I am going to be making a large site (like bbc, or cnn or other sites with many articles and links) and was wondering if there was technology (scripts, programs, methods) that can detect the speed of the users computer and in turn choose the low-bandwidth site (less pictures and gifs) for them, and if they have sufficient bandwidth, it automatically takes them to the normal sites displaying news thumbnails and such, is this possible? Thanks for your help, i greatly appreciate it. 
Why not let the user choose for themselves ?
Assume the user has no knowledge of computers and does not wish to bother themselves with it, assume there is a lot of competition and trying to make the experience as easy and hassle free as possible (e.g. The user doesn’t know that the more pictures there are, the slower the computer goes) And they wouldn’t be missing that much if i choose low or high bandwidth site for them, except ofcourse more design features, which really aren’t necessary. Just gives you easier navigation options and different previews when you enter the site, and there won’t be so much active scripts like those that tell you what news is occuring (scrolling news text etc.) Thanks =)
imho, if it was a very big site, you should use less graphics on it. Less graphics does not mean poor design.
for content management, try phpwcms… go to google and do a search for “phpwcms” because i forgot the url to the site… or you could make your own script or you could use mine (hehehe, it is not very good though)
