[Zope3-Users] pagelets vs. pages

[Hermann Himmelbauer]

Hi,
It seems that the z3c.formdemo examples are based on pagelets, as they seem to 
perfectly integrate with z3c.form. Therefore I had a look at it and moreover 
at z3c.layer.pagelet, which is a minimal skin for a pagelet based 
application.

What I don't fully understand is if a pagelet-based design/skin replaces 
macro-based skins.

I understand pagelets in a way, that they separate content and layout, whereas 
layout means "everything around the content", e.g. Header, Logo, Toolbar, 
Navigation etc. - is that true?

Moreover I assume that every pagelet requires a view class that is based on 
the class "BrowserPagelet". However, a simple HTML-page, e.g. an "Intro"-Page 
or the like does not require any view, therefor I'd rather implement it via a 
simple page template and register it via the <browser:page ...> directive. 
But how would I use my layout templates in this case? Or do I have to write a 
dummy class for this page, assign acontent template and register it as 
pagelet?

I also don't fully understand the advantage of a pagelet over a page/view: Why 
is it important that the layout is customizable for every view? Isn't it 
common that a skin and therefore the layout is the same in the entire 
application?

So perhaps the decision if to use pagelets or not boils down to the following 
issues:

1) If you need different layout throughout your application, use pagelets
2) If not, use browser pages / views and skin macros

Is that true?

Best Regards,
Hermann

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