[Zope-dev] the Zope Framework project

[Martijn Faassen]

Paul Everitt wrote:
> On 3/3/09 9:37 AM, Kent Tenney wrote:
>> I'll chime in as a newbie.
>>
>> It seems many of the comments preferring ad-hoc to structure
>> come from "we know what we are doing, we can take care of ourselves"
>>
>> I think Zope has the goal of attracting new users, and the proposal
>> has potential to make Zope more inviting to the uninitiated.
>>
>> Zope is very diffuse, making it a challenge to grasp. I know I would benefit
>> from any initiative which sought to provide an overview role.
> 
> I'm not sure that's a goal of this proposal.  The word "Zope" will 
> continue to have its previous series of semi-competing meanings.  The 
> word will now also be attached to "Framework", which will be the emphasis.
> 
> As I read it, regarding the diffusion, asking the stakeholders in the 
> existing meanings of the word to yield is not part of the proposal. 
> (Thankfully, as that is hopeless.)
> 
> The focus, though, will be on greatest-common-factor of the shared 
> meaning.  Not a solution to diffusion, but an improvement.

I find myself in agreement with both Kent and Paul. :)

I think that a leadership that cares about the beginner experience could 
help improve the beginner experience tremendously. Also the beginner 
*contributor* experience, who I think feels also very overwhelmed. I 
think leadership *should* care about such experiences and encourage 
people to improve matters. With the Grok project I've found that people 
are quite willing to contribute beginner's documentation and they only 
need a space to do so and a bit of encouragement.

I think we could use the Zope Framework to integrate some ideas and 
lessons we've learned in the diffusion. In that sense it's an 
integrative force.

I like Paul's description of "greatest-common-factor". I think we should 
work to expand that greatest common factor in adoption, but we can do so 
by reducing the size of the whole thing. I.e. the Zope Framework is 
something we want to be widely adopted but we can encourage adoption 
best by making it smaller and easier to understand.

Regards,

Martijn