[Zope-CMF] newbie looking to buy a clue

alan runyan alan runyan" <runyaga@runyaga.com
Thu, 30 May 2002 11:26:38 -0500


> As long as you don't need a "weblog" type page on on the front page of
your
> intranet, you can accomplish your intranet project in a day or two with
> Plone. It does have its limitations and if you try it and don't like it,
> you'll have to take the CMF (warts and all) and build your own solution
with
> it.

yes.  the postnuke guys are starting to realize that their system is 'flat'.
CMF is
heirarchical (like a filesystem) in nature.  your presentation can be flat.
or it can
be laid out like a normal folder structure.

> Squishdot is annother approach but not everyone likes a Slashdot-like
> intranet experience. Namely the type of dudes in your company that wear
> saffron yellow ties, deep blue shirts, and suits that cost more than the
PC
> on your desk. They have been known to use words like "capitalize", "value
> add proposition", and "paradigm shift".

squishdot is 100% DTML, almost more of a 'out-of-the-box' solution.
absolutely
the most horrendous ugly thing under the covers.  but it does the basic /.
stuff.

> To survive in the CMF world, you'll need more than a basic knowledge of
> Zope. Do you have a copy of "The Zope Book"? If not, run (don't walk) to
> your bookstore and get a copy. This is your means of survival. For CMF,
get
> comfortable with chapters 9 and 12 of "The Zope Book". This will come in
> handy when you have to add on your own functionality to your CMF projects
> via ZClassses.

I highly suggest looking at The Zope Bible.  It has a great section on
PageTemplates.
In my consulting I tell people to look at the Examples folder in their new
ZOPE and
try to understand how PageTemplates work. Just do some trial and error.
Under
how TAL works. <span tal:replace="here/title_or_id" /> after that they
should read up
on metal.  METAL is insanely cool but for a lot of people it will not sink
in immediately.
you will have to read, experiment, read, experiment.  and if you stick with
it, you will
be armed with the most elegant reusable dynamic html technology on the
internet.

> Also "The Zope Web Application Construction Kit" is good in explaining
parts
> of the CMF though skimpy on the details of DTML and other Zope basics.
Start
> with "The Zope Book" first then tackle "The Zope Web Application
> Construction Kit" later.

I've heard varying things about Web App Construction Kit.  Zope Book, Zope
Bible I can
testify are good books.  Zope Book on zope.org is being updated and has
great information
about ZPT.

> To do anything useful in CMF, you'll need to understand Page Templates.
DTML
> is very rarely used in the CMF, it uses an XML-like tags as its means to
> provide a template language. I'm reading "Zope: Web Application and
Content
> Management" because it covered this topic the best out of other books.
> Knowing ZPT is vital if you want your own content/resource "boxes" that
> appear on ZopeLabs (www.zopelabs.com) or www.zettai.com. The same goes if
> you want to customize the internals of CMF.

you will ultimately need some Python under your belt as well.  Python is
what makes ZOPE so cool.
It may not sink in yet.  But if you stick with it - you will start
appreciating Python much more than ZOPE!

~runygaa