The Utah GIS Portal was constructed using Joomla, an open source content management system, an several custom extensions including Community Builder.

Here is a partial list of features that have been implemented on the site:

• All content is stored in a MySQL database and is retrieved and formatted using a site template and CSS formatting parameters on the fly. Templates and CSS files can be edited without having to reload content.
  
• Because content is stored in a single database, the search functionality is able to search all content items and the events calendar. Complex searches can be made from the Site Info -- Search menu item [more info] . A comprehensive site map [more info] is available from the Site Info menu button and its content is also database driven. Joomla-based sites do quite well with SEO.
• Site administration is done through a web browser interface allowing for remote access anywhere that an internet connection is available. Several levels [more info] of administrators and privileged users are available.
• Registered users can submit weblinks, content items, and calendar items and can update their own personal contact information and avitar image, all via the site's front end browser interface. A WYSIWYG editor allows for content items to be authored with rich HTML content such as tables, images, and links. Registering users must enter a text string from an image in order to avoid mass user resistration bots and must agree to the site's acceptable use policy [more info].
• User submissions, including content items and images can be held waiting approval by a site administrator. The administrator is notified when submissions are made either through the site's backend interface or via email.
• A commenting interface allows registered users to add notes or corrections to selected site content.
• The latest content item posts are shown on the front page as well as the most popular content items. A hit count is kept for all content items and can be viewed through the backend administrator.
  
• Content can be subscibed to through a variety of RSS feed readers.
• Custom interfaces can be built for database queries or input to the backend MySQL database.
• The header banner images are randomly displayed from a directory of images on the server.
• All emails on the site are protected from email address mining with a simple javascript-based conceal functions.
• A foul language filter is installed to prevent inappropriate language missed by the administrators from being displayed.
• Simple polls can be published to the sites front page together with results to date.
• A backup utility creates a zip file of the MySQL database and emails it nightly to AGRC staff.