Best way to do this in S9y?

[yellowled]

Not entirely sure I get what you want to achieve. Let's see.

I want the front page to be my slideshow (could be done by a staticpage).

Currently the map portfolio gets auto-generated using the page names of the sub-pages. The main content I'd be putting there is new portfolio entries as I create them.

So is this slideshow supposed to be generated from the X latest portfolio entries? Or is this something you'd want to maintain manually? (I would use entries of a category -- "Portfolio" comes to mind -- to "feed" the portfolio.)

I'd also like some secured file storage for clients when working on a map for them.

You can have static pages protected by a password, and I think this is possible for entries as well (not sure, though).

Lastly I might even want a blog area Or articles.

Additional entry categories. No big deal.

I'm pretty sure this is possible, but as usual when leaving the "traditional path of using S9y", you gotta be aware that you're gonna have to do some manual tweaking and be willing to make some compromises. It's gonna need some planning before you start, you'll especially benefit from thinking through the navigation and overall site structure before you start. I'm not aware of any site doing something similar w/ S9y, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

YL