[Zope3-dev] separation of view hierarchy

[Jim Fulton]

Paul Everitt wrote:
> 

...

>> We're considering a special package where you can add page templates
> 
> 
> Hmm, neat idea.  Really neat.  There's a lot that can be done this way 
> and it likely reduces the number of knobs that would confront people.
> 
> (Minor note, though: you'll want some other types besides page templates 
> -- images, css files, js files, etc.)

As Martijn pointed out, these are resources. We will also provide
resource subpackages that automatically register files dropped into them
as resources.

...

> I'm particularly interested in the discoverability issue.  For instance, 
> let's say Jill Sitedesigner is looking at a page in a site she's 
> co-developing with her teammates.  She wants to know what produces a 
> certain box on the page, and the box was created by someone else.  How 
> does she find out where the box comes from?  (Don't say, down the hall 
> and to the right.) :^)

This is an important problem that we haven't really attached yet. View
subpackages aren't a solution to that problem. We do need a solution to that
problem.

> Another: she's sitting in front of a blank page, getting started on a 
> new view/template/page/whatever.  Let's say she's adding a guestbook 
> form, to later be hooked up to the object system by Joe Sitedeveloper.
> 
> Jill knows there are a bunch of macros she can reuse in her page.  Or at 
> least she's been told.  How does she find these macros?  (Don't say 
> grep.) :^)

This is another important area that we haven't addressed yet.

I'll note that there are two kinds of reusable bits that Jill might
use:

- Macros

- Page elements

Page elements are really reusable bits of content or application logic, like
polls, ads, widgets, and so on that one would often want to include on a page.
They are more like components that are macros. Macros are just bits of reusable
ZPT.

At some point, someone suggested that it would be useful to have separate ZPT
objects to provide libraries of macros.  This would probably aid introspection, as
these objects could be designed to work with facilities for searching for macros.

Jim

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