Portals serve as enhanced "main pages" for specific broad subjects. Portals are meant primarily for readers, while encouraging them to become editors of Wikipedia by providing links to project spaces. Portals are created for encyclopedic topics only and not for article maintenance categories.

Portals are largely inter-accessible, with users able to navigate from one portal to another. Universal features, such as the portals browsebar (which links to top-level portals), and the portals template (which links to Wikipedia:Contents/Portals), allow for convenient browsing. Moreover, portals are also categorised according to hierarchy. Portals, in most instances, also link to their Related portals (those lateral to them) and their Subportals (those that descend from them). Links may look like Biography portal

To see if a subject you are reading has a portal, you may also check

• Wikipedia:Contents/Portals, the main listing of portals, arranged by subject. Note that there is a delay between a portal's creation and its addition to the listing.
• Category:All portals is a comprehensive listing, including all old and new portals, and even portals under construction.
• You can also use the Special:Search box below to locate Portals and sub-pages. Type "Portal:" followed by the subject, like this: Portal:Biography.

Portals are pages intended to serve as "Main Pages" for specific topics or areas. They are analogous to Wikipedia's Main Page, the subject of which is knowledge (the broadest subject of all). Portals narrow down the scope a bit to a more specific subject, and they vary in format and approach. Like the Main Page, which itself is not an article per se, portals are supplemental to the encyclopedia, and provide various alternate approaches to exploring a subject. Innovation is desired and encouraged.

Each portal is named for the subject it covers. We have a portal called "Geography", for example. To set them apart from articles, portals have their own namespace, and so the title of each portal is always preceded by "Portal:". So, the one on geography is called Portal:Geography.

It may help to look at a couple definitions for the word "portal" from Wiktionary:

1. An entrance, entry point, or means of entry. For example: The local library, a portal of knowledge.
2. A website or page that acts as an entrance to other websites or pages on the Internet.

While these definitions may also fit Wikipedia's regular articles (like Geography, for example), such articles are constrained primarily to presenting a description of their respective subjects. The essence of regular articles is that they are prose overviews. That makes them less than ideal for navigating their entire subject.

When a subject goes beyond the capacity of a single page, that page is called the subject's root article (its title is the name of the broader subject). But, Wikipedia's coverage of subjects goes way beyond what is on a root article's page. For example, there are over 40,000 articles on mathematics. While the article mathematics summarizes the general subject in descriptive terms, it becomes obvious that there can be other approaches to navigating Wikipedia's overall coverage of this and other subjects.

That's where Wikipedia's various navigation systems come in, including portals. Portal:Mathematics, for instance, provides a selection of reading samples and links to delve into Wikipedia's coverage of mathematics further. A good synonym for a portal is "doorway to knowledge".

Each portal on Wikipedia acts as an alternative entrance to a subject. Portals supplement the encyclopedia. They support their subjects in various ways, including but not limited to:

1. Providing a variety of sample content of subtopics ("topic tasters"), from within each portal's subject, that the reader may find interesting. Kind of like a magazine. Like what Wikipedia's Main Page does in general.
2. Aiding navigation. Portals are one of Wikipedia's navigation subsystems, designed to help users find their way around the vast amount of knowledge on Wikipedia to material within a particular subject. So, in addition to sample content, a portal may also present in various ways, links, and lists of links.
3. Providing bridges between reading and editing, and between the encyclopedia proper and the Wikipedia community, via links to pages in project space (and the other namespaces) that are relevant to the portal's subject. A portal may be associated with one or more WikiProjects; unlike a WikiProject, however, it is meant for both readers and editors of Wikipedia, and should promote content and encourage contribution. Note that portals are created for encyclopedic topics only and not for article maintenance categories.

Most portals have some combination of the following features.

Portals typically include one or more selected content sections that display one or more images or article excerpts, such as:

• Selected featured article
• Selected featured picture
• Selected general article
• Selected general articles
• Selected image
• Selected images
• Selected biography
• Selected biographies
• Selected team
• Selected teams
• Etc.

Excerpts in portals of the new design are selectively transcluded so that they do not go stale. Unlike copy/pasted excerpts, they always match their source (which, however, is not usually written with the use on portal pages in mind), and do not fork. See Portal:Canada for an example that uses {{Transclude random excerpt}} and {{Transclude lead excerpt}}.

The slideshow components are powered by templates/modules that present excerpts or images from designated sources in a slideshow interface (the slideshow gizmo itself was developed elsewhere in the community). For an example of a single-page portal with multiple excerpt slideshows using {{Transclude files as random slideshow}}, see Selected images in Portal:England.

Many automated portals include a conditional In the news section, which only shows up if there are items to display. It is powered by a search of the content of the current events portal, a major department in its own right, including its events by month subpages. To improve the results, change the parameters of the search (you can edit or add search parameters).

Manually maintained news sections (in which entries are posted by hand) that have fallen out-of-date, can be replaced with a conditional news section. See {{Transclude selected current events}} for more information. That template can also be substituted for more control.

