legacy-web-portal-shell

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.