A website who's primary purpose is to lead users to other websites. These gateways can be general like Yahoo!, or specific like FirstGov for US goverment information.
Portal sites are sites that want you to use them as your start page whenever you start up your browser. Many of the older search emgines (My Yahoo, My Excite etc) are becoming portal sites. Other companies are setting up sites (e.g. www.netscape.net is a growing portal site helped along by the "My Netscape" button added to later copies of their popular browser) To attract you to use them they will offer free (sometimes web-based) email access, free web space, bookmark management as well as useful directory and search services. In return you get to read all the adverts they display. Advertising has proved to be the first big money spinner on the web for sites that can attract large enough traffic.
web sites designed to offer a variety of Internet services from a single convenient location. The goal of the portal is to be designated as your browser's start-up page. Most portals offer certain free services such as: a search engine; local, national and worldwide news, sports and weather; references such as Yellow Pages and maps; shopping malls; email and chat rooms. (pp. 68, 271)
The portals or access ports had initially been designed mainly as search engines to help Internet users find their way in the maze of the Net. In recent years, they have developed into reception rooms which offer the thousands of users access to the Internet; provide them with free e-mail and personalized information; and acquaint them with online shopping and other services.
Web pages that serve as gateways to the Internet that often have links to a variety of interesting sites. A user can set up a browser to open on a favorite portal page, which is a starting point for Web surfing, and some kind of search engine or Web directory. Examples of portals are Infoseek, Excite, Yahoo, Lycos, AOL.
A Web "supersite" that provides a variety of services including Web searching, news, white and yellow pages directories, free e-mail, discussion groups, online shopping and links to other sites. Web portals are the Web equivalent of the original online services such as CompuServe and AOL.
A portal is actually a destination site that aggregates content of different types that the user might be interested in. Portals are companies that deliver the search results from one of the other search engines or directories. Example: AOL actually gives search results from Google.
Web sites which offer some or all of the following: search, email, news, weather, shopping