The Average CMS

[DrkFusion]

What exactly does the average CMS consist of?

[SmEdD]

News, Calander, Welcom Box, Latest Threads, Poll, Custom Blocks

[Xenon]

hmm, every CMS consists of code :p

(sorry, couldn't resist this time)

[Velocd]

News, Calander, Welcom Box, Latest Threads, Poll, Custom Blocks
This is what a generic portal might consist of.

A CMS system isn't a portal, although the best portals will contain CMS aspects.

A CMS is like vBulletin, a management system for content. A templating system, like vBulletin uses, is often regarded as the most valuable feature of a CMS.

CMS make content easier to manage for administrators who aren't fluent in programming. On the client side, they generally make the site more appealing.

The downside of CMS right now is there are so many of them, and they mostly all have the same features. A lot of talk amongst developers over at Sitepoint forums is to create robust XML structured CMS systems, to separate logic from presentation, etc. etc.

[DrkFusion]

I see, I was hired to develop a CMS for a company and just needed an idea on what the TYPICAL CMS consists of so I can break away from that and make it unique and more robust :-p

[Velocd]

I see, I was hired to develop a CMS for a company and just needed an idea on what the TYPICAL CMS consists of so I can break away from that and make it unique and more robust :-p
:\

Be sure to ask this company what they want out of the CMS, so you can personalize it to their taste. Most likely they're people not adapted in programming therefore need an easier environment to work in.

In this case, you really don't need to thrust out the innovation, unless they request something unordinary.