Versatile framework

IBM^® WebSphere^® Portal Express provides users a consistent view of portal applications and allows users to define specific sets of applications that are presented in a single context. Depending on the requesting device, the rendering of this application set has to vary to fulfill the requirements of the device.

The tasks of the aggregation, which are repeated with each request coming from the device, are:

Gather information about the user, the device, and the selected language.
Select the active portlets from the set of applications to which the user has access.
Aggregate the output of the active portlets into a coherent, usable display.

WebSphere Portal Express also provides the ability to create a custom navigation model, which includes such features as:

Multilevel navigation
Customized themes and skins
Custom navigation - navigation tree can be contributed to by portlets themselves
Custom arrangement of portlets (and thus content) on a page

Another aspect of the versatile framework is the ability to personalize a user's portal experience, using "content spots" that render subscribed content based on the user and user's role in the portal.