Before diving into WordPress just wanted to see if it is possible to have private section of website, where-in content specific to user is made available, for consumption by the viewer only, or her/his invited members, and not automatically available for all members. What are the ways in which I could personalize the member’s experience ?
Is this possible using some WP-plugin, or would it require extensive programmatic changes ? If so, is my requirement in some sort of fundamental contradiction with WP philosophy/design, and thus it is not a good idea to proceed with WP?
My inclination towards WP is it’s power and popularity as a CMS, with a plethora of plugins, s.t. in this particular project of mine, where time is the thing in shortest supply (well, after money), I am hoping to get some leverage. Another very important reason is that I am not very familiar designing web-applications, portals etc.
A basic installation of wordpress can restrict posts and pages to specific user roles and/or password protect them.
By adding more than the standard 5 user roles or duplicating a certain role to transform their function from role to essentially user groups you can extend those capabilities.
As you said there is a plethora of plugins and some of those also cater to user and user role management. Check out this article on extending wordpress with plugin combos and especially check the last section titled “Create Your Own Custom Membership Site”. Apart from the 4 plugins mentioned there (which all are awesome) you can search for similar plugins in the wordpress plugin directory. To really be able to judge the power and suitability of a plugin you need to have a wp installation ready and test yourself.