[Zope3-dev] Re: AW: IsarSprint topics - Zope 3 application components

[Philipp von Weitershausen]

dev at projekt01.ch wrote:

> I think there is a lot of work in the rotterdam skin
> to do. I hope I can fix some use in this skin.
> 
> - Hard coded folder contents implementation
> 
> - Percent size of left and main area, which is
>   not working if you have many zmi_actions registred

A CSS issue :)

> - Missing posibility for custom registration of
>   additional javascripts and css files. Not just
>   driven from a view.
> 
> - Missing area for additional information, where 
>   developer can use for to show global information
>   of their packages. (like a left slot)

Your statement is a tangent to the root of the problem. Rotterdam was a 
good start for a Z3 skin, but its limitations are obvious.

What we need is a new flexible skinning system. I know that you guys and 
other developers have worked torwards what is commonly called 
"pagelets".  A pagelet we understand as a small browser page component 
that is registered and can be applied to based on context, permission, 
and boolean filter. Pagelets can be one-liners such as CSS/JavaScript 
includers, portlets or whole page bodies. They are essentially Page 
Template macros/fill-slots turned into independent components that are 
looked up by interface, not by their template's name and macro/slot name 
inside that template.

A skin composed of pagelets will make the editing of the main template 
unnecessary 99% of the time.  It will also make the creation of new 
skins (hence the reinvention of the wheel) unnecessary 99% of the time. 
Plone has shown that this is quite possible.

IMHO, a new skin based on the pagelet concept and Plone's maxime of 
"sensible defaults" is absolutely necessary. I'm not a skinning expert 
but I've underwent some serious pain when I wrote the skinning chapter 
of my book. Others share that pain :) Plone's default skin certainly is 
a matter of taste, but its tremendous flexibility is very much proven, 
such as when the Plone team recently added Right-to-left language 
support with minor CSS and ZPT adjustments.

> I think we can disscuss on the sprint if we should work 
> on the rotterdam skin or implement a additional "isarskin".

I think we should follow the tradition and call a potential new skin 
Munich or wherever it's first being developed at.

Philipp