Understanding Oracle Instant Portal

The best way to understand Oracle Instant Portal and what it can do for you is to look at a sample portal from a fictitious company, Tangfish Intranet. The following figure shows the Tangfish portal.

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The following descriptions relate to the highlighted sections of the preceding figure:

1. The editing toolbar makes it easy for authorized users to interact with the portal. All standard editing controls are available when adding text-based items, such as cut-and-paste, font controls and full table support. Oracle Instant Portal administrators can also access the tools they need to control the look and feel of the portal, manage users, and work with multiple portal instances. A single click delivers a robust online help system to help answer questions quickly.

2. Each tabbed page can have its own set of supporting pages, available right from the navigation area. Add new pages right in context, without ever having to leave the parent page.

3. You can easily add, rename or re-position the tabs, as well as control who has access to a page and to what level. Just click a tab while in edit mode. The necessary tools are right there.

4. Your corporate name (4a) and logo (4b) can be added to a portal. In addition, a set of pre-defined styles make it easy to tailor the portal's look and feel.

5. Files, images, URLs, and e-mail addresses can be added right on the page, right in context. Rich Text items are ideal for short announcements that you want to publish directly on the page. Expandable Rich Text items are perfect for longer text items when you need to conserve space on the page. Enhance any kind of text item with tables, images, and hyperlinks.

6. The Oracle Instant Portal default tabs are based on a typical company model. You can use them, or change the names to reflect your organization more closely. A travel agency, for example, might prefer tabs named Airlines, Rental Cars, Hotels, Restaurants, Discounts, and Package Tours.