Custom software

# Web Portals: Accounts and Roles, Not a Locked About Page

A web portal is who logs in and what they are allowed to see. A public site with one password on a PDF folder is not a portal — it is a shared drive with extra steps.

CodeLoop Studio·August 26, 2026·5 min read

![People collaborating on laptops — a logged-in portal, not a brochure](https://www.codeloop.ba/_next/image?url=%2Fblog%2Fizrada-web-portala-cover.jpg&w=3840&q=75)

Photo by [fauxels](https://www.pexels.com/@fauxels) on [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/3184360/)

A web portal is who logs in and what they are allowed to see: partners, clients, staff, subscribers. Content plus rights. A public About page with one password on a shared folder is not a portal. It is a drive with extra steps.

CodeLoop Studio in Sarajevo builds portals when the job sits between a brochure and a full operations system. Closer to a web app than to [website development](https://www.codeloop.ba/blog/izrada-web-stranica). The commercial roof is [custom software development](https://www.codeloop.ba/custom-software-development). This note is how we use the word so the quote matches the work.

## Portal, app, CRM, shop — four contracts

A portal is usually documents, news, or a catalogue behind accounts, with an admin your team can run. A web app is a process: state changes, approvals, the next action — [web app development](https://www.codeloop.ba/blog/izrada-web-aplikacija). A CRM is pipeline and people if that is the centre of gravity — [custom CRM development](https://www.codeloop.ba/custom-crm-development). A cart is still a shop.

We will not sell you a social network in v1\. We will not bolt “AI news” onto an empty CMS. Roles are drawn on paper before UI.

## What v1 usually contains

* **Login and roles.** Who sees the list, who publishes, who only reads. A third role waits unless the brief names it.
* **Admin your people will use.** If every update is a ticket to us, the portal dies in month three.
* **You keep the data.** Server, backups, keys. Typical custom arc is 3–9 months; a thinner portal can be shorter when the audience is frozen.
* **Proof without invented seats.** [Hena Em](https://www.codeloop.ba/study-case/hena-em) is accounts and operations staff run. That is closer to a portal than a brochure. We do not publish fake user counts.

## When the word is wrong

If nobody logs in, you want a site. If the only document is a price list and a cart, you want a shop. If WordPress membership is the proposed shortcut, read [when not WordPress](https://www.codeloop.ba/blog/kada-ne-kreirati-wordpress-web-stranicu). Choosing the contract is also [web app vs website](https://www.codeloop.ba/blog/razlika-izmedju-web-aplikacije-i-web-stranice).

## How to start

Send who should log in, what they must see in month one, and who will publish after handover. We reply within **24 hours** — [online estimate](https://www.codeloop.ba/online-estimate) or [contact](https://www.codeloop.ba/contact). Kickoff on Dobrinja or online.