| name | legacy-web-portal-shell |
| description | Build a believable mid-2000s Web Forms portal shell that fronts older sidecar web apps without collapsing them into one surface. |
| domain | web-forms |
| confidence | medium |
| source | earned |
Context
Use this when a legacy sample needs a main intranet or partner portal, but the repo already contains more specialized Web Forms or MVC applications. The portal should feel like a polished front door layered on top of an already messy estate.
Pattern
- Use a Web Forms master page with glossy gradient chrome, utility nav, and footer-era cues like MySpace links or “best viewed” hints.
- Keep the portal focused on dashboard and routing responsibilities: quick links, alerts, promo/status cards, and a district snapshot page are usually enough.
- Link out to specialized surfaces using plausible virtual-directory style URLs (
/CustomerHub/..., /FranchisePortal/..., /Storefront/) instead of pretending everything lives in one clean application.
- Add light jQuery-era behavior as progressive enhancement only; the page should still read clearly if the old script does nothing.
- Prefer hardcoded sample data or simple
DataTable binding in the before-state unless a work item explicitly asks for deeper service/data integration.
Anti-Patterns
- Turning the portal into the new single source of truth for every workflow.
- Making the UI too modern or too ironic; it should look aged, not self-aware.
- Blocking the page on JavaScript when a classic server-rendered fallback would feel more authentic.