Zope: more than one framework (was Re: [Zope3-dev] Re: Post-Sprint Doc-Team report (fwd))

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 12:42 PM 12/22/02 -0500, Jim Fulton wrote:
>OK, first of all, I hereby veto "zc". The obvious interpretation is "Zope 
>Corporation"
>and that would be absolutely the wrong message to send.
>
>Furthermore, the name "zope" should be bigger than the application 
>server.  Going
>back to Bobo, we have always encouraged the use of Zope software in other 
>projects
>beside our web application server. "zope" is more than a web application 
>server.
>This is more true for Zope 3, since it's so much easier to configure the Zope
>components in different ways.
>
>So, having said all that, I'm open to suggestions subject to the notion that
>the name "zope" should apply to more than just the app server.  I'm not 
>going to make
>a suggestion myself, because, given the understanding that zope is more 
>than the
>app server, "Zope.App" as representing the application framework makes 
>perfect sense to
>me. :)

Even though the name "Zope" should apply to more than just the app server, 
that is most definitely the "obvious interpretation".  I frequently have to 
get into this issue when explaining the use my development group makes of 
Zope components (hm, there's that "zc" again) such as ZPublisher and 
DocumentTemplate.  When I have spoken to developers about coming to work 
for our group, this is often a source of confusion, despite my taking care 
to explain it.  Somehow, the word "Zope" tends to just stick in people's 
heads as being that web GUI thing.

If the marketing goal here is to more clearly communicate that there's more 
to Zope than the "zope app", you *need* another word.  I have too much 
trouble getting people's heads unstuck from Zope-the-GUI to talk about the 
inner components as it is.  Being able to tell people that we "use the ZC 
package" wouldn't help that much, but it'd be better than what's going on now.

Perhaps you could call the two faces of Zope the "Zope Server Framework" 
and the "Zope Content Framework".  Most of what you're calling Zope.App 
these days looks to me like a content management framework.  It's a 
specific application built on what looks like an application server 
framework.  I'm very interested in the "ZSF", but not especially in the 
"ZCF" at this time.

But whatever you call them, treating them as *two things*, rather than 
layers of "one thing", will improve the clarity of your marketing 
message.  "Zope" would then stand for a server framework and a content 
framework.  Two things.  Ergo, "more than just the app server".

So, since "zc" (Zope Components, in my mind) is vetoed, some random and 
entirely off-the-wall suggestions:

zsf/zcf  Zope Server Framework, Zope Content Framework)
zas/zwc  Zope Application Server (all the non "App" bits), Zope Web 
Components (what's now App)
zcc/zcm  Zope Component Container, Zope Content Management
zap/zim  Zope Applications Package, Zope Information Management (Yes, I'm 
stretching!)
zen/zip  Zope Enterprise Networking, Zope Information Portal (And now I'm 
*really* stretching...)

I'm not keen on any of these acronyms, really; it'd be nice if somebody 
came up with better.  Not that I think that's particularly likely before 
tomorrow.