ZOPE features

• built-in user management
• delegation of rights (authorization, authentication), and their propagation
• support for many different filestandards,
• uses a standard webbrowser no specialised software is needed,
• possibility to use specific design software through the use of WebDAV,
• a built-in webserver,
• support for open standards (ODBC, LDAP, XML, SQL, COM),

Zope is open source software:

• the use of the software is free,
• the software itself is free.

• that a large group of developers ensure the quality and flexibility of Zope,
• that there are no licensing fees required for the use of the software,
• that there are no restrictions in use.

Built on Python

Zope itself is written in Python, an object-oriented software language which means that Zope offers a framework for additional modules. Zope also offers the option of interacting with other information sources, such as databases. There are a lot of database adapters available with Zope. Zope is very scalable. It allows for an enterprise setup, with a loadbalancer in front of several information servers. These information servers can interact to a central database server. Zope also has its own internal database, named ZODB. All inserted items become objects within the database. This is much more effective than loose objects on a filesystem.

Content Management with the CMF

The Content Management Framework (CMF) is a Zope product targeted at developing content management systems.

CMF makes it possible:

• to use archiving, syndication, rating, discussion forums
• to manage and publish events, news items, aso
• to manage the look and feel of the site and define the layout of the site, not only in the usage of color but also the graphical elements in the site
• of developing a 'printable version' of each page without effort.
• to extend the userroles. One user can become chief editor and approves of information added by all users. The chief editor can then set the information to 'publish online', after which the information is published on the site.

CMF has support for

Archiving is achieved through Zope's scalable folder structure, object database and transaction mechanism.

The layout can be changed easily from color adjustments to redesigns. The same data can be presented in different ways through different templates and stylesheets

Cataloging actively indexes objects that provide the correct interface.

This is done by using a basic stylesheet and stripping navigational elements from the content such as action boxes, logo's and headers.

Syndication is the process of sharing content with other sites, programs and objects.

Meta data is required for consistent syndication and cataloging. Zope provides consistent meta data management.

User mangement

User Management is the core function in Zope.

Every user gets assigned not only a password but also a profile. With that profile, the site manager can determine which rights a user has with regard to accessing and publishing information.

The userprofiles and rightsmanagement are closely related to acquisition, which means that all information and rights, defined at a higher level, is available at lower levels as well. This means that when the site manager gives access to a directory and to a certain profile, all new content, added to this directory, will be available to the profile. This includes also new directories and products which have their own (additional) rightsmanagement.

Workflow management

Workflow consists of a series of steps each represented by different roles. Submitted content passes through each of these steps and gets accepted or rejected. In each step comments can be added to the contents history. This means that one or more editors can approve of certain content before publishing it.

If something is wrong with the content, any of the editors can send the content back to the writer along with a comment on why it has been rejected.

For example, the publication of an article may involve three persons:

1. The writer submits his article.
2. The manager reviews that article. If it contains errors, the manager can reject the article, adding his comments to the history with reason of rejection. The writer can resend the rewriten article. The manager then will submit the article to the head manager.
3. The head manager will finally decide whether the article will be published at all.

Plone

Plone can most simply be described as CMF's killer application. It's a ready to go Content Management System with support most content types available for the CMF, but it has a good set of sensible defaults for workflows, publishing,... but most important: It has a real nice look and feel, which comes automatically without any effort of the content producers.

ZOPE users

• The US Navy, http://search.navy.mil
• Intratuin, http://www.intratuin.nl
• The Utrecht University, http://www.uu.nl
• Bell Atlantic, an American telephone company, http://www.bellatlantic.com
• Nasa, the Space Agency, http://www.nasa.gov
• The Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), http://www.nato.int

The starting site for the zope community is www.zope.org