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long story short... I used Joomla from the first version all the way to version 1.4. So, I do understand Joomla a bit. I design websites for people and found that it was easier for them to learn Wordpress. I also like the auto update in Wordpress and the ease of installing add-ons.

HOWEVER

I think I have met a client who is making me consider switching back to Joomla for his project because I am having no end of trouble from Wordpress.

The PROJECT

Client has a large family who own 5 cabins in the woods.

Main site has very little information available to the public. A lot of the information is hidden behind a login for family members only.

Client would like to have a community type area for family members to share stories about camping, fishing, post pictures, etc.

I installed Wordpress Multi-site (allows you to have two different sites) and installed a product called BuddyPress (which is like a "lite" version of Facebook).

I have had to install a half dozen add-ons just to accomplish the following...
- hide private pages
- allow users to register in buddypress and have that login transfer to the main site

I won't go on about Wordpress and all the issues I'm having - suffice to say Buddypress is VERY unfriendly (I'm a 14 year webmaster) and I don't think the average family member is going to understand any of it... login / logout is goofy... getting from the community area to the main site is cumbersome.

JOOMLA + COMMUNITY BUILDER????

So, at this point I'm seriously considering moving them to Joomla 2.5 with Community Builder. I'm wondering if the private pages and community will be more seamless in Joomla.

Will probably do a test install to see...

Any comments?

2.5 has extensive ACL ability and I think can easily accomodate your scenerio. Just with the standard publc/registered access too.

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Joomla! Web Hosting, Design, and Consulting.
Portfolio: http://www.calweb.com/joomla
Please do not PM me for help, use the forums first.

I'm a Joomla newbie and setting up restrictions on content based on access rights has been easy peasy.

I don't think you'll have any problem doing what you are trying to do in Joomla. We do just such a thing for our corporate web site. There are certain pages and menus that are only viewable to employees after they sign in. We use JomSocial and the login from the main Joomla site logs them into JomSocial as well, and vice versa.