Examples of Portals

My list of the major web portals, with comments. Let's start with my favorites:

Google Directory: Very simple, no ads. Maximum useability, and the focus is on searching, Google's strong suit.

Dmoz/Open Directory Project: Open source web directory -- no ads!

The big commercial portals incorporate lots of ads while directing you to their own web properties when possible. All of these portals also let you customize them by creating an account.

AOL: The home page of the AOL empire; projects a freindly feeling, almost like a comic book.

Lycos The home page of the Lycos empire. Uses a navigation header and sidebar to frame featured content

MSN The home page of the Microsoft empire. The most crowded; almost a content or news site.

Netscape The original. Influenced by Yahoo! and AOL, but much more dense.

Yahoo! Incorporates many Yahoo! web services, and ads, without overwhelming the content. A good mix of commerce and useability.