Techniques for developing applications for various frameworks. An IDE is provided comprising user-selectable options for building applications for a first framework and also for building applications for a portal based upon a second framework different from the first framework. The portal applications for the portal based upon the second framework may be developed using a language supported by the first framework. User-selectable options provided by the IDE also enable deployment of the portal applications to the portal. A single IDE can be used to develop applications for different frameworks. For example, Visual Studio .NET may be used to develop applications for the .NET framework and also to develop and deploy portal applications (e.g., portal snippets) for a portal based upon a Java-based framework such as J2EE. The portal snippets may be developed using a .NET language.