WordPress, other blog software, or a CMS?

[sbonner]

I'm going to redesign a website for a group that I work for that has been struggling to get off the ground, and I want to weigh in my best options.

The group ultimately wants blogging from its staff, a seasonal journal (articles and reviews), a searchable database system listing approved games in our network, and probably some light community features.

Work getting the group up has been very slow, however, and I personally think we do not need all of the features and weight of a full-blown CMS system -- especially since our database hasn't even been made, most members of the staff cannot program, and the journal's 4 months behind schedule. Currently, they are using Joomla (and some RSS feature broken and they can't even fix that).

Would it be smarter for me to just set them up with a WordPress site? Can it be expanded later to include an integrated database and community features in a simple fashion?

I want to keep things simple but so simple that it would be a headache later on to expand the site. I am NOT the group's strongest PHP programmer, but I'm the only one with time.

Any ideas?

[thanks_but_no_thanks]

would advise MU, this will alllow multiple blogs and in the future you can use community plugins such as buddypress (facebook kind of thing) which normal wordpress would not support, in regards to the database yes, you can easily tap into wordpresses database object.

[cheezo]

yes. forums such as phpbb, smf and buddypress especially cam easily be integrated with wordpress. there are even lots of tutorials for it. and wordpress is seo friendly that there are lots of plugins depending to your preferences.

[sbonner]

Thanks.

I already use a plug that pretty much integrates my phpbb forums and WordPress sites for my own personal project and it's worked out pretty well, so I think it'll be adequate for what they'll need. I have never heard of Buddypress, so I'll be sure to look into it!