[Zope] - OO paradigm

Michael Bernstein mbernstein@profitscape.net
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 13:05:56 -0800


Ok, Here are my thoughts on an alternative navigation setup to the same
content.

I am changing the nomenclature to better fit the generalized approach I
am taking here. Each alternative hierarchy begins with a 'schema'
folderish object, which can contain 'node' folderish objects. 'node'
objects can contain other 'node' objects, as well as documents, images,
and properties. Only the bottom layer of 'nodes' (leaf nodes) is
available for assignment.

Again please forgive the simplification and pseudocode.

I am going to use as an example a fictional military memorabilia site.

-----------------------------
Root
   /Items
      /index_html                                        #document
      /Uniforms                                          #folder
      /Weapons                                           #folder
         /Firearms                                       #folder
            /gun1                                        #folder
             Assign to Schema_HistoricalPeriod/Node_WWII
             Assign to Schema_Nationality/Node_American
             desc_html                                   #document
         /Knives                                         #folder
            /knife1                                      #folder
             Assign to Schema_HistoricalPeriod/Node_WWI
             Assign to Schema_Nationality/Node_American
             desc_html                                   #document
            /knife2                                      #folder
             Assign to Schema_HistoricalPeriod/Node_WWII
             Assign to Schema_Nationality/Node_German
             desc_html                                   #document
   /Schema_HistoricalPeriod
      /Node_WWI
      /Node_WWII
   /Schema_Nationality
      /Node_German
      /Node_American
-----------------------------

This particular type of site can have people navigating to items
according to many more different classification schemas then I've listed
here. Since acquisition runs both ways, it should be trivial to navigate
to Root/Schema_HistoricalPeriod/Node_WWII and see links to both
gun1_html and knife2_html.

Specialized content can be acquired from the various nodes, such as flag
icons denoting nationality from the nodes under Schema_Nationality, off
site links to historical sites from under Schema_HistoricalPeriod, etc.

Most importantly, if I navigate to
Root/Schema_HistoricalPeriod/Node_WWII/knife2 , I should be able to have
a link in Root/items/index_html to Parent.Schema_Nationality and arrive
at Root/Schema_Nationality/Node_German and see all the other german
items in the site (again please forgive the pseudocode).

Any comments?

BTW, if anyone thinks that this is NOT a valid idea, please let me know.

Michael Bernstein