Jeffrey P Shell gives us a Zope insider's view of working with ZPT (Zope Page Templates ). I'm a Zopista who's yet to take the plunge into ZPT, TAL , and TALES . Jeffrey's essay confirms for me what I've suspected about these technologies:
1. The learning curve (for me) would be fairly steep.
2. The benefits would be substantial if I had to work closely with a GoLive- or Dreamweaver-based designer.
We could further triangulate on this if another ZPT user, ideally one less Zope-savvy than Jeffrey (who used to work for Digital Creations) were to weigh in.
I can remember debates, a few years ago, about whether and how to implement a rating system for CPAN modules. The problem was (and is) that you go to CPAN, find four modules that address some problem, and can't easily figure out which would be right for you without investing a lot of time. A formal rating mechanism is fraught with problems. But the informal triangulation effects that we see happening in blogspace are becoming a Googlish solution.
Jeffrey said a while back, of his blogging experience, " the sense of community hasn't really hit me yet ." Understood. It's more of an act of faith than it should be, right now, to put stuff out there as you've been doing.
A next level of organization will happen. Ad-hoc blog registries will surely emerge, around topics like Zope, and will restore some of the architecture of shared public space that we are currently sacrificing in order to make progress in other ways.
Meanwhile I very much appreciate that Jeffrey has opened a window into his always-agile mind. I know others do too.
Former URL: http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2002/05/23.html#a262