CMS or custom built?

[TBBucs]

Ok, so I have a fairly ambitious project in the works, and I'm trying to decide whether to use a CMS or build it all myself. I've used Drupal fairly extensively and feel pretty confident with it, but I'm wondering if I will have more flexibility and whether it would be better in the long run to build it all myself.

Pros? Cons?

[zoomactive.com]

All depends on what is required and the clients budget,

If the client can afford to shell out money for a custom cms this is the way to go as you will be paid by the hour most likely.

If the client is on a shoe string budget, it is recommended to find a cms that encompasses the requirements and is easy to use.

[TBBucs]

In this case, it's actually a personal project of mine, so the only investment is time, which I am willing to spend. The question is whether or not the time spent is worth the benefits of a custom built system over a CMS.

[Encrypted]

Custom code it yourself. I hate CMS's with a passion and sites using them are more likely to be targeted by spam and bots.

[noob]

I have no clue what your project is about or what it involves so its hard to provide adequate feedback without all the details. However on a general level, depending on what you plan on doing with the project, in most cases, I recommend building a custom CMS.

On my last startup, we used a custom built in-house CMS because it gave us flexibility to understand code from the ground up and the ability to integrate code smoothly in several areas of the site. For example, rather than use external software (such as wordpress) to power our blog, we wrote our own code because this allowed people logged into our site to be tied to our analytics as well as blog posting from accounts (as well as post on our forum which was also custom built). It just makes it a million times easier to integrate with the rest of the site features (even though technically a lot of CMS available is opensource; it'd be easier to built one from scratch).

[jaexavier]

Also look from a convenience point of view...

If you go custom, be prepared to do lots of research.
If you go with Drupal, Joomla, or some other CMS, you get the convenience of add-ons that do specific functions so you don't have to build from the ground up.

Also keep in mind about the other aspects of your project, if you spend wayyy too much time on building the site, what about promoting it?

[webmaster111]

In custum you have to do all by your self. but using CMS like joomla and all u dnt have to work hard there, u already found the templates there.

visit at :: Teacher rating

[st351]

You should consider using some CMS that you are already familiar with. Building it from scratch is really a lot of hard work and you can invest your effort in some other areas. There are still web design that you have to do, setup, SEO, content and many other things.

On the other hand, if you will be building sites for a lot of other people, doing it from scratch will benefit you in a long run. If you have the code yourself, you can use the same code over and over again. But, keep in mind that it will take you a long time to get this pay off.

[adrianus]

If this was your personal project then it might be more tempting to build your own.

Pros :
push yourself and your project to the limit
Once your CMS been tested you could sell it for your next project

Cons :
a lot of sweat, right ? but I think it's still worth to try mate!

[timjahn]

I would highly recommend using an existing CMS platform like WordPress or Drupal. These platforms are quite secure these days due to their lifespan and surrounding communities. Unless you're doing it to learn, there's very little point in reinventing the wheel (or in this case, forums, blogs, user profiles, etc - all things that come standard with a good CMS usually).

[zorveo]

CMS is useful as a Framework and does greatly speed up development.

[graphical_force]

I agree with some of the above posts. If you want to do it as a learning experience, then you may want to custom code. If not, use a cms as a framework to build off of. Alot of the hard work is done for you and it will help speed up developing time. Also that in itself could be a useful experience for you if you plan to work with the cms of your choice for a client. Nothing wrong with becoming a expert with a certain cms.

Just my 2cents.