CMS, Custom Design or Old the Fashioned Way?

for a new application

[old_expat]

I've been planning this thing for years! It requires the addition of text descriptions and images from registered customers that would be displayed on a page on a long-term basis. Users would be able to contact/buy the services offered and pay direct.

First I decided to go with a custom application PHP and mySQL .. the guy kept my 50% and "got too busy" to continue. Second programmer didn't want a deposit, but never delivered.

Another way might be to use Joomla and a directory plugin and specific secondary application to do the business end .. but the secondary application has some quirks.

And then, PayPal integration.

I'm worried about my server getting bogged, about getting hacked, etc, etc and wonder if the old fashioned way may not be better.

I'm thinking about an emailed form (from my customer) that I can copy and paste to a HTML page (or inserted by me into a database) with all the "pay me the money" links to the customer's choice of payment plans.

Am I working my way toward a disaster?

[buckminster1]

I have gone back and forth with this very same problem. Use a CMS or hand code. Because I am not totally proficient with PHP yet, I use a CMS for my How To posts, but not for the main system. There are too many variables. However, use of 'php include' has really helped clean up my index.php templates so that I can create one page and simple copy and rename the pages for my content. Then, I simply create various *.html pages in an /elements directory for the content. I am satisfied with that for now.

[old_expat]

I'm thinking I might build a mix of static pages and a few pages that query a database. I'm capable of designing very simple databases and writing simple queries .. so the dynamic pages could generate abbreviated and basic information in list form and links to the full static pages.

I have a good site search engine that will find certain names and terms that would otherwise be hard to find by a database search.

I suppose that if I lay out the database with the possibility of expansion in mind, it should scale pretty well.