The Advantages Of Content Management Systems Versus The Custom Development Route

"If you've not seen Drupal, DotNetNuke, MovableType (requires licensing), Wiki, PHP-Nuke or SnipSnap, Rainbow Portal, you've probably at least heard of them. They're web applications loosely based around blog concepts (kinda like E2 day logs) which you install on your own server and configure as you see fit. They all make use of skins so you can tailor them to your individual look and feel. Each of the systems have their pros and cons and each have slightly different functionality from the next. Rather than call them "blog" sites, I prefer "community" sites as they're purpose is very community-oriented. Common functionalities include News, Forums, Comments, Skins, Polls, Content Management System and User Admin. Each particular system adds functionality in different flavours."