You know that on the Web, personalization is the
process of customizing a Web page or series of Web pages according
to a customer’s preferences. Many Web sites offers personalized Web pages that allow you to
create an account and then select the items you want to appear on
your Web page. By using a cookie–a small text file containing
specific information about you–the Web page provides you with
your choices each time you visit. You can select items such as news
coverage, sports, weather, stocks, and even cartoons. The Web page
becomes your own personalized Web page. Many Web surfers make it
their Web browser’s home page. Businesses that offer personalized Web pages make their money by
selling advertising space on the personalized Web page. Usually,
you’ll see a banner ad or a pop-up ad when you use these
personalized Web pages. In Chapter 4, you learned that a
banner ad is a graphical advertisement that will take
you to an e-commerce site if you click it. A pop-up
ad is a small Web page containing an advertisement that
appears on your computer screen outside of the current Web site
loaded in your browser. The personalized Web sites provide
click-through information to advertisers in order to get more
advertising revenue. A click-through is information
that is captured when you click on a banner ad (or pop-up ad) to go
from one Web site to another. Some Web sites offer more personalization. You can choose items
such as news, sports, stocks, and weather coverage but also can
import content from your favorite Web sites, do your personal
banking, and pay bills. These personal portals allow you to customize every aspect of
the Web page. Some even permit you to build an entire Web site for
yourself with any programming knowledge. Personal portals are, in
many ways, similar to vertical market software. Vertical
market software is software that is unique to a particular
industry. A personal portal is a Web site unique to you. While some personal portals are free, most use banner ads or
have you pay a subscription fee to use them. Let’s look at
some personalized Web sites and personal portals. Note the
differences in each: Personalized Web Sites Personal Portals | 
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education