[Zope-CMF] Newbie observation: CMF-site default skins

[Jeffrey_Franks@i-o.com]

1) My expection for 'BASIC' skin was that it would be "basic", and more related
     to, well, "simple". This got turned upside-down when I figured out that
this skin is based
     on ZPT technology, and beginners were encouraged to use DTML first before
     going to something that is more non-intuitive (and certainly not basic).
This was
     mis-leading. I understand, now, that 'BASIC' is with the viewpoint of
Zope-CMF promoted
     usage expections, and not related to level of intuitiveness. That ought to
be expressed
     and communicated somewhere in newbie getting-started docs.

2) Newbies expect default skins to render pages without errors for default
material
     that comes with setting up a web-site. This did not happen for CMF-1.3beta1
because
     of http://collector.zope.org/CMF/2 which I was not smart enough to find
     until going thru a lot of trouble. I peaked into beta2 and found the
trouble spot fixed
     with replacing the offending "Id" with "getId". I used customization for
the
     generic/index_html, and that fixed the serious problems I was having with
skins.
     I wonder how many other newbies just gave up because they could not get
default
     stuff to work. Please give us a break. Newbies are life-blood for growing a
high usage
     framework. Reading a traceback, and getting the sense of it is just not
going to happen
     when things break out-of-the-box for newbies. Newbies need more up-front
     docs regarding these types of "potholes".

3) The Zope-CMF author's expectations for out-of-the-box skins are not clear to
newbies. One
    example is the content for CMF-site description field. HTML markup for
un-numbered
    lists gets rendered as text for 'BASIC' skin, but renders as anticipated for
'No CSS'
    and 'Nouvelle' skins. This is confusing. Did the author of these skins
expect that users
    could switch the skins in the preferences and allow them to be
inter-changeable?
    That would require a more restricted use of content in the site description
field. Did I
    miss that requirement somewhere? If these skins were mere unrelated examples
of
    what the capability of Zope-CMF skins can do, please give a clueless newbie
a clue and just
    tell them that and tell them what not to expect.

Recommenation: Please give newbies a "Start here" roadmap with "Beware of these
potholes" in
    get you water-wings Zope CMF documenation. This would reduce the friction of
getting up the
    Zope-CMF learning curve and produce new adherants with  positive quicker
startup experiences.

The above is expressed from the lips of a newbie not wishing to be severely
flammed. These
practicle suggestions are given in good spirit and could help in making a neat
framework
much easier to use for newbies.

-- jlf