While sighted surfers may find the look appealing, many blind users get frustrated with the clutter and cumbersome nature of a portal. Another reason why portals may not be the best choice for information has to do with the way portals provide their specialized content. Portals are not the source of much of the information found on their site. In many cases, these companies have their own sites where you can sometimes get more sophisticated information. And of course, the portal's content provider may have competitors with a better site or superior content.
Search engines are web sites that specialize in finding other websites.
Typically, you type in one or more keywords, and the search engine tries to find websites that match your search terms. Usually, a portal has a search engine right on its home page. Take a minute and think about the qualities that you would like in a search engine. Really think about it. Then look at my dream qualities and see how they compare.