Re: [LUG] OT: CMS

[Matt Lee <matt@xxxxxxxx>]

> Having tested Zope/Plone for use with our own website, I have to  
> temper Matt's
> enthusiasm a little.

Go for it.

> Plone can do the non-table layouts using CSS but only in a limited way  
> - the
> templates and final appearance of the site are quite rigid. Despite  
> lots of
> claims that the single (75Mb) data file for Plone is transferable  
> between
> installations (for backup / testing purposes etc.), I was unable to  
> get any
> data files to operate on alternate systems. Whichever direction I  
> tried, it
> failed - not "that looks a bit odd" but "HTTP 403 Forbidden" or "HTTP  
> 500
> Internal Server Error", other cryptic Plone engine errors and simple
> "unauthorised" messages.

The data file can be squashed down, and it while I believe it can be a  
little tricky at times to shift the Data.fs between systems, it can be  
done.

Of course, your testing system should be identical to your deployment  
system anyway, right?

> Plone does not integrate well with other site features like an external
> archive, existing database scripts and external programs. You can  
> extend it
> with Python but it cannot bring external non-Python content into the  
> CMS
> pages.

http://plone.org/documentation/howto/integrate-php-applications/

> Plone also requires unusual changes to your Apache config that can  
> break other
> sites or processes on the same server. I spent many hours getting  
> Plone to
> operate on a test server and the installation instructions are  
> confused and
> inaccurate in places.

Okay, on Debian.

apt-get install zope2.7

mkzope2.7instance

/var/lib/zope2.7/instance/default/

cd /var/lib/zope2.7/instance/default/Products

wget plone2.0.5.tar.gz

tar zxvf plone.tar.gz

mv CMFPlone/* .

chown zope:zope -R *

emacs /etc/apache/httpd.conf

(having installed libproxy and mod_rewrite)

<VirtualHost *>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/(.*)  
http://localhost:8080/VirtualHostBase/http/locahost:80/plonefoo/ 
VirtualHostRoot/$1 [P]
</VirtualHost>

emacs /var/lib/zope2.7/instance/default/etc/zope.conf

Control S 9673

Replace 9673 with 8080

Control X C

/etc/init.d/zope2.7 start

In browser, goto localhost:8080, log in with the user you were prompted  
with by mkzope2.7instance

Add a plone site from the menu, with id plonefoo

Back to terminal, apachectl graceful.

Voila.

> Personally, I found Plone was slow, cumbersome, difficult to secure,  
> difficult
> to adapt and impossible to backup or transfer between sites.

You may have had Debug mode on. It can be slow in Debug mode, else it's  
pretty nippy.

> > 100% CSS, no tables for markup. Accessible, XHTML. In short: It rocks.
>
> Until you need to work it in with non-Python external routines and  
> until you
> want a backup of that immense Data.fs file.

You can do both. Furthermore, Plone is standards based, and easy to  
use, and doesn't reinvent the wheel.

> Sorry, Matt, our experiment with Plone has left me completely  
> underwhelmed and
> I bitterly regret the MONTHS wasted on testing it. I should never have  
> used
> Plone for the dcglug test website on my own server, I cannot recommend  
> that
> anyone else tries it and I feel obliged to point out the horrors of my
> experience to those who ask for an honest recommendation.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I wouldn't recommend anything else.

matt

Attachment: PGP.sig
Description: This is a digitally signed message part