[Zope] Re: plone "vs." CMF was ... uPortal??

[Paul Browning]

--On 27 September 2002 21:24 -0400 Tim Lynch 
<lynch@gould.mannlib.cornell.edu> wrote:

>
>
> Have folks looked at uPortal (www.ja-sig.org)?

Well, the University of Bristol has. We have just decided to
run with it as our Portal Framework. We had a short-list
of three (all "free" to us) - Zope +/- CMF, Oracle Portal
and uPortal.

You can read a little more about this decision at:
<http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/projects/portal>

This also points to a summary of who (in the UK education scene)
is using (or considering using) what portal framework:
<http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/projects/portal/portalbytes>

Why did we not run with Zope +/- CMF? In short it boiled
down to "Why would you write uPortal in Zope when it's
already been written in Java?" Also, whilst our in-house
Java skills are modest, they are not as scarce as our
in-house Python skills. And, of course, risk-averse
organisations are more comfortable with the J-word than
the P-word.

We have, however, adopted Zope as our content management
framework (though as yet we are not using the CMF). The
join between uPortal and Zope will be key. So I would
be very pleased to share experiences with any other
outfits exploring this route.

>
> The model uPortal provides is one of Views arranged by Tabs; each View is
> composed of one or more Channels.  A Channel can be thought of as a
> window to a particular web service (not uppercase Web Service, though
> certainly that is supported) such as, perhaps, an RSS feed.  Tabs are
> typically arranged across the top of the browser window: 'Home',
> 'Campus', 'MyPortal' ...  Clicking on a Tab brings into view a browser
> window of the channels that make up that View.
>
> Users have the option to create their own "MyPortal" view, placing on that
> page the channels they choose and arranging them in the order they choose.
>
> Individual channels can be opened/closed/deattached/minimized.
>
> I think the uPortal model is appealing, though pieces, such as the
> screens for setting MyPortal's organization, are klunky.

I know what you're saying. But the Web sometimes forces klunkiness.

>
> If you attended last February's Python conference, maybe you saw the
> canned NATO demo?  That was a sort-of uPortal-in-Zope design (with a
> really slick javascript-based MyPortal organizer tool that definitely
> one-ups uPortal's).  anyway

I wasn't there but I read about it:
<http://www.zopezen.org/Members/zopista/1012948857>
This was WISE, right? Web Information Services Environment.

Real shame that it is trapped in a vortex called NATO ;-)

>
> What I'd like to see in the CMF/Plone kit is some uPortal-like
> functionality. For example, once I, as regular joe-user, register with a
> site, I'd like to be able to arrange my home page as I see fit.  Maybe
> put the Calendar "channel" on my home page at the top-left in place of
> the Merchandise "channel" ...

Quite. I don't know much/enough about the CMF but I'm sure this
is all do-able. But if uPortal have already invented that wheel ....

>
> 'course there's no real content management capabilities in uPortal and in
> a dozen other ways uPortal comes up short compared to Zope/CMF/Plone ...
> but it does demonstrate some cool ideas.

Exactly. The most important lesson we have learned is that "portals
are fundamentally content-free". Portals aggregate views of information
and services that reside elsewhere.

If you go with a portal framework like uPortal, you still need
a CMS (though the uPortal roadmap now has CMS on it ....). Right
now it seems the Java world can't compete with the CMS features
of Zope - so that's why were backing both horses. But with
things like Cocoon and Jahia maturing I'm not sure how long this
situation will prevail.

Zope +/- CMF does have a window of opportunity, IMHO, to get a
foothold by stealth in the Java-based portal framework space.

One (or more) XML skins need to be written that allow Zope
apps to be rendered (via XSLT) into the portal framework
(uPortal is not unique in using XSLT to render content
into channels/portlets).

I'd like to acknowledge the role Chris Withers has had in
steering me towards this view.

Paul

--
 The Library, Tyndall Avenue, Univ. of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TJ, UK
   E-mail: paul.browning@bristol.ac.uk  URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/