Hello Ken,

There is a way to apply a separate set of field templates for Customer Portal users.

In the Windows client, right-click on a project and select 'Edit Project'. In the Web client, select the project and click the 'Edit Project' button.

You'll see a list of settings on the lefthand side of the Edit Project window. Select 'Customer Portal Settings'

Here you can assign a template of your choice for each item type which will only apply to your Customer Portal users.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any further questions.