When dealing with user-generated content, is it always better to just use a CMS like WordPress?

Question

I am a web developer who is planning to build a web application which requires user-generated input, with that input presented somewhat like a blog in the sense that there is an article with pictures, and a gallery, along with some special features which will require me to add custom html and js, with Google API integration.

Originally, I was planning to do the above using Laravel 5.3 and bootstrap/materializecss, as these are my specialties and go-to php/css frameworks. Though, after thinking about the blogging part for some time, I would probably have to remake the wheel or at least tailor an existing one to achieve ends without something like WordPress. Learning WordPress could take me some time, and I still don't know if it's worth the effort since I already know Laravel.

Stack exchange and Quora both have their own, excellent custom content editors used when asking questions.

Thinking of solutions, if I go with Laravel: I could generate a unique slug or unique id, so when the user accesses the url with the unique id/slug, it will just reference to a json column in my database with all the content saved inside, and just render the content based on the format and content saved in my json file e.g:

{
 "id":1
 "author":"someAuthor",
 "content":"Some Long Article mywebsite[mylink.com] image[imagesource.somewhere.com/myimage.jpg]",
 . . .

This would be a rough format of the solution I would do if I use Laravel. As you might have noticed, the CMS part is what I'm worried about, particularly because I have no experience with building one.

In this case, what should I use? Is WordPress the answer? Or is Laravel a better choice?

Answer 1

The question of whether to use an off the shelf produce or develop your own is always a tricky one. Often going for the 'quick fix off' the shelf solution can turn into a customisation nightmare as you tweak it to your requirements.

Personally I think the key question you have to ask yourself is "Is this the thing that makes my business different from the competitors?".

If the answer is yes, the you need to be making that thing yourself.

If the answer is no, then use an off the shelf product

Answer 2

Assuming that off the shelf is the answer, rather than developing your own solution (see Ewan's answer), WordPress is not necessarily the only solution. There are now various CMS as a Service providers, which you might find easier to integrate into a custom web application than WordPress.

Which option you go for depends entirely on your use case (as ever), but I would suggest carefully evaluating all the options - a little analysis time up front could save you days of trying to mangle a product to fit a task for which it is not well suited.