  Examples include My Yahoo! and iGoogle.

Answer 4

A portal is the entry point to an intranet... (notice intra, not inter).  And intranet is like a private internet.  Most companies have an intranet that has all kinds of information that is important to doing business, this information is private from the rest of the internet and only company employees have access to it.  A web portal, is the page, or series of pages that are public to the internet, that can be accessed from the internet to allow authorized users to enter the intrAnet...usually with an ID and password.