Vortigo
By Dale Dougherty
Essential to the idea of transforming an ordinary Web site into a portal is the notion that a site should offer specific content to its users to keep them coming back. But content is expensive and difficult to produce. And there's so much information on the Net already it can make your head spin. So it's no surprise that software vendors are pitching wholly automated systems for creating portals that grab content for visitors of your site. Tap into a news feed and select categories specific to your industry. Buy syndicated content cheaply from other sites.
I recently saw an ad promoting "Portal-In-A-Box." The ad copy read: "Autonomy can have your Web portal up in a matter of days.... Is it going to take forever to get the content loaded and live? No way. We'll have your new Web portal up with minimum pain and maximum impact." Looks as though this company's marketing department had too much autonomy.
As with any good idea that degenerates into an "in-a-box" market opportunity, you have to ask how much value remains in the original portal concept. To what degree are creativity and intelligence defining portal development these days? Without those ingredients, a portal -- or any other kind of site concept du jour -- is a fairly bland offering. Whatever makes going to a fine restaurant and having a wonderful meal special, you won't expect to find in a box in the frozen food section of the supermarket. So it is that out-of-the-box thinking ends up back inside the box.
What makes the Web exciting is its experimental nature, not various "tried-and-true" formulas. You try something to see if it works.