Some portals use Wikinews. See User:JJMC89 bot/Wikinews importer for more information.

Many automated portals include a conditional Did you know section, which only shows up if there are items to display. It is powered by a search of the content of Wikipedia:Recent additions and its subpages (the Did you know archives). To improve the results, change the parameters of the search (you can edit or add search parameters).

Some portals also contain a manually curated Did you know section that shows only recent topic-related DYKs.

The Wikipedia reference desk works like a library reference desk. Ask a question there and Wikipedia volunteers will try to answer it. The Need help? section may help directing readers to get answers to their questions regarding portal topics.

On most portals, the Get involved section is conditional, showing up only when a corresponding WikiProject exists.

It provides a link between the encyclopedia and the Wikipedia community, serving as a bridge to draw readers into becoming editors in collaboration with other editors.

The Subcategories section presents a Special:CategoryTree. It is expandable/collapsible, and is configured to show categories only.

The Subtopics section displays a navigation template, automatically reformatted to blend into the page's format. If there isn't one available, the editor can change the parameter to one that does exist, or provide links manually.

Recognized content sections are maintained by User:JL-Bot, which keeps an updated list of relevant featured and good articles there, and featured lists, if any. The bot has been around for years, and is very well tested. This section is conditional, and only shows up if there are entries to display.

The Associated Wikimedia section displays the {{Wikimedia for portals}} template and links to sister projects with a search query matching the portal's title.

A portal developer (you) may be creative and provide features not covered above. Innovation is desired and encouraged. Try to make features that will be low maintenance.

Just as with Wikipedia 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 welcome to maintain individual portals; if you would like to participate in the upkeep of a particular portal, note your intention on its talk page, list yourself as a maintainer at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Specific portal maintainers, then get to work – thank you!

A WikiProject on Portals has been founded to coordinate portal activity. Current priorites include developing standards for all portals, further improvement to portal design, and the ongoing maintenance of portals. Other tasks include the integration of portals into the encyclopedia, and their categorization.

Immediate attention is needed on portals listed in Category:Portals under construction and Category:Portals needing attention.

The location used to place a portal template in an article is normally the See also section. If there is no See also section, make one. Note: The Manual of Style for medicine-related articles advises against creating See also sections.

Inline format for the left side with normal sized text and a coding that is supported by mobile versions of Wikipedia pages: See Template:Portal-inline for a listing of parameters.

Inline

• {{Portal-inline|Canada}}
• Canada portal

Inline format for the right side with normal sized text and a coding that is supported by mobile versions of Wikipedia pages: See Template:Portal for more information.

• {{Portal|border=no|Canada}}

Bar

The bar format is normally used for multiple portals. Note: this coding is supported by mobile versions of Wikipedia pages. This template does not belong in the "See also" section. Per MOS:SECTIONORDER, this template is bottom matter and goes below standard navigation template.

{{Portal bar|Canada|Example|border=no}}

The box on the right format with small text can incorporate multiple portals. Note: this coding is supported by mobile versions of Wikipedia pages':

Box

{{Portal|Canada}}

{{Portal|Canada|Example}}

For portals that don't have an icon assigned to them yet, the default portal puzzle piece will display larger, like this:

• Example portal

Most portals present the following:

• 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 information about the subject, or links thereto;
• Links to other related portals (using templates);
• Links to related WikiProjects (mainly for editors);
• {{Sister project links}} can be used to add Wikimedia sister-project links to a portal;
• Links to specific showcase articles within the scope of the portal topic;

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 "to do" list so visitors can help out).

Before creating a portal, check to see if the subject is already covered at Portal:Contents/Portals (look for synonyms).

There is no single standard design for portals. For further ideas on portal design, browse existing portals. Unlike WikiProjects, portals should not be created for an article maintenance category, but only for encyclopedic topics.

Creating an individual portal does not require pre-approval. However, when creating multiple portals you must comply with WP:MEATBOT and WP:MASSCREATION.

• For a simple portal, simply add a specific subcategory of Category:Portals to the bottom of the portal page.
• For a complex, multi-page portal, a portal category is needed.
• Portal categories are generally named [[Category:TOPIC portal]] where the portal itself is named [[Portal:TOPIC]].
• Portal categories are categorized under Category:Portals subcategories just like portals.
• Portals with their own categories are only categorized in that category, which in turn is put into the other categories that the portal would have been in.

Portals are subject to Wikipedia's five pillars and must comply with Wikipedia's core content policies (neutral point of view, no original research, verifiability, etc.).

It is common practice not to include references in portals. As on the Main Page, readers should be able to verify the portal content by following a prominent link to a relevant article, and checking the references there. This is called "follow through".

Content that is unique to a portal may be challenged in the portal, and must then be referenced in the portal, in the usual way, by inline citation using any of the accepted methods.

Content that is transcluded from another article does not need to be referenced in the portal as it should already be referenced in the original article. Any challenges to transcluded content must be done in the original article and not in the portal.