WebSynergy Terminology

The following are some common terms that are useful to know.

Portlet

Portlets are pluggable user interface software components that are managed and displayed in a web portal. Typically, a portal page is displays as a collection of non-overlapping portlet windows, where each portlet window displays a portlet. WebSynergy portlets confirm to JSR286 standards.

Instanceable Portlet

If you can add many instances of a portlet to your page, the portlet is called an instanceable portlet.

Non-instanceable Portlet

If you can add just one instance of a portlet to your page, the portlet is called a it is a non-instanceable portlet.

Public Page and Private Page

Every individual user account in a WebSynergy site contains public pages and private pages. Pages that can be accessed by a guest user are public pages. Pages that can only be accessed by logging in to a user account are private pages.

Widget

Widgets are similar to portlets, except that unlike portlets, widgets are created using a programming language other than Java, such as PHP or Ruby.

Friendly URL

The modifiable part of the URL for the private page of an user account.

Theme

The "look and feel" settings that are applied to a portal page. Themes can be applied sitewide by a WebSynergy site administrator or on a page-by-page basis by registered users.

Layout Template

A scheme that defines the general layout of portlets and widgets on a portal page. As with themes, layout templates can be applied by site administrators and registered users.

Guest

A user who does not have an account on a given WebSynergy site. Typically, guest users have limited ability to view or modify content on a WebSynergy site.

User

A person who is registered on a WebSynergy site.

User Group

A grouping of users; members of a user group typically share common sets of access permissions.

Community

A collection of users sharing common interests or goals; community members typically share a common set of portlets and pages. For example, a community might have a wiki that is not available to users outside the community. Multiple user groups can coexist within a given community.

Organization

A hierarchical collection of users, user groups, and communities. Multiple communities can coexist within a given organization.

User Role

Permissions and access rights defined for a given user; typically maps to rights within groups, communities, and organizations.