When You Need a CMS and When a Portal?

There are many open-source CMS tools that also have numerous ready-made templates and themes.

A CMS can be the very system when you don't need a very complex foundation to automate the maintenance of your content. Thus, people with little or no programming experience can manage this process without great difficulties.

Starting out with a CMS will enable you to develop at your own pace while keeping the content properly administered. Having a CMS in place, you will also be able to add to your site such common functionalities, as a blog, a photo album, a forum, a chat room, etc.

The portal knows its users. A good portal can recognize all of its members (authorized, active users) and provide resources and services to them in accordance with their roles, interests, preferences, and permission rights. The more portals know about their members, the more personal and useful they are.

The portal should be 'yummy'. Good portals are sticky. They have attractive features and useful extensions, and generally encourage users to come back again and again.

The portal is well used. Good portals are regularly visited and used. Low usage of a portal can be a clear indication of certain drawbacks, for instance, bad design or poor maintenance. It can also indicate that the portal does not meet the functional or technical needs of users.