Member Avatar for Atomica

What are people looking for in a portal/community/cms site???

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Scribbller

Dani AI

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Agreeing with points raised by and while building toward something actionable for (and thanks to @cscgal for the earlier nudge): portal design must begin with a clear primary task and audience. Tech-savvy visitors want rapid, task-oriented access to tools and how-tos; general audiences need simple, guided paths. Below are compact, practical priorties and an immediately usable homepage-module example that fits a search-engine-first site or a mixed portal.

Feature priorities (by portal type)

  • Search-first (good fit for a search engine portal)

    • Prominent, centered search box with autofocus and autosuggest.
    • Instant or progressively loaded results; concise snippets with schema-like labels (type, date).
    • Lightweight chrome so search remains the primary action; provide filters and an “advanced” link.

  • Topic portal (tech/game)

    • One featured item area (1–3 editorial picks), then clear sections: Getting Started, Popular Tutorials, Latest Guides.
    • Tag-based navigation, copyable code snippets, and direct CTAs (download, try, read).
    • Small learning paths for newcomers (three-step onboarding links).

  • Community hub

    • Latest threads, top answers, and a lightweight sign-up flow.
    • Notices for high-value contributors and simple moderation signals.
    • Clear “how to ask” guide and single-click reply actions.

Example homepage module order (config-like example)

[
  {"module":"search","weight":1},
  {"module":"featured","weight":2},
  {"module":"latestTutorials","weight":3},
  {"module":"trendingThreads","weight":4},
  {"module":"newsletter","weight":5}
]

Minimal search form example

<form action="/search" method="get" role="search">
  <input name="q" placeholder="Search this site" autofocus />
  <button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>

Operational and UX notes

  • Track search success rate, CTR on featured items, registrations and retention; use small A/B tests to move modules around.
  • If featured content is ignored, reduce items and label them clearly; if search results are poor, improve indexing and snippet generation.
  • Mobile-first and speed-focused builds pay off: keep the homepage to 3–4 core modules at launch and iterate based on measured behavior.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for Dani

It basically depends on the type of audience. If it is a techie audience, such as here at DaniWeb, members like to see different types of articles and tutorials - especially linked right off the homepage. The more content, in the fewest number of clicks, the better.

It may be different for a non-techie audience, however. They need very easy navigation and to be directed where to click. They don't always like a lot squished into a little area because they get overwhelmed very easily.

However, I'm trying to find the answer to the same thing right now. DaniWeb's homepage has links to the latest 3 tutorials, information about the latest code snippet posted, my recent blog entries, a listing of all of the categories and forums we offer, and the latest threads in each category. Think I'm doing it wrong? I, too, am looking for the same answer as Atomica.

Member Avatar for Atomica

I was hopefully add more features to my search engine (aint posting the name, rules of the bored). Then I came up with an idea of a portal. Yet I do not know what to offer.
Thanks for the advice cscgal!

Member Avatar for Dani

Is it a general search engine or something about a particular topic? If it's about a particular topic, you could post articles and other resources that would be of interest to your target audience. If it is a general search engine, you may wish to follow the guidelines of a portal like excite.com

Member Avatar for Scribbller

As csgal said it all depends on the type of audience you have, a search engine would not require a CMS which includes articles and other stuff like that compared to say a tech/game site. Think from the point of view of a visitor not from the point of view of a webmaster as a webmaster I would like to add anything I find "cool" but its quite different as far as a member is concerned. I would suggest use of a simple portal for a search engine.

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