I need something that woudl allow each user to have their own blog/photo albums/personal site/but also sorta be like php nuke with a bunch of addons options for the main site.

I made that investigation myself. After a few days of looking and reading .. my choices as best cms are:

Drupal and Mambo .. both free, fast and easy to use.

Both have comunities that support them, modules are available .. the usual.

Up until now, I ve installed only drupal .. only problem with it so far is the translation .. still not much support there.

I just installed mambo will post to see if it can have seperate stuff fore each user.

I recently started using Mambo for a site I'm developing, and it's very versatile. (and free)

http://www.mamboserver.com/

There has been a lot of good feedback on it from WHT members.

Got with Mambo.

whats a photo gallary component that would allow each use to contribute to their own album and have a main like in the site that woudl allow anyone to view them all

It all depends on what you want to use it for and the type of site you are running. The problem is when people try to use a CMS for something it wasn't made for and expect it to work perfectly without modification, such as phpNuke for a regular or business site.

I'm using only mine CMS because I can write it I want...
PHP + MySQL = Good CMS ;)

I'm using only mine CMS because I can write it I want...

Actually I've heard this from many people, especially developers. It's easier to go this road because you don't have to go through someone else's code, figure out what's going on there and how not to make it go kaput with your modifications. BTW, I second that :)

If your website is a business type, I prefer you create your own program. If you know php+mysql, you can do that. I think popular php portals are made for general sites with memberships, polls, etc.

I think popular php portals are made for general sites with memberships, polls, etc

I can neither agree nor disagree, since general sites use php portals, but on the other hand, some specific sites use php portals as well. As an example - some of the hosting sites advertised here built around vBulleting board, someone recently said he's going to build his hosting site around Mambo, I'm sure other examples are to be found by using search :)

Right, any CMS can be used for any purpose as long as you take the time to remove any extra function you don't need. phpNuke or PostNuke, once stripped down to the bare essentials, would make a fine CMS for any site. Just because a feature is there, doesn't mean you have to use it, or use it the way its intended.

For instance on a hosting site, you can take phpNuke's Your Account and change it into a customer contact form. They enter all their contact information, the package they are ordering, etc. and then that way, you have a database of all your customers, their site, their package and their contact information, etc. You can use it for anything, a ticket support system, support forums, etc. Its all in how creative or innovative you can be.

That's nice correct. but I'd rather build my own script for my own purpose than depending on a premade solutions. from my point of view, It's hard to edit or modify a program you haven't built.

ok, well I need to run a student portal, which would incluide, photo albums, vBulletin IF possible (share user names and passes) and a blog for each user. that would be the basics

I'm new to the whole world of cms, so i have a very basic question: Does something like mambo dictate the appearance of a website or just the background code?

ie, is it something like osCommerce shopping cart software where you're lumbered with a hideous looking site you have to try and disguise with bearly adequate html templates etc?

CMS refers to Content Management Systems. They're used to build website portals. They customize the appearance of your webiste, content blocks. Mostly, these CMS use PHP with mySQL for the background code. and ofcourse, you can customize templates, remove-add-modify content easily. Much more, PHPNuke is an example; http://www.phpnuke.org

I haven't tried mambo though! It comes free with cpanel

what else is good?

www.cpgnuke.com <-- security-conscious phpnuke variant
typo3.org
www.infireal.com

www.vezine.com is good :)

ya, what better for making a community

Is it easy to intergrate Mambo into templates from templatemonster?

i guess it depends on the template?

Not sure about mambo, but Vezine has one live example of integrating with TM. http://www.projectshark.co.uk/venzine I personally think Vezine has the most elegant and simplistic template system I have ever come across. Though its much more to article management, you can easily hack up the script because of their neat and easy to follow coding.