Web portal

A web portal is most often one specially designed web site that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying information (a portlet); often, the user can configure which ones to display. Variants of portals include mashups and intranet "dashboards" for executives and managers. The extent to which content is displayed in a "uniform way" may depend on the intended user and the intended purpose, as well as the diversity of the content. Very often design emphasis is on a certain "metaphor" for configuring and customizing the presentation of the content and the chosen implementation framework and/or code libraries. In addition, the role of the user in an organization may determine which content can be added to the portal or deleted from the portal configuration.

A portal may use a search engine API to permit users to search intranet content as opposed to extranet content by restricting which domains may be searched. Apart from this common search engines feature, web portals may offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock quotes, information from databases and even entertainment content. Portals provide a way for enterprises and organizations to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which otherwise would have been different web entities at various URLs. The features available may be restricted by whether access is by an authorized and authenticated user (employee,member) or an anonymous site visitor.

.web

.web is a generic top-level domain that will be awarded by ICANN to one of seven registry applicants. The .web TLD will be in the official root once ICANN awards the registry contract.

Historic information about .web

.web was operated as a prospective registry, not in the official root, by Image Online Design since 1995. It originated when Jon Postel, then running the top level of the Domain Name System basically single-handedly, proposed the addition of new top-level domains to be run by different registries. Since Internet tradition at the time emphasized "rough consensus and running code", Christopher Ambler, who ran Image Online Design, saw this as meaning that his company could get a new TLD into the root by starting up a functional registry for it. After asking and receiving permission from IANA to do so, IOD launched .web, a new unrestricted top level domain.

Since then IOD has tried to get their domain into the official root through several plans to admit new top-level domains. Several new-TLD plans in the late 1990s, including Postel's original proposal, failed to reach sufficient consensus among the increasingly contentious factions of the Internet to admit any new TLDs, including .web. When ICANN accepted applications for new TLDs in 2000 which resulted in the seven new domains added soon afterward, IOD's application was not approved; neither was it officially rejected, however, since all unapproved applications remain in play for possible future acceptance. A second round of new TLDs, however, was done entirely with new applications, and only for sponsored domains (generally intended for use by limited communities and run by nonprofit entities). The .web registry remains hopeful, however, that their application will eventually be approved. On May 10, 2007, ICANN announced the opening of public comments towards a new, third round of new gTLDs, a round in which IOD has not participated.

Web

Web or Webs may refer to:

Arachnology

Computing

Mathematics

Web (differential geometry)

In mathematics, a web permits an intrinsic characterization in terms of Riemannian geometry of the additive separation of variables in the Hamilton–Jacobi equation.

Formal definition

An orthogonal web on a Riemannian manifold (M,g) is a set of n pairwise transversal and orthogonal foliations of connected submanifolds of codimension 1 and where n denotes the dimension of M.

Note that two submanifolds of codimension 1 are orthogonal if their normal vectors are orthogonal and in a nondefinite metric orthogonality does not imply transversality.

Alternative definition

Given a smooth manifold of dimension n, an orthogonal web (also called orthogonal grid or Ricci’s grid) on a Riemannian manifold (M,g) is a set of n pairwise transversal and orthogonal foliations of connected submanifolds of dimension 1.

Remark

Since vector fields can be visualized as stream-lines of a stationary flow or as Faraday’s lines of force, a non-vanishing vector field in space generates a space-filling system of lines through each point, known to mathematicians as a congruence (i.e., a local foliation). Ricci’s vision filled Riemann’s n-dimensional manifold with n congruences orthogonal to each other, i.e., a local orthogonal grid.

Portal (interactive novel)

Portal is a mix between a computerized novel and an interactive game. It was published for the Amiga in 1986 by Activision, written by Rob Swigart, produced by Brad Fregger, and programmed by Nexa Corporation. Versions for the Commodore 64, Apple II, and DOS were later released. Versions for the Macintosh and Atari ST were announced and developed, but never formally released. A unique game for its time, Portal was one part text-driven adventure (à la Zork or Planetfall) but with a graphical interface. It is unrelated to the game Portal (2007) by Valve Corporation.

Setting

The player, taking on the role of the unnamed astronaut protagonist, returns from a failed 100-year voyage to 61 Cygni to find the Earth devoid of humans. Cars are rusted and covered with moss, the streets are completely barren and everything appears as though the entire human race had just vanished suddenly. The player happens upon a barely functioning computer terminal that is tied into a storytelling mainframe, Homer. Through this interface, the player, assisted by Homer who attempts to weave the information into a coherent narrative, discovers information in order to piece together the occurrences leading to the disappearance of the human race. For instance, spending some time in the Medical Records section may unlock a piece of data in the Science section, and through these links the player can finish the game.

Portal (architecture)

A portal is an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, especially a grand entrance to an important structure.doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of simple building materials or decorated with ornamentation. The elements of a portal can include the voussoir, tympanum, an ornamented mullion or trumeau between doors, and columns with carvings of saints in the westwork of a church.

Examples

Baroque portal of a private Palace in Brescia

Baroque portal of a private Palace in Brescia

Portal of the Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita, with nested arches

Portal of the Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita, with nested arches

Gothic portal of the cathedral of Metz

Gothic portal of the cathedral of Metz

Portal of the church in Hronský Beňadik

Portal of the church in Hronský Beňadik

Other uses

The term portal is also applied to the ends of a tunnel.

Portal (video game)

Portal is a 2007 first-person puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation. The game was released in a bundle package called The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on October 9, 2007, and for the PlayStation 3 on December 11, 2007. The Windows version of the game is available for download separately through Valve's content delivery system Steam and was released as a standalone retail product on April 9, 2008. A standalone version called Portal: Still Alive was released on the Xbox Live Arcade service on October 22, 2008; this version includes an additional 14 puzzles. An OS X version was released as part of the Mac-compatible Steam platform on May 12, 2010. A Linux version was released on Steam as a beta on May 2, 2013, and came out of beta on June 24, 2013. An Android port for the Nvidia Shield was released on May 12, 2014.

The game primarily comprises a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and simple objects using "the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device", a device that can create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes. The player-character, Chell, is challenged by an artificial intelligence named GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) to complete each puzzle in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center using the portal gun with the promise of receiving cake when all the puzzles are completed. The game's unique physics allows momentum to be retained through portals, requiring creative use of portals to maneuver through the test chambers. This gameplay element is based on a similar concept from the game Narbacular Drop; many of the team members from the DigiPen Institute of Technology who worked on Narbacular Drop were hired by Valve for the creation of Portal.