TLC2 Web Workshop

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TLC2 Web Workshop

• Creating Your Web Portal
• with a powerful CMS

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Welcome

• Why Zope/Plone
• Adopt by Major Companies
• FREE (Open Source)
• Samples
• TLC2 Web Sites
• http//www.tlc2.uh.edu/Members/josten
• Zope/Plone
• http//www.zope.com/Customers.html

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Agenda

• Cover the Basics (30 min)
• Render a Web Portal (2 hrs)
• Survey (for future workshops)
• Lunch
• Discussions

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TLC2 Web Workshop

• Basics

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Objectives

• Introduction to Content Management Systems (CMS)
  with Zope Plone
• What is open source?
• How popular is it? How useful?
• Hands on exercises utilizing Plone
• TLC2 Templates
• Site Layout
• Customize with Java, PHP, MySQL

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Overview

• Introduction
• Introduction to Zope
• What is Zope?
• Who uses Zope?
• What can Zope do for you?
• Introduction to Plone
• What is Plone?
• Who uses Plone?
• What can Plone do for you?

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Introduction to Zope

• What is Zope?
• Zope is an open source web application server
  primarily written in the Python programming
  language.
• It features a transactional object database which
  can store not only content and custom data, but
  also dynamic HTML templates, scripts, a search
  engine, and relational database (RDBMS)
  connections and code.
• It features a strong through-the-web development
  model, allowing you to update your web site from
  anywhere in the world.

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Introduction to Zope

• What is Zope?
• Zope also features a tightly integrated security
  model. Built around the concept of "safe
  delegation of control", Zope's security
  architecture also allows you to turn control over
  parts of a web site to other organizations or
  individuals.
• The transactional model applies not only to
  Zope's object database, but to many relational
  database connectors as well, allowing for strong
  data integrity.
• This transaction model happens automatically,
  ensuring that all data is successfully stored in
  connected data sources by the time a response is
  returned to a web browser or other client.

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Introduction to Zope

• Who uses Zope?
• Zope users include

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Introduction to Zope

• What can Zope do for you?
• Zope can help you create dynamic web applications
  such as portal and intranet sites quickly.
• Zope comes with everything you need including
  support for membership, search, and news.
• Zope provides top-notch access to databases and
  other legacy data.
• Zope's open support for web standards such as
  XML-RPC, DOM, and WebDAV allows you unparalleled
  flexibility and interoperability.

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Introduction to Zope

• What can Zope do for you?
• On top of what Zope offers out of the box, there
  are useful applications available for those who
  need something right away
• The CMF (Content Management Framework) adds
  numerous tools and services to Zope to allow
  community or organization based content
  management,
• Plone is a ready to use content management system
  that puts a polished interface on top of the CMF.

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Introduction to Plone

• What is Plone?
• Plone is an out-of-the-box ready content
  management system that is built on the powerful
  and free Zope Application server.
• Plone requires minimal effort to set up, is
  deeply flexible, and provides you with a system
  for managing web content that is ideal for
  project groups, communities and intranets.

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Introduction to Plone

• Who uses Plone?
• Plone users include

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Introduction to Plone

• What can Plone do for you?
• Plone is a content management framework that
  works hand-in-hand and sits on top of Zope, a
  widely-used Open Source web application server
  and development system.
• Plone stores its contents in Zope's built in
  transactional object database, the ZODB.
• Plone runs on Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and
  many other platforms.

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Introduction to Plone

• What can Plone do for you?
• Plone carefully follows standards for usability
  and accessibility. Plone pages are compliant with
  US Section 508, and the W3C's AAA rating for
  accessibility.
• The Plone interface has been translated into over
  20 languages, and tools exist for managing
  multilingual content.

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TLC2 Web Workshop

• Hands on Workshop

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Overview

• Hands on Training
• Register as a Member
• Set Member Preferences
• Add Content

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Hands on Training

• Register as a Member
• To register as a member of the site, begin by
  clicking on the "join" link in the upper right
  corner of the page. This will open a registration
  form that has several fields
• Fill in these fields and click the register
  button. Once your registration has been
  processed, you will see a welcome page with a
  log-in button. Click this button to log in to the
  site using your new member account.

