On 8/20/06, Dethe Elza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Eliot Kimber (aka Dr. Macro) has a great series on his blog about > building an XML-based CMS. It is really applicable beyond XML (and > most XML stuff is applicable to HTML). He advises (and is building > open-source and blogged all the way) a solution on top of Subversion > (versioning software).
Does Eliot consider Zope 3 a good example of XML-based CMS? I've seen it presented as Model-View-Controller, with ZODB providing an API to the model, XML controlling the View, and Zope + custom Python being the controller. > If HTML is the scary bit, I suggest looking at reStructured Text/ > Markdown/Textile as alternatives (depending on need). All convert to > nice (X)HTML. reST is the most complicated, but can also be > converted to XML, PDF, PPT, and other formats, and you can add your > own hooks to bring in more advanced features. "Convert to nice (X)HTML" where though? You're still implying some engine doing the translation, whereas straight XHTML/CSS liberates you from anybody's Wiki or whatever framework. Per my friend Gene Fowler's vision, I think we should just plan on spreading XML fluency at least to a point where fear of XHTML is the exception, not the rule. The basics aren't that hard -- arguably as simple as all the rules reST gives you. Gene's vision: http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2006/08/more-cast.html > If getting the content up on the web is the problem, a wiki or blog > tool might be the answer, or simply showing them how to share a > remote directory to the desktop for editing. Too non-standard for a basic company website. This is a small startup that can't afford to look too quirky, given the invention itself is already on the wild side. For a sneak peak: http://www.4dsolutions.net/flextegrity/ (I'll be taking it down within 12 hours, so expect a broken link pretty soon -- sharing with you because you track the Bucky stuff some). The real site will debut on flextegrity.com in the near future, probably as a PHP site (i.e. I expect my good advice to be rejected). > A full-fledged CMS is often the wrong solution even for the high-end > corporations that they're generally targetted for, and always require > more effort than is anticipated. > > --Dethe > Yes. A CMS is a wonderful thing when it's the right tool for the job, but in too many cases it's promulgated as a way to make the web "friendly" to newbies, whereas just learning a little HTML in a WYSIWIG editor would be a kinder gentler thing to share with them (keeps them free of the CMS itself, a gravitational field). Per Gene's vision, I want to see more mixing of XML with everyday language arts. Learn some tags at the same time you're learning basic punctuation, and the difference between a verb and a noun. No one finishing the Shuttleworth sequence, for example, should feel "afraid of HTML". Kirby _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
