[Zope-PTK] How skins work

[Lucas Hofman]

> I've been watching the introduction of skins into the PTK, and I'm
> curious to know what benefits they'll offer. I've been wanting to use
> the PTK, since it is extremely close to what I'll need for a site
> which I'm designing, but I'd like to be able to easily upgrade both
> the PTK and my existing portals without needing to create a new
> portal, look through each method for changes, apply them to the
> existing code, etc.

You might consider waiting a few more months. I started to use PTK 0.7
about a year ago for exactly the same reasons: it is close to what we
need. Customization however was much more difficult then anticipated.
PTK has a rich functionality, and 'turning off' the features you do not
want without breaking others is something quite difficult.

For sure this was partly caused by python being a new language, but in
addition the lack of documentation and comments in the code does not
particularly help. The PTK is not a trivial product; it adds a layer of
complexity over Zope. Lately I have spent a lot of time re-doing
customizations because of a changing PTK architecture and interface. At
times it feels like assembling a car from a warehouse full of parts but
without manuals or specifications. Every week a few of the parts are
changed out to make it more challenging...

Why should one even consider using a toolkit which has not reached any
maturity? (= is still in a 0.xx version). For me the answers are:
1. In the Zope world there are no alternatives
2. There is a lot of well working functionality in the PTK which you -if
you need it- do not have to develop yourself
3. The active developers are very responsive to questions. 

I do not regret choosing the PTK, but I hope we soon have a situation
where CVS is only used for those who want to play with or develop the
newest features, and that the 'normal' site developers have a tested and
documented version to build sites with. Bug reporting/fixing would need
to be done on both production and development versions, like it is done
for Zope itself.

Good Luck,
-- 
Lucas Hofman
PGS Seres                                        tel: +47 67514059
PO Box 354                                       fax: +47 67526640
N-1324 Lysaker, Norway