Jerome Please correct me if I misunderstand your idea and its scope.. 1. You want to embed meta_data header comments inside Zope files just as Python encourages doc strings 2. This is allows much more flexible Zope workflow because a wider arrange of tools and paradigms can be used: ZODB/Zope ones as well as external flat-file style apps [Editors, Dreamweaver, wxyzIDE, ZShell, Smart-Clients, Flash front ends, XML-RPC tools, etc..] 3. These embedded meda_type data comments wodl faciliate meta_methods = a fancy name for methods aimed at auto-processing and handling of filse which inlcude this information. ...It sounds wonderful to me. Over time this could help to make Zope much more self-administering. Especially as it extends to include more media filetypes, special documents, XML formats etc.. Zope's basis as a publishing framework really begs to go beyond its own current meta_types. But the process still seems way too adhoc and need too much manual attention. Thre are some contexts where one might want ot store media fiesl in the ZODB up to cettain size or wher they are known to be static, while at a certain point they need to migrate to LocalFS, ExtFile/Image etc. Documents are the same. One might want to initialize a site with dummy 'stub' files and document types, then use 'meta_methods' to load and manage the current data/media, based on higher level custom programs and conditions. An interesting example of a Product which would help and be helped is DocumentLibrary: http://www.zope.org/Members/Kaivo/DocumentLibrary ./Jason