hello guys, after reading the Z Class Tutorial today I came to the following conclusion: There are actually three major data containers for Zope: XML Documents, Databases and ZClasses. XML Documents: ============== Advantages: * very common format * many, many application understand it * open standards are defined and will be soon widely implemented (XML, CSS, XSL, DOM) * integrates nicely into zope by creating a tree * Can be used with catalog (????) Disdvantages: * still a little slow for large data pieces * HTML output a little complex (a lot of render methods) Usage: Documentation, White Papers, News, Polls, Threaded Discussions Databases: ========= Advantages: * usually very fast data access * can contain large amounts of data * fast search by indexing Disadvantages: * needs Adapter for every different type of DB * depends strongly on Python's DB modules * does not integrate well into Zope (not ZCatalog ...) Usage: * member records, financing, data warehousing ZClasses: ======== Advantages: * natural to Zope * easily indexed through ZCatalog * great for web specific data Diadvantages: * not appropriate for large amounts of data (????) Usage: News, Threaded Discussions, Polls, Document Collectors As you can see some Usage items appear on several containers. I would like the community to comment on my points and correct them where necessary. I will post the results as usual on my Zope Portal site at http://www.zope.org:18200/Members/srichter thanks everyone in advance! regards, stephan -- Stephan Richter iXL - Software Designer and Engineer