Unlocking the Power of plone.distribution: A Hands-On Guide

Unveil the magic of launching a feature-rich, visually stunning website with unparalleled ease—welcome to the world of Plone distributions. This isn't just Plone; it's Plone supercharged with all the essential elements tailored for your unique project. From captivating themes and robust modules to pre-configured settings and sample content, a Plone distribution serves as your comprehensive toolkit for a rapid and flawless website deployment. In this talk, we'll guide you through the nuts and bolts of initiating a new Plone distribution.
You'll learn how to seamlessly integrate dependencies, populate your site with example content, and ensure its robustness through effective testing.

Transcript

1. Érico Andrei | https://ericof.com | @ericof@fosstodon.org | @ericof | Unlocking the Power of plone.distribution A Hands-On Guide (Not really)
2. Érico Andrei | https://ericof.com | @ericof@fosstodon.org | @ericof | Your own Plone CMS Or how integrators use 20 years of collective work as the secret weapon to control a market / segment / vertical / geographical area
3. Welcome to 2014
4. The Case for Plone Distributions Érico Andrei https://maurits.vanrees.org/weblog/archive/2014/10/plone-distributions
6. Portal Modelo / Portal Padrão Thousands of Plone(?) sites Patching the s*t out of Plone, since 200x
7. Welcome to 2023
8. Major open source CMS support this case • Drupal distributions • Joomla Templates • TYPO3 Distributions Not invented here
9. Easy, but not that easy > 20 years of smart people creating their own solutions • The logic to create a new Plone site is distributed • Browser view on Products.CMFPlone • Content in plone.volto, plone.app.contenttypes (Good luck updating that) • Translations in plone.app.locales • No clear contract • New site from Python Code? • No RESTAPI service
10. Many examples in our family The old case of “replicating the site we developed for…” • SENAITE • Quaive • Portal Modelo • Portal Padrão • Portal Brasil • Vindula • Volto • Castle CMS • io-Comune • PretaGov: UK GDS • PretaGov: Digital.NSW • IA Solutions (IMIO) • Classic UI
11. Reality Check? Maybe we are not really selling Plone CMS
12. define: "Plone Distribution” Making sure we are on the same page • “A contract to create a new instance of a PloneSite” • Conventions about how create initial content • Provides a Python API and a RESTAPI • Use Cases: • Starting point for a new CMS project (website, intranet, headless backend…) • Automate creation of a new “instance" of an opinionated Plone “packaging" • Basis for a SaaS o ff ering of a “Plone-Powered” backend
13. plone.distribution
14. Making Plone Integrator-Friendly Or, at least, a fi rst step in the right direction • Distributions should be fi rst-class citizens in the Plone World • Converting plone.volto and plone.app.contenttypes “initial content” • Cleaning up existing codebase — “There should be only one way” • Plone 6.0.x: Add-on • Plone 6.1: Core package • Documentation should help integrators bring ideas to life
15. Someone, ~2007 "Plone is a CMS, not a web-framework!” https://jazkarta.com/news/when-not-to-use-plone-and-why-you-might-consider-django-or-pyramid
16. Érico Andrei, ~2023 "Plone is a platform, not a CMS”
17. Marketing Plone, a sane approach Focus on market and segment, not on the common denominator • Plone Marketing is vector addition • Many directions • Agreement on the common denominator • Plone Marketing initiatives should target integrators • Each distribution will “talk" to their own target audience • Distributions should collaborate when possible • But client is king
19. Examples
20. POC of a new distribution • "See how easy it is to create a ‘restricted access site with Plone’" • Beethoven Sprint • New Content Types: None • Example Content: Few collective.ploneintranet
21. Base for public websites in Brazil • Target: > 1500 websites currently running Portal Modelo and Portal Padrão • Kick-o ff during Cerrado Sprint • New Content Types: Few • Example Content: Lots • Blocker: Theming with DSGov (Brazilian Government Design System) portalbrasil.(edu|leg|gov|jus)
22. Demo for Volto Light Theme • "We need a showcase for Volto Light Theme” • New Content Types: None • Example Content: Many • Allow developers to showcase new blocks by updating the content, exporting it and committing. kitconcept.voltolighttheme https://github.com/kitconcept/kitconcept.voltolighttheme/
23. Personal Site / Blog • From idea to site: 6 hours • Scratching my own itch: ericof.com • Additional Target: Maurits • Features: • "About me” area • Blog • SEO-Friendly • Social Networking To-be-named
24. How to
25. pipx cookiecutter gh:collective/cookiecutter-plone-distribution
26. Environment Variables All you need to know • ALLOWED_DISTRIBUTIONS • Limit which distributions will be listed during site creation • DEVELOP_DISTRIBUTIONS • Limit which distributions you could export content to
27. FAQ
28. Things that should be added to the docs But no one did that (yet) • A distribution is not a “policy package” • You do not need to have a GenericSetup pro fi le. • You can have complex forms for site creation • JSONSchema de fi nition • Best example is collective.plone.intranet • Entry points allow you complete control of site creation • pre_handler, handler, post_handler
29. Next Steps & Challenges
30. Content & Translations How to create a front-page in 45 languages?
31. Types or not to Types Should we add features in a Distribution package?
32. Improve content export/import It works, but I have questions
34. “I have a dream” Érico Andrei, 2023
36. Summary
37. /ericof @ericof @ericof@fosstodon.org @ericof.com