[Zope-CMF] Ideas for best implementation?

[Rachel Cunliffe]

Hi there,

I'm hoping to set up a system whereby I will be serving as an online
directory for a (hopefully!) reasonably large client base:

* Clients will pay for a set number of pages (eg about us, contact info,
photo album, dynamic calendar of upcoming events etc) - they will not all
choose the same number/ones from the available list.

* Content of those pages will need to be easily updateable online by either
the webmaster or the client.

* Possibility of clients (not visitors) choosing their own template from a
list of templates - menu will be dynamic since each client may have
different pages paid for

* Entirely searchable directory - pagination if the results are too long

* Overall "What's on today?" links to various events by clients

* Clients get http://www.myname.mystem.com (www.mystem.com being the main
start-up page for searching clients etc)

I'm happy with PHP/MYSQL -- but I can see that writing my own little scripts
could be re-inventing someone else's wheel - and there's lotsa coding
involved here.  I want a really robust, efficient system so that if this
takes off, I'm not going to be stuck writing/rewriting my code, managing the
db, kicking myself I didn't think big in the first place.

I've heard people talking about Zope, and I have had a little play with the
tutorial (because ideally I need something that is open source) - seems a
bit of a transition from my php/mysql thinking (: but I would appreciate
pointers as to what I should also consider - is Zope for me?  If so, are
there any people who've customised Zope (using CMF, and even plone) similar
to this?

Thanks very much
Rachel