This document discusses making Plone more popular by making it easier to deploy and use through thematic templating. It proposes using Diazo, which separates presentation from content, to allow frontend developers and integrators to build complex websites in Plone without advanced Python skills. Many Plone capabilities like portlets and collections could be surfaced through HTML for easier third-party development. The goal is to lower barriers and attract more developers by following the "Plone crack" or "starter drug" principle of making it addictively easy to get started.

1. TTW FTW!
as the new WordPress
Dylan Jay (@djay75)

2. Making Plone popular

3. Why Listen to me?
2000 Built internal ecom site at Lucent/Avaya
2004 Startup: Zope + collaborative filtering
2004 PretaWeb – Plone consultancy
2009 PretaWeb – focus on Government
I build sites
I train people to build sites
I'm not a core developer

4. Plone marketshare remains static

5. While CMS takes over web (esp WP)

6. Plone grows via company sales which is slow

7. Cockroach principle of open source
1)You Want a blog
2)Someone recommends WP
3)You build it and like it
4)At work they ask you “How shall we build our
intranet?”
5)You say WP
6)You stick to it and hope WP becomes better
7)WP gets better (it now has content types!)

8. We need a Plone “starter Drug”
Developers are Lazy too
PHP is addictively easy to deploy

9. “But we don't want lots of
newbies!”
Popular Plone = more developers + more word
of mouth = profit
“Big Funnel” principle
1 in 500 is a Rok or Martin

10. My Plan 4 years ago
Easy deployment
– collective.hostout – no big green button yet
Clear choices via docs
– collective.developerdocs – Thanks Mikko!
Quick site conversions
– collective.funnelweb – helps companies
These weren't the answer

11. Who will save Plone then?

12. Diazo
Is Plone Crack
Thank you
Paul Everitt,
Lawrence Rowe,
Martin Aspeli
And ploud.com's (← note plural!!)

13. Backend Developer (plugins)
Skills
- ZPT
- jbot
- BrowserViews
- ZCML
- setuptools/buildout
- python...

14. Frontend Developer (Themer)
Skills
- HTML/CSS/jQuery
- ZPT
- jbot
- BrowserViews
- ZCML
- setuptools/buildout
- python...

15. Integrator
- ZPT
- jbot
- BrowserViews
- ZCML
- setuptools/buildout
- python...

16. Content Editor
Plone

17. Separation of concerns (Diazo)
T-200ms
T-1day
T-5min
T-6months (generic plugins + core)

18. Frontend Developer (Themer)
Skills
- HTML/CSS/jQuery
- Diazo
Integrator.... gone!

19. Can we really build complex pages
without adding more skills?

20. 30/10/12

21. Did they have fun?
“When I understood the inherent Plone templating I had a sense that we would be able to
create a site design that met our needs. When I came to understand the capabilities that
Diazo added however, I was over the moon. VICSES had low maturity in the web space,
but a strong desire to make up for lost time. This guaranteed that the design we
eventually implemented would be complex and subject to quirky requirements, but more
than that it meant that the design would have to accommodate changing needs
even after production deployment. How to meet those needs without a team of
developers and sophisticated dev/prod cycle? Diazo, that's how.
...
There's no real limitation to what we can achieve with Diazo, except for our own
imaginations.
…
This combination of power, responsiveness and flexibility is something that I've
not had in my previous fifteen years of enterprise web development.”
Adam Dennis – SES Team lead

26. Background images

27. Themer gave (limited) control back to editor

33. collective.portlets.sitemap

34. Html-as-api
Get all content on one page
- contentwellportlets
- portletpage
- collective.listingviews
- collective.portlet.sitemap
- hexagonit.portletstyle
- PloneFormGen
Diazo it

35. Aren't your rules complex?
Yes
But I can teach enough to recreate them in one
day
100% deployment free
No packages, no python, no confusing choices

36. Can you think what else to move
TTW?
What's in your overrides?

37. What do we still need?
Change wording – TTW locales?
Search forms – eea.facetednavigation?
Content editor controlled layout – Deco?
Change existing fields required/description TTW?
Less need for XSLT in diazo – diazo loops?
TTW Tile creator?
Git for TTW Theme?
Snapshot registry in theme zip?
Json/AJAX?

38. The Future
You've never heard of Plone
A friend says Plone is the fastest way to make a
blog
You create site on any ploud/SaaS Plone (there's
lots)
Learn TTW diazo
Become an addict
Join 2000 others @ PloneConf 2014
In Sydney! (ok I joke but the rest I'm serious about)

39. Thank you to Sine my wife, who became Australian today
contact@pretaweb.com http://www.pretaweb.com @djay75
Dylan Jay