[Zope] *Designing* Zope sites

Joel Burton jburton@scw.org
Wed, 7 Mar 2001 11:17:10 -0500 (EST)


I've been learning about the workings of Zope: ZClasses, ZSQL methods,
Python products, etc., and there are *lots* of resources about the APIs,
and lots of products to add content to our sites.

There is also lots of help on how to *set up* a Zope site: how to tie
w/Apache, etc.

What I haven't found yet, though, is much advice on how to *design* the
Zope site:

 . effective ways to use User Folders

 . whether to make containing folders for like objects (eg book reviews),
and collect these for lists with objectValues, or whether to add them
under user folders/different contexts, and use ZCatalog searches to find
them.

 . how to handle printable pages throughout a site

 . strategies for using ZSQL methods throughout a site

and so on

The Zope book tosses some nuggets of advice here and there, but doesn't
build up a site, so we don't really get to see the workings of a talented
Zope architect. Other documentation focuses on how to Do Things, like use
SQL methods, or how to build products.

I've had a little bit of time to look at the CMF, and that has some
structure about reviewing, etc. (and seems to advocate the 'place things
in user folders, use ZCatalog to find' method); however, I'm not designing
something that seems so portal-ish, and this seems like a hegemonic
solution to a design question.

So:

Am I missing any resources on fitting it all together?

Are there 'example sites' that someone could describe?

Would anyone with a well-designed site be willing to export it all up and
post it somewhere, so we could explore it?

Or are there other ways of starting this learning path?

-- 
Joel Burton   <jburton@scw.org>
Director of Information Systems, Support Center of Washington