Patent ID: 7814411

Claim:
A method for displaying an at least one portal component belonging to an at least one portal, according to an at least one user interface aspect prior to deploying the user interface aspect to the at least one portal, the portal component containing an at least one control, the method comprising the steps of: sending a portal request from a user's environment to the at least one portal, wherein the user's environment is remote from the at least one portal, the request including an indication of a location of an at least one enhancement file comprising an at least one class, the at least one class comprising an at least one attribute describing a user interface aspect associated with the control, wherein the location of the at least one enhancement file is local to the user's environment; processing the portal request at the portal to generate portal content, wherein said processing is performed in accordance with a standard file stored at the portal; sending a response from the at least one portal to the user's environment, the response including the portal content along with the indication of the location of the at least one enhancement file; based on said received indication of the location of the at least one enhancement file, accessing, by the user's environment, the enhancement file to determine the at least one class; rendering the at least one component by the user's environment according to the determined at least one class; and presenting the portal content at the user's environment, wherein the at least one component is displayed in accordance with said rendering.