[Zope3-dev] [DRAFT] local portlets and perspectives

[Jean-Marc Orliaguet]

Jim Fulton wrote:

>>
>> Hi Jim, here are the concepts defined:
>
>
> It's too bad these aren't defined in a more perminent and referenceable
> location.
>
>> - A *theme* is a visual unity, when you go from cnn.com to bbc.co.uk you
>> see that sites are using different themes. The includes, colors, styles,
>> icons, etc.
>
> >
>
>> - Inside a same theme there are *pages*, pages use the styles defined in
>> the theme, but the layout may be different (3 columns -> 2 columns) from
>> one page to another. The rationale is that when you create a new page,
>> you want to be able to reuse the same styles.
>>  
>>    typically there is: the front page, the section page, the login
>> page ...
>
>
> A page, as defined here, seems to be a template, as opposed to a page
> with
> a particular URL. I take it all section index.html pages use the same
> theme pages.  The use of the term "page" here seems unfortunate.  If a
> section
> has a page for searching, would that also use the section page from
> the theme?
> Or would that use some other theme page?
>
a page has a "template" like a Zope Page Template, that would correspond
to the idea of layout.

it's as unfortunate as a name as the <browser:page /> directive that is
associated to a browser view, and a page template. But the idea is the same.

it is more like a browser page than a site's page in any case.. i.e. a
page that you see in your browser, the same "page" as in "PageMaker", a
canvas, a template, etc..

> I think this is a critival point.  When I visit a URL on a section, say:
>
>   .../mysection/foo.html
>
> what determines which theme page is used?
>

there is a negociation, a default theme page to fall back to, but you
can specify the page to use in many ways; through a URL parameter,
?page=frontpage, through a cookie, through a session variable, by adding
a subscriber to IBeforeTraverse and set the page to a "calendar" page if
you enter a part of the site that has to doing with calendaring
application...

>> - a *section* of a site is not specific to cpsskins, it can be a folder,
>> a project room, a workspace, cnn.com has "World", "U.S", "Weather", etc.
>>
>> - *cells* are layout elements in a page that could be also called
>> "columns", the left column can contain navigation portlets, the right
>> column can contain ads, the main column usually the document being
>> looked at.
>
>
> So a single cell can contain multiple portlets?  

yes

> I assume that they need not
> be layed out soley in columns.
>
if the portlets are to be presented horizontally then it's the cell's
layout that takes over. The notion of cell is about  logical containment
not about presentation, however cells have a layout. Cell elements need
a view to be displayed that involves the cell's layout.

with a text renderer the cell is the same, but the cell's rendering is
different from the one of a web browser.

>> - *global portlets* are part of a page, they are placed in cells. i.e.
>> if a page is displayed and the portlet is in the page, then the portlet
>> will be displayed. Typically global portlets are: the logotype, some
>> navigation portlet. Only theme designers can manage global portlets.
>> They make the theme's skeleton.
>
>
> So a theme page has some cells that are each filed with 0 or more
> global portlets?

yes

>
>> - *slots* are placeholders that can contain portlets. A theme designer
>> will add slots to a theme, but it's not up to him/her to define which
>> portlets will be displayed in the slot. The theme design will decide
>> what style the portlets inside the slots will have.
>
>
> Is a slot a kind of portlet? 


from the cell's perspective yes, in the sense that it is contained in
the cell like global portlets.

but if you compare slots and portlets then no it's not a portlet, a slot
refers to portlets, and a slot without portlets to refer to will not
display anything.

however the portlets inherit the format properties associated to slots.
so you can see slots as a collection of portlets that share properties.


> Does a slot go into a cell?

yes, like global portlets

> Do pages contain both slots and cells? Or do pages contain
> cells, which can contain either slots or global portlets?

pages contain cells, that contain global portlets, or that contain slots
that refer to local portlets

slots and global portlets can be found inside a same cell

>
>> - local portlets are placed in slots by the users themselves.
>
> >
>
>> here is an illustration:
>>
>> on the chalmers website here is the front page:
>> - http://www.medic.chalmers.se/~jmo/Zope3/chalmers-1.png
>>
>> here is the same page with the slots, global portlets and local portlets
>> shown:
>> - http://www.medic.chalmers.se/~jmo/Zope3/chalmers.png
>>
>>   - global portlets are represented in orange, no user that is not theme
>> designer is allowed to modify them
>>   - the slots are represented by areas with a red border.
>>   - the local portlets are represented in violet. users who work with
>> content can modify them and add new ones into the slots.
>>
>> here the template uses with Chalmers institutions:
>> - http://www.medic.chalmers.se/~jmo/Zope3/tme.png
>>
>> content creators can only add content inside the predefined slots, which
>> guarantees that the graphic profile is preserved.
>
>
> Ah, so the "users" you are refering to are the content managers, not the
> end users (site visitors) of the system?


yes, the content managers.

/JM

>
>>
>> What problem perspectives solves?
>> ------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> I'd respond to this section later once I'm sure I understand the basic
> concepts and terminology.
>
> Jim
>
>