A web portal is most often one specially-designed Web page which 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);
Portals are becoming a very prevalent and efficient method of communicating information to individuals. There are primarily two types of portals: public and private. Public portals, such as iGoogle provide users with e-mail, weather, news, games, etc. In contrast, private portals serve the needs of an organization and act as the primary source of information and services that are used in operations. Portals are commonly divided into several distinct regions called channels, which, in turn provide information or a service. A channel in a public portal such as iGoogle would provide weather or stock prices, while a channel in a private portal may provide information such as health benefits, weekly sales goals, or budget information.
A website, also written as web site,or simply site, is a set of related web pages typically served from a single web domain. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet address known as a Uniform resource locator. All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web.
Scenarios in which web application projects are the preferred choice include the following:
1) Use the Edit and Continue feature of the Visual Studio debugger.
2) To run unit tests on code that is in the class files that are associated with ASP.NET pages.
3) To refer to the classes that are associated with pages and user controls from standalone classes.
4) To establish project dependencies between multiple web projects.
5) Compiler to create a single assembly for the entire site.
6) To control over the assembly name and version number that is generated for the site.
7) To use MSBuild or Team Build to compile the project. For example, we might want to add prebuild and postbuild steps.
8) To avoid putting source code on a production server.
Scenarios in which Web site projects are the preferred choice include the following:
1) To include both C# and Visual Basic code in a single web project. (By default, a web application is compiled based on language settings in the project file. Exceptions can be made, but it is relatively difficult.)
2) To open the production site in Visual Studio and update it in real time by using FTP.
3) We do not want to have to explicitly compile the project in order to deploy it.
4) If we do precompile the site, you want the compiler to create multiple assemblies for the site, which can include one assembly per page or user control, or one or more assemblies per folder.
5) To be able to update individual files in production by just copying new versions to the production server, or by editing the files directly on the production server.
6) precompile the site, we want to be able to update individual ASP.NET web pages (.aspx files) without having to recompile the entire site.
7) To keep source code on the production server because it can serve as an additional backup copy.
Difference between Web application and web site project.
| Area | Web application projects | Web site projects |
| Project file structure | A Visual Studio project file (.csproj or .vbproj) stores information about the project, such as the list of files that are included in the project, and any project-to-project references. | There is no project file (.csproj or .vbproj). All the files in a folder structure are automatically included in the site. |
| Compilation | You explicitly compile the source code on the computer that is used for development or source control.By default, compilation of code files (excluding .aspx and .ascx files) produces a single assembly. | The source code is typically compiled dynamically (automatically) by ASP.NET on the server the first time a request is received after the site has been installed or updated.You can precompile the site (compile in advance on a development computer or on the server).By default, compilation produces multiple assemblies. |
| Namespaces | Explicit namespaces are added to pages, controls, and classes by default. | Explicit namespaces are not added to pages, controls, and classes by default, but you can add them manually. |
| Deployment | You copy the assembly to a server. The assembly is produced by compiling the application.Visual Studio provides tools that integrate with Web Deploy (the IIS web deployment tool) to automate many deployment tasks. |
You copy the application source files to a computer that has IIS installed on it.If you precompile the site on a development computer, you copy the assemblies produced by compilation to the IIS server.Visual Studio provides tools that integrate with Web Deploy (the IIS web deployment tool) to automate many deployment tasks. |