Users of the content management system can find relevant content from within a database by searching for keywords, authors, date of creation, etc. Web Content Management Systems can be used to create information portals which serve as the backbone of data management. Along with the database handling facilities, the software modules also allows anyone to contribute information to a website via a graphical user interface (GUI). They are usually based on a pre-written template that acts as a platform for each page in the site as those pages are created.

Content management system enables to establish a consistent look and feel throughout the site, but gives non-technical content authors the power to publish and update their own content using simple, but powerful, browser-based editors.

There are three basic participants in the web publishing CMS system:

• Content Editors (Decide what content to publish and where)
• Content Publishers (Publish the content on the web)
• Content Authors (Create the content for the web)

A CMS allows non-technical authors and editors to easily and quickly publish their content which is otherwise done by technical programmers. It also reduces the gaily stream of calls to the IT department for changes to the website. A content management system reduces time-to-publish, allowing you to get content published faster. This is an important issue for the modern organization.

This can be characterized as:

• Simple pages for normal presentation
• Complex pages, with specific layout and presentation
• Dynamic information sourced from databases and will change on regular time intervals
• Thousands of pages in total for different categories of customers
• Extensive linking between pages