Re: [Plone-developers] Plone 5 Theme

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 2:27 AM, Dylan Jay <djay-n0pU0XVUApFWk0Htik3J/[email protected]> wrote:
>> Some add-ons only change things in the edit UI, and they'll be fine. But what about add-ons that provide their own portlets or viewlets, or a custom template that renders in the content area? These are common.
>
> +1 it's something we haven't talked enough about.
> However I'm -1 that it's common.

No, no, and no.  :-(

If we just assume that Plone is and only is a WCMS to build web pages,
then its time for one-third of us to throw in the towel.   Half my
dozen years with Plone has been as a WCMS and nearly as much doing
intranet/extranet stuff.  Yeah, I have views that fill the content
area; yes, they are styled; "content" is just an entry point to other
things (such as form use, structured data, data visualization using
time-series plots against data stored in ZODB).  I am doing right now,
and more often than not, I need to fill the content area, and I use
some minor styling and javascript resources specific to my views.

It's common.  Every domain-specific Intranet/Extranet/collaboration
site that collects, presents data, encourages collaboration... This is
not merely presentation, nor is it merely content management.

> These days a lot of the front end (FE) facing plugins can be replaced by custom diazo based solutions quickly since most plugins aren't generic enough to meet the needs of the theme. A good example is a carousel.

That's a very shallow view of what add-ons can do, and often do.  Its
not just about presenting content.  If all we have is content types
and presentation, we lose something else: the ability to have content
be an anchor for custom applications we write in browser views.

Sorry for being a bit over-emphatic, but I have often seen Plone as
much more than just a CMS for making web pages.  I've seen it as a
platform for group collaboration and workflow; I have seen it as a CMS
for producing content consumed and delivered in other systems.  I have
seen it used for very structured types requiring more than just edit
forms to get the day's job done (custom views to solve problems are
the norm).

Surely there must be a way to satisfy all the major use-cases.

Sean