Hmmm I am scratching my head on this one and do not want to commit to anything until I am satisfied that I won’t loose my shorts trying to hack a system that is not up to what I need it to do from the SOW. The project in question needs a few very specific functions:

1) Some free content for casual users
(level 1)

2) Simple registrations for other article access (ala NYTimes) User name, email addy, password
(level 2) Level 2 can see level 2 content and level 1 content

3) Restricted content for paid members on three more tiers
(level 3,4,5) Level 3 can see level 3/2/1 - Level 4 can see level 4/3/2/1 - Level 5 can see level 5/4/3/2/1

4) Protected Search- When members search they cannot even see titles of higher article than they have privileges for same with feeds and SE indexing.

5) Semantic markup [Must be 508 compliant (they get government cheese)] without fighting an arcane CMS to make it 508 compliant

6) Site cookies must expire when the browser closes (possible sensitive information on higher level logins)

I thought EE could handle this elegantly but saw a thread on the forum that speaks otherwise now I am wondering if the support email that I received from sales was maybe over optimistic about EE’s ability to do what is required.

So now I am lost. I am a TXP head, but know better than to try and make this happen with TXP.

Thanks for any input/similar experiences!

Jamie

Hi Jamie.  Welcome to EE.

Let me first of all just say that there will be some additional work needed to make something this complex work in any CMS.  EE is no different, but I don’t see why this isn’t possible for you.

1) Some free content for casual users (level 1)

This would be “default” content.  No problem.

2) Simple registrations for other article access (ala NYTimes) User name, email addy, password
(level 2) Level 2 can see level 2 content and level 1 content

3) Restricted content for paid members on three more tiers
(level 3,4,5) Level 3 can see level 3/2/1 - Level 4 can see level 4/3/2/1 - Level 5 can see level 5/4/3/2/1

You’d probably do this by restricting access by user group.

4) Protected Search- When members search they cannot even see titles of higher article than they have privileges for same with feeds and SE indexing.

This might involve a bit of programatic logic on your part

5) Semantic markup [Must be 508 compliant (they get government cheese)] without fighting an arcane CMS to make it 508 compliant

EE does not in any way write your xhtml for you.  It is completely the job of the author to produce valid code, and in your case valid 508 code.  Absolutely no problem.

6) Site cookies must expire when the browser closes (possible sensitive information on higher level logins)

I don’t see this as an issue.  You’d need to disable the “remember me” feature.

I thought EE could handle this elegantly but saw a thread on the forum that speaks otherwise now I am wondering if the support email that I received from sales was maybe over optimistic about EE’s ability to do what is required.

So now I am lost. I am a TXP head, but know better than to try and make this happen with TXP.

Thanks for any input/similar experiences!

Why don’t you take EE for a spin and see what you can come up with? 

http://expressionengine.com/sales/try

If you think that you don’t have the requisite experience, you could post a job offer on the job board where you have access to hundreds of experienced EE developers.

Thanks for your reply Derek!

On numbers 2 and 3. How are groups created and admin-ed? Obviously on the point of two I would like it automated, but on point 3 there would need to be control. Is there a function on the back end for administering members? And how long the membership will last? When they need to renew etc.

On point 4,

What part (or is it all of the above) need to be hacked into EE? This could make system upgrades extremely problematic.

Why don’t you take EE for a spin and see what you can come up with?

Thanks I probably will, but I need to narrow the scope of what it can do “out of the box” before I even accept the SOW and take the project on. I have to have some idea of what the toolbox will offer on it’s own so to speak. I would still love to hear from anyone who has built something similar to see what the pitfalls may be. I don’t want to take on work I don’t feel comfortable executing and I don’t want to undercharge for something that may become more involved than it appears.

Thanks!