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Hands on Training

• Set Member Preferences
• Look at the bar running across the upper portion
  of the page you will see that the right side of
  it now contains a number of links.
• The third link is to "my preferences".
• Click this link, and a page will open that shows
  all of the customization options available to
  you. These options allow you to customize the way
  the site looks to you and the way you interact
  with it, but they don't change any site content.
  You can edit them at any time.

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Hands on Training

• Set Member Preferences
• Look at the bar running across the upper portion
  of the page you will see that the right side of
  it now contains a number of links.
• The third link is to "my preferences".
• Click this link, and a page will open that shows
  all of the customization options available to
  you. These options allow you to customize the way
  the site looks to you and the way you interact
  with it, but they don't change any site content.
  You can edit them at any time.
• When you are finished making your selections,
  click "save" to make them active.

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a Web Page
• You can only add content in the parts of the site
  where you are allowed to (this is called having
  permission).
• As a site member, by default you will have
  permission to add content to your member folder
• Navigate to your member folder by clicking on "my
  folder" in the personal links bar in the upper
  right-hand corner of the page.

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a Web Page
• Your folder will open in "contents view". This
  means you will see all of the items inside your
  folder. If you haven't added anything to your
  folder yet, the only item that will be in your
  folder is a document called "your home page"
  (youryour member name).

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a Web Page
• Above the document list there will be two
  drop-down menus. The one on the left allows you
  to customize your folder view by only showing
  certain items. The one on the right allows you to
  add new types of content, including documents,
  events, files, folders, images, news items, etc.

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a Web Page
• All types of content will have a name, a title
  and a description. The name becomes part of the
  item's web address, and should be written in all
  lowercase letters with no spaces. The title will
  appear in the navigation structure and at the top
  of the page. The description should provide a
  brief summary of the object and will appear
  beneath the title.

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a File
• A File is an external document type, such as a
  word document or a pdf file.
• Add a Folder
• A Folder is a place to store other objects. For
  instance, you might create a folder within your
  members folder where you keep images.
• Add an Image
• An Image can be a jpg, gif, png, or any other
  format.

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Hands on Training

• Add Content
• Add a News Item
• A News Item is a special type of document that
  becomes visible on the "News" tab. This type of
  object should be used for announcements and
  things like that.
• Add an Event
• An Event is something to be added to the
  calendar, such as a meeting, an appointment, or a
  social event.

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Hands on Training

• Publish Content
• Once you have created an item, the next step is
  to publish it so that it becomes available to
  other site visitors. You do this by changing its
  state.
• By default, items are created in the visible
  state. This means they can be found through the
  search interface and by typing in their URL
  directly, but they will not appear in site
  navigation.
• Items that are published appear in site
  navigation and are also available to site
  visitors who are not logged in.

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Hands on Training

• Publish Content
• Once you have created an item, the next step is
  to publish it so that it becomes available to
  other site visitors. You do this by changing its
  state.
• By default, items are created in the visible
  state. This means they can be found through the
  search interface and by typing in their URL
  directly, but they will not appear in site
  navigation.
• Items that are published appear in site
  navigation and are also available to site
  visitors who are not logged in.

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Hands on Training

• Publish Content
• Depending upon your role in the site, you may be
  able to publish an item directly or you may need
  to submit it to a reviewer for approval first.
  Either way, your task is accomplished by clicking
  on the state tab at the top of the object
  window.
• When publishing and item, you may choose whether
  to make it available permanently or for a limited
  time. You do this by setting effective dates and
  expiration dates.

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Hands on Training

• Publish Content
• After you have chosen your effective and
  expiration dates, click the radio button next to
  publish or submit (which one is available
  depends upon your permissions) and then click
  save.
• Once an item has been published, you can retract
  it by clicking on the state tab and then
  clicking the retract radio button at the bottom
  of the form, then clicking save. This will
  change the items state back to visible.

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Whats Next

• Survey
• Future Classes
• Zope Plone (setup admin)
• Customizing with Python (templates, header )
• Customizing with Java, PHP, MySQL,
• Design Layout (Flash, Photoshop )

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Thank You