These panels are effectively discrete components that have their own content source and behavior and operate within the portal framework. Each portal's view has individuality from the combination of these panels, and the panels' content and behavior give the portal its power. The primary function of any portal panel is to deliver content from inside or outside the corporate firewall. A fully functioning applet, such as an email inbox or interactive chat dialog. You can expand and collapse the panel to maximize and minimize the screen real estate it occupies.
Users can elect to view or hide the panels to which they have access.
The behavioral richness of a panel is one aspect of its sophistication, as is the ability to customize and add to this range of behavior using high-level scripting languages. Panel Libraries Portal vendors know that if they can deliver a wide range of panels with preconfigured content sources, their portal product will be more attractive to their target customers - the people who build and administer portals. Most vendors offer a library of panels and may even provide interoperability with other vendors' offerings. Panel libraries typically include preconfigured panels that deliver newsfeeds, portal or Web search capabilities, stock tickers, or content from the portal vendor's affiliate partners. Having this panel library makes assembling a corporate or Web portal for internal users, the general public, or a business partner's extranet significantly easier.