[Zope] Newbie questions and discussion

Gary Wong gary.wong@spingroup.com
Thu, 11 May 2000 16:58:30 -0500


At 10:31 PM 5/11/2000 +0100, Steve Alexander wrote:
>Gary Wong wrote:
> > 
> > 2)  I am bidding for a project that I think will be PERFECT for Zope (diehard Zope [snip]
>geek talk).  Anyone know of a place that describes the benefits of Zope from a high-level, "Zope for dummies" language?  If we come up with some Marketing spiff on this list and share it, then everyone on the list who develops with Zope and bid for jobs can benefit from it.
>
>Actions speak louder than words :-)

Ah!  I was waiting for that response!  I'd be happy to share any marketing 
language I come up with.  I was hoping for a good place to start, and at 
the same time fielding interest on a collaborative effort.

>What you describe here sounds just like what the Portal Toolkit (PTK)
>does out of the box.
>
>However, PTK is undocumented, unfinished and its status as maintained
>software is in limbo.
>
>Having said that, my company are releasing a beta version of an internet
>site for a client in about a week, based on PTK, and covering this kind
>of area. We've added some custom PortalContent types, and very much
>changed its look.
>
>Join the Zope-PTK list, and also read its archives.
>
>If you want a quick (but functional) mock-up building in Zope, and are
>prepared to pay for it, my company can help.
>
>Otherwise, to do it yourself, get Zope 2.1.6 (not Zope from CVS). Get
>PTK from CVS, and apply a couple of patches available in the mail
>archives. Install PTK. Read the PTK source, and modify the look-and-feel
>of the portal to your liking. Add custom PortalContent classes if you
>need them.

Thanks for the pointer to PTK toolkit.  I'll definitely have a look
at it.  I have planned on doing it myself.  I was successful in getting Zope
up and running already, I just need to continue my journey for Zope Zen.

>(Oh, if you post to the Zope-PTK list, please set your mail client to
>break lines at 60 or 78 characters. Your email will appear really "wide"
>on some people's mail readers. This issue was brought up on one of the
>zope lists recently, with a poster complaining that no-one was reading
>his posts.)

I just switched from Netscape mail to Eudora and didn't enable the
breaks since most of my [non-technical] correspondents are using Outlook.
Believe it or not, I used to get complaints from them that my breaks 
make it harder to read since they can resize the window and make it look
all funny.  When I have breaks on, it gives an unprofessional appearance 
when emailing to non-technical people, and vice versa if I don't use 
breaks.  It's tough trying to make everyone happy. 8-/

Again, thanks for your input!

Gary

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Gary Wong   gary.wong@spingroup.com
The Spin Group, Inc.
2000 S. 4th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204
p.414-672-8888 f.414-672-8183