This question may be unusual. So I try to explain first. I’ve got an self programmed web portal with my own backend. Works fine so far but it’s not very comfortable. Now I’m planing a relunch (new design, new page structure) and ask myself if it would be a good thing to set my system on top of some CMS/Blog-Systems available out there (WordPress / Drupal / Cantao). This may bring me some comfort and tools for free in place of inventing the wheel over again.
I think that I only have use for the CMS to build the basic Page Structure, Navigation or also to use the news section (but got to extend it for my needs). The rest has to be custom made because my functions are really special – got an large book database, user accounts and much more.
http://www.fantasybuch.de/ (prepare for the language shock 😉
Does it make sense to go this way? And is there an CMS-System that is suitable for such an project?
I’m really thankfull for your ideas and hints. There is no one else I could ask. Please help me.
I think wordpress could be put to use here there are other sites using it for e-commerce like (http://lsdev.biz/portfolio/payd/, http://rockyourcause.com/shop)
the plugin (http://getshopped.org/) could be used for dealing with the comercial stuff. But you can also write your own code for handling payments and such. The wp system is extensible and widely used so it should be “future”-safe. Drupal and Joomla are a lot harder to grasp then wp from my understanding.
The big question i think is why do you feel the need to do this change?.