Task 5: Setting Up Personalization

Personalization provides a way to deliver content to Web site visitors based upon various criteria. This includes information about the user (user profile), the users current session, the request made by the user, and other data. A personalized site provides the visitor with a better experience because the content displayed can be targeted to their interests.

One way to deliver personalized content is via a Placeholder, which is comprised of a JSP tag and a definition. The JSP tag is used by a developer on a portlet JSP, and it refers to the Placeholder definition which contains the rules that determine which content to display. In this tutorial task, you will be changing the definition of the placeholder and viewing the results in the portlet.

To tailor the content delivered in the Placeholder for specific users, a User Segment can be created and used in personalization definitions. User Segments provide dynamic classification of users based on various criteria.

For applications where more than one content item is to be displayed, or where non-image data is to be displayed, Content Selectors are provided. These are similar to Placeholders in that they have a definition managed by the administrators. But Content Selectors differ from Placeholders in the way that a developer uses them. The tradeoff is that Placeholders are easier to use, while Content Selectors provide greater flexibility.

This task provides you with instructions for personalizing delivery of the content you created in Tasks 1-4 of this tutorial. If you have not completed these tasks, please do so before starting Task 5.

This task take about 20 minutes to complete.

Task Goals

In this task, you will learn:

- How to add a personalized portlet to your portal
- How to create users with specific characteristics to use for personalization
- How to modify the definitions used for personalization

Task Overview

In this task you will add a personalized portlet to a desktop and see how it behaves when different users view the site. You will then modify the definitions that are used to control the personalization and see how these changes affect the appearance of the site for different users.

Steps in This Task

Step 1: Start the WebLogic Administration Portal

> In this step you open the WebLogic Administration Portal.

Step 2: Edit a User Profile

> In this step you edit a user profile so you can see your personalized portlet in the portal.

Step 3: Add a Personalized Portlet to a Desktop

> In this step you add a personalized portlet to a desktop and view it in a portal.

Step 4: Modify the Placeholder Definition

> In this step you modify the Placeholder definition and view the results.

Step 5: View the User Segments and Create Users

> In this step you view the User Segments and create users.

Step 6: Login and View the Content Selector

> In this step you login to the WebLogic Administration Portal and see the Content Selector.