Portlet

A portlet is a pluggable user-interface software component that is displayed in a web portal (such as an enterprise portal or a web content management system). A collection of portlets produce fragments of markup (such as HTML, XHTML, or WML) that are presented as an integrated portal user experience.

A portlet container owns a collection of portlets. A container manages the life cycle of its portlets and provides a runtime environment with services such as persistent storage for user preferences. A container supports aggregating (integrating) information from different sources. Via user customization, a container supports a personalized portal user experience. A container with its portlets can form a web application. Portlet-based applications are often used for portals focused on news, weather, and Internet forums.