Buy or build a CMS Where does Zope fit in

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Buy or build a CMS?Where does Zope fit in?

• Paul Browning
• Information Strategy Co-ordinator
• University of Bristol
• paul.browning_at_bristol.ac.uk

2
Loadza Questionz

• What is a CMS?
• What is Zope?
• What are the reasons not to use Zope?
• Is Zope a CMS?
• What has UoB been doing with a CMS?
• Who is doing ztuff in UK HE?
• Is a VLE/MLE a special case of a CMS?

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The short anzwerz

• What is a CMS? A way of staying sane
• What is Zope? A sigmoidal learning cliff
• What are the reasons not to use Zope?
  Some of these are
  misconceptions
• Is Zope a CMS? Zope PTK certainly is
• What has UoB been doing with a CMS?
  IRIS, DataHub UBIS
• Is a VLE/MLE a special case of a CMS? I think so
• Who is doing interesting ztuff in UK HE?
  UWCM Newcastle

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What is a CMS?
a CMS is a concept and not a product Lowndes,
pers. comm.
(from Ed Ort, see Rezourzes)
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CMS Feature Onion
N.B. Only a selection of features is shown in the
outer shell (from Browning Lowndes, 2001 in.
prep.)
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Top 6 (out of 41!) features _at_ IWMW2000

• Self-service authoring/frictionless publishing
  for non-technical content providers
• Workflow management submit, review, approve,
  archive
• Integration with existing data/databases AND user
  authentication systems
• Roles based security
• Flexible output author once, publish in many
  formats
• Metadata management
• Does the orthodox Web deliver these?

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What is Zope?
Web Client
XML-RPC
Web Server
WebDAV
FTP Client
Z Server
Z Classes
Zope Core
Products
ZODB

• A Python Web Application Server
• A transactional object database that thinks its
  a file system
• It has many elements of a CMS ...
• and quite a lot more besides

File System
RDBMS
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Demo

• Management screens
• Zope - a Swiss Army Knife for the Web? examples
• WorldPilot - a third-party Product

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What does Zope compete with?

• ACS - ArsDigita Community System (TCL)
• Enhydra (Java)
• Type3 (PHP)
• Mason (Perl)

Among many, many (gt 80) others .
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What are the reasons not to use Zope?

• I need to use Apache
• I have to script in DTML
• I have to author in a browser
• I have to put all my content in one file
• The documentation is poor
• There is no commercial support
• You cant recruit Python programmers
• It is not Java

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What are the reasons not to use Zope?

• I need to use Apache You can
• I have to script in DTML Use Python or Perl
• I have to author in a browser
  HomeSite, emacs, BBEdit, Word, etc
• I have to put all my content in one file You
  dont
• The documentation is poor Its eclectic!
• There is no commercial support DC and others
• You cant recruit Python programmers Maybe
• It is not Java Correct

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Is Zope a CMS? I
Application
Deployment
Content Integration and Versioning
User Interface
Workflow
Data Repository
User Management
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Is Zope a CMS? II
CONTENT INTEGRATION AND VERSIONING Core
SQLMethods, Search Interface, Undo,
Version Products LocalFS, ZODBCDA, ZOracleDA,
ZMySQLDA, ZopeLDAP, XMLDocument Utilities
load_site.py
WORKFLOW Products Portal ToolKit (PTK)
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Is Zope a CMS? II
APPLICATIONS Core DTML, Zcatalog, External
Methods, MailHost Products PythonMethods,
PerlMethods, SQLSession, FSSession, ZUBB,
Squishdot, Site Summary, Zwiki, WorldPilot,
zCommerce
DEPLOYMENT Core ZEO Products SiteAccess,
CacheManager, Xron Utilities ReportLab HowTos
Running Zope off CD ROM, Build a WAP site with
Zope
USER INTERFACE Core TTW Authoring
Management Utilities HS Extensions,
RadioUserland, ZopeStud
DATA REPOSITORY Core Data.fs (ZODB - a
transactional object database that thinks its a
file system), ZEO Products OracleStorage,
BerkeleyStorage, CompressedStorage
USER MANAGEMENT Core UserFolder, Users who have
users who have users, Roles, Fine-grained
permissions Products LoginManager, Membership,
smbUserFolder, ZopeLDAP, mysqlUserFolder
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What has UoB been doing with a CMS?

• Integration Research Information System (IRIS)
• secret lifebelt for RAE
• longer term goal as research enterprise portal
• built using JSP-based toolkit (Zebedee)
• DataHub - a reporting database
• UBIS site (Computing Service MIS Library)

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Demos?

• Is there time?

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Who is doing ztuff in UK HE?

• Newcastle (NLE, MOFS, SST, Stage 4 Options)
• Cardiff Med School (Aspire)
• Strathclyde (Zeus, Zaphod, Zealous, Zoetrope )
• Imperial College (LoginManager)
• Liverpool?
• Salford?
• Oxford Brookes?

Dont overlook European initiatives - see
Rezourcez
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Is a VLE/MLE a special case of a CMS?
Managed Learning Environment
Virtual Learning Environment
LearningResources
Delivery
CurriculumMapping
Quality Process
Tutor Support
Assessment
Communication
Tracking
Off-line Learning
Registers
Student Record System
Business Systems
Other Agencies
Other Colleges
(from JISC News, Winter 2000)
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Some Concluzionz I

• Zope has a sigmoidal learning cliff
• Zope is glueware, highly modular and extensible,
  becoming more language neutral
• Zope has a loyal and helpful community
• Zope has many elements of a CMS
• A basic workflow is available in the PTK
• The PTK is not quite there yet but DC say it is
  an important part of the roadmap
• You can build more customised/sophisticated
  workflow

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Some Concluzionz II

• Second generation VLEs/MLEs will be constructed
  in tools like Zope
• Dont just buy a CMS (or VLE/MLE) - cul-de-sac
• Build (or buy-and-build) - keep options open
• Forming consortia would be a smart idea
• If you know all the answers then apply for the
  KCL_at_38k job .

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Where does Zope sit in the Application Server/CMS
landscape?(The descent of WebMan?)
Complexity of applications
FilemakerPro Active Server Pages ColdFusion Perl
CGI
Zope suited to lightweight solutions too
Easing the Webmaster bottleneck
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Some Rezourzes

• The last three slides refused to Save As HTML so
  I put them here.