[Zope3-dev] Zope 3 web root

[Shane Hathaway]

Roger Ineichen wrote:
> That's a very interesting idea.
> 
> Do you mean something like this:
> 
> instance
>   |
>    -- var/poll.fs
>   |
>    -- wwwroot
>         |
>          -- index.html (file system)
>         |
>          -- pollApplication.zodb (zope)
>         |   (file with info that point/maps to ../../var/poll.fs)
>         |
>          -- staticFolder (file system)
>              |
>               --  index.html (file system)

Yes.

> This means the pollApplication contains a index.html 
> view/page and poll application driven by Zope.
> Where the rest of the structure is served by static 
> folders and HTML files. Did I got it right?

Essentially right, but the content is not necessarily static.  The ZCML 
might choose to map the extension ".zpt" to page templates and the 
extension ".py" to Python scripts.

> This could be very useful for smaller websites which only
> need some small dynamic pages and do not need all the overhead
> from zope. I think about some poll apps or just a view with
> some database information etc.

It's also useful for big sites that use a relational database rather 
than an object database, or only need an object database for certain parts.

The feature would make Zope easier to use for new projects, prototypes, 
and one-off web sites.  There is some irony in that statement.  Back in 
1999 or so, a lot of web designers had trouble uploading files to a web 
server, and Zope's TTW editing was a nice solution, so lots of people 
came to Zope just for that.  Today, nearly every cheap web hosting plan 
includes TTW editing and a host of other dynamic features, so the need 
for editing HTML and scripts TTW has almost dried up.  Zope's market now 
consists of people who have command line access and know how to use 
subversion, rsync, and NFS / CIFS.  Today, editing on the filesystem is 
a more productive and enjoyable experience.

Shane