I'm looking for a web portal software to list the shops in our city. Basically, I have the following requirements. 1) List all the services as Categories for easy navigation (Example: Hotels, Gymnasiums etc.) with good looking templates. 2) When a shop is listed, I need to upload the shop photos to that page so the visitors would get a clear idea about their product quality etc. 3) Most importantly, the user comment section needs to be enabled for every shop pages. For example, if KFC is listed in the "Hotels" category, the users need to have the privilege to comment about their experience with that shop. Which software do you recommend for this? I would prefer a free/GNU software.
If I understand correctly and all you want is a site where you can set categories, post information and photos about those businesses on their own pages with categories assigned, and allow commenting by website users, Wordpress should be able to do what you need. You can add things like Google Maps to a businesses' page, control commenting, upload pictures very easily, take advantage of hundreds of free plugins, and it is a free CMS (aside from your domain name and web hosting cost). If your host has Cpanel with Fantastico or a similar 1-click installer that will install Wordpress for you, you don't even have to FTP anything and your setup should be fairly easy for most of what you want to accomplish.
Joomla is best with Sobi2 as directories component or you can use Virtuemart as Shop site. readmore at: Welcome to Joomla! Goodluck
If you have Cpanel, Just go to "softaculous" or "Fantastic Delux" in the installation section. You can get the required softwares with no installation headache.
I will create your site in any CMS structure. It will be easier for you to edit the page information and design.