Hi Derek, Take a look at http://www.zope.com/Demos/ it has some flash demos of how the CMF can be used and it's purposes. Also, http://www.zopezen.org also runs the CMF. It's a very cool product that has workflows that can be customized to suit your needs. Cheers, Todd On 14 Jan 2002, Derek Simkowiak wrote:
I see that Zope has these cool things:
o User Management and Permissions control o Version Control o Undo o Web-based GUI for site administration o ZPT and WebDAV support for working with things like SiteBuilder, FrontPage, etc. under OS X and WinXP
These are all hallmarks of a great Content Management System. I can easily see how I'd divide up my clients' corporate website using Zope.
So my question is: WTF is "CMF" for? What problem does it try to solve? How is it different from, well, plain old Zope?
I've read the "Introduction" at
http://cmf.zope.org/doc/introduction.txt
But it doesn't answer my question. (Honestly, it provides practically no information whatsoever and reads like a marketing document. Sorry to whoever wrote it.) It refers to "services" with names like "SiteDesignServices" and "IntegrationServices", but I have to clue what those are or where to find more information about them, or why I'd want them.
I've also read [much of]
http://cmf.zope.org/CMF/Members/beehive/ZWACK- Chap5.html
...which shows me that CMF hides the Zope admin interface to endusers. Is that the whole point of CMF? Also, from this I see that CMF provides basic "types" such as "File", "Document", "Image", and "Folder". Are these different from Zope's types of the same name? Or are they the same thing?
I have not yet d/led and installed--that's my next step. But I'd like to have a document, case study, or demo that I can show my client before I put more billable hours into this.
Please advise.
Thank You, Derek Simkowiak
_____________________________________________- __ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinf- o/zope-announce http://lists.zope.org/mailman- /listinfo/zope-dev )
-> It's a very cool product that has workflows that can be customized -> to suit your needs. Thank you for the reference. But I still don't know why I'd want CMF over plain old Zope. How do you define "workflow"? I want to know what it is that CMF gives me. As far as I can tell, Zope's "Permissions" let me establish "workflow" as I see fit. Is it just that CMF makes it easier to construct Portal sites? Thanks, Derek
Wrong, workflow and permissions live on different planets. Read the workflow doku! And CMF has skins, Dublin core, easily configurable portal types that can be hooked into a workflow .. Life's a real moaner when billable hours prevent you from collecting information that enables you to bill for your time. Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Derek Simkowiak" <dereks@realloc.net> To: <tgraham@speakeasy.net> Cc: <zope@zope.org> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 11:01 PM Subject: Re: [Zope] CMF Intro?
-> It's a very cool product that has workflows that can be customized -> to suit your needs.
Thank you for the reference.
But I still don't know why I'd want CMF over plain old Zope.
How do you define "workflow"? I want to know what it is that CMF gives me. As far as I can tell, Zope's "Permissions" let me establish "workflow" as I see fit.
Is it just that CMF makes it easier to construct Portal sites?
Thanks, Derek
_______________________________________________ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
-> Wrong, workflow and permissions live on different planets. Read the workflow -> doku! Where is the "workflow" document? That sounds like the document I've been looking for! Please provide me a URL. -> And CMF has skins, Dublin core, easily configurable portal types that can be -> hooked into a workflow .. This is just like the "Introduction to CMF" I read; I don't know what "Dublin core" or the "workflow" is, so I'm left wondering why I should even care (about CMF). -> Life's a real moaner when billable hours prevent you from collecting -> information that enables you to bill for your time. Hehe... :) Well, honestly, I'm not billing for my research time; I just want to push the idea that an "Introduction to CMF" that has the following would be very helpful: 1. What is the problem that CMF solves? 2. Why can't plain Zope handle it? (Or: Why it is easier with CMF) 3. What is "workflow"? 4. ...and that actually _defines_ the new terms it introduces (such as SiteDesignServices and IntegrationServices) Thanks, Derek Simkowiak
On Mon, Jan 14, 2002 at 02:42:50PM -0800, Derek Simkowiak (dereks@realloc.net) wrote:
Hehe... :) Well, honestly, I'm not billing for my research time; I just want to push the idea that an "Introduction to CMF" that has the following would be very helpful:
1. What is the problem that CMF solves? 2. Why can't plain Zope handle it? (Or: Why it is easier with CMF) 3. What is "workflow"? 4. ...and that actually _defines_ the new terms it introduces (such as SiteDesignServices and IntegrationServices)
Agreed. FYI, workflow is a way to express business rules for a publishing system, like this: "A document starts in the mind of an author. Then it goes to an editor, who signs off on it and marks it 'ready to publish'. If the document's not okay, it goes back to the author for further editing. Once the editor's approved the document, it goes to the Legal department for auditing; anyone who's in the Legal group can pick it up and approve it. Once it's approved, it goes to the live site where anonymous visitors can see it." This is one of the major features that people who buy commercial, proprietary CMS systems are looking for. CMF is Zope's answer to workflow. srl -- Shane Landrum (srl AT boston DOT com) Software Engineer, boston.com
From: Derek Simkowiak <dereks@realloc.net>
This is just like the "Introduction to CMF" I read; I don't know what "Dublin core"
I think If you want to know what CMF is for you really have to install it and create a demosite. It is done in less time than you need to formulate your questions. And after that your questions will be much more educated. I know of no documentation describing CMF consisely. This is just one other reason to get your hands dirty. The document what a workflow is you get in the help of DCWorkflow (I believe). In any case it is explained in the doc directory of DCWorkflow of your CMF 1.2b1 installation. Robert
I hate to come in on the tail of a conversation, but the title caught my attention. I've written a document to keep my clients from being scared of the CMF. I happened to call it CMF Intro. I humbly submit it for your review. Remember that this is for users, not programmers or administrators. I supplimented this documentation with an in-person walkthrough. http://www.entheossoft.com/es/Members/troy/docs/CMF_intro/view Troy -- Troy Farrell Developer Entheos Software mailto:troy@entheossoft.com http://www.entheossoft.com Robert Rottermann wrote:
I think If you want to know what CMF is for you really have to install it and create a demosite. It is done in less time than you need to formulate your questions. And after that your questions will be much more educated.
I know of no documentation describing CMF consisely. This is just one other reason to get your hands dirty.
The document what a workflow is you get in the help of DCWorkflow (I believe). In any case it is explained in the doc directory of DCWorkflow of your CMF 1.2b1 installation.
Robert
participants (6)
-
Derek Simkowiak -
marc lindahl -
Robert Rottermann -
Shane Landrum -
tgraham@speakeasy.net -
Troy Farrell