L5r:Portal

Portals are pages intended to serve as "Main Pages" for specific topics or areas. Portals may be associated with one or more Projects, but unlike Projects, they are meant for both readers and editors of Wikipedia, and should promote content and encourage contribution.

What are portals?
The concept of a portal originated in the Polish and German Wikipedias. In early 2005, the portal concept was imported to the English Wikipedia and the first Wikiportals were established. The idea of a portal is to help readers and/or editors maneuver their way through topic areas through pages similar to the Main Page. In essence, portals are useful entry-points to wiki content.

How to create a portal
There is no single standard design for portals, but the most widely used layout is the "box portal", which presents different information in different boxes. The use of this design is recommended due to the ease with which it can be created and maintained.

How to make a good portal
Most portals contain the following for readers:
 * A selected article and/or picture
 * Links into the main category for the topic and possibly subcategories (some portals actually appear in the description page for the main category)
 * General info about the subject, or links thereto
 * Links to other portals (using templates) and for editors.
 * Links to specific articles or tasks
 * Collaboration of the week, month, etc.

You may want to embark on an effort to fill the related categories with appropriate articles if this has not been done already (or add it to the portal's "todo" list so visitors can help out).

All portals should contian the following information:
 * Introduction - A short summary of the topic. If possible, this should contain an attractive image emblematic of the topic.
 * Categories - Links to the most important categories related to the topic
 * Subportals or Related Portals (if there are any)- Preferably, these should appear near the top, just below the Introduction
 * Topics - Links to the most important articles related to the topic

How to get involved
Just as with the L5R Wiki at large, portals can be edited by anyone. However, it is important to pay due regard to the established work of others. Editors are always needed to maintain individual portals; if you would like to participate in the upkeep of a particular portal, note your intention on its talk page, and get to work!