1. A method for performing caching operations in a client application in a logically separated client/server computing environment, the method comprising: determining for a plurality of portlets in a portal which portlet information is to be prefetched for each of the portlets, the determining comprising: composing a portal link structure, the portal link structure comprising a hierarchical arrangement of a plurality of portlet link entries, each portlet link entry containing data describing a corresponding portlet view; tracking a current portlet link entry as an entry whose corresponding portlet view is currently being displayed; and determining a distance between the current portlet link entry and another portlet link entry in the plurality of portlet link entries using the hierarchical arrangement of the plurality of portlet link entries to determine which corresponding portlet views should be prefetched; prefetching based on the determining a distance, on a client of the logically separated client/server computing environment, the portlet information from a server for the plurality of portlets in the portal, the prefetching being done before the portlet information is requested; storing the prefetched portlet information on a client computer; and displaying the prefetched portlet information upon request of a user.