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

1. Buy or build a CMS?Where does Zope fit in? Paul Browning Information Strategy Co-ordinator University of Bristol paul.browning@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?

3. 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

4. What is a CMS? “a CMS is a concept and not a product” Lowndes, pers. comm. (from Ed Ort, see Rezourzes)

5. CMS Feature Onion N.B. Only a selection of features is shown in the outer shell (from Browning & Lowndes, 2001 in. prep.)

6. Top 6 (out of 41!) features @ 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?

7. 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 it’s a file system • It has many elements of a CMS ... • … and quite a lot more besides File System RDBMS

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

9. What does Zope compete with? • ACS - ArsDigita Community System (TCL) • Enhydra (Java) • Type3 (PHP) • Mason (Perl) Among many, many (> 80) others ….

10. 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 can’t recruit Python programmers • It is not Java

11. What are the reasons not to use Zope? • I need to use Apache You can • I have to script in DTML UsePython 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 don’t • The documentation is poor It’s eclectic! • There is no commercial support DC and others • You can’t recruit Python programmers Maybe • It is not Java Correct

12. Is Zope a CMS? I Application Deployment Content Integration and Versioning User Interface Workflow Data Repository User Management

13. Content Integration and Versioning Workflow 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)

14. Content Integration and Versioning Workflow 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 it’s 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

15. 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)

16. Demos? • Is there time?

17. 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? Don’t overlook European initiatives - see Rezourcez

18. 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)

19. 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

20. Some Concluzionz II • Second generation VLEs/MLEs will be constructed in tools like Zope • Don’t 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@£38k job ….

21. Zope Enhydra TeamSite Spectra Apache & File System 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

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