[Zope-CMF] Re: Skin Selection

[Chris Withers]

> > > You replace the tool with one which implements its interface according
to
> > > your policy.
> >
> > Wow, that seems a little heavy handed for such a small change.
>
> It really wouldn't be difficult at all.  There's a slight problem since
> skins are selected before authentication takes place.  But your skins
> tool could read the authentication tokens directly and choose based on
> the user name. :-/

Hurm, not saying this should happen immediately, but could skin selection be
modifed to happen post-authentication? It would appear to open more
possibilities for implementation of the interface and I can think of other
examples where it would be handy:

- reviewers, moderators and plain members get different skins to aid them in
their roles

- the example I mentioned in this thread (customized content is in a skin
layer)

- customers get a different skin depending on whether they have paid for
premium content or not.

> It would work.  People would have the ability to select the wrong skin
> by adding query parameters to the URL, but unless you're making stuff
> for both the government and webring junkies on the same server that
> shouldn't really matter.

Yeah, I think they'd have to know we were using the CMF, and know how to
manipulate this effect, and have a motive for getting at another skin. That
may not be true, and so this would at least do as a stop-gap measure.

> > How come?
>
> Implicit acquisition at play, I'd guess.  There are ways to make this
> idea work, though, and eventually I think we'll move in this direction.

Well, I don't really see how the URLs would get mangled. Maybe if you
started using relative URLs? Hmmm... another reason why the portal url tool
is bad perhaps? ;-)

> > However, now I'd like the documents in those layers to be manageable
like
> > normal CMF content. I know this isn't currently possible, but I was
> > wondering why and whether it's a case of "no-one's wanted to do that
yet" or
> > "the world will come crashing down around your ears if you try to do
that,
> > so don't".
>
> It's a case of "we'd need a good reason". :-)

Well, I'd love the contents of the skins folders to be manageable through
that funky workflow tool ;-). I think Tres posted about how he was close to
getting stock Zope objects to play nice as CMF content, once that's
happened, what more would need to happen before normal folders in the skins
tool (not directory views, I'm not sure that would make much sense ;-) could
be treated as normal portal content? It would be funky if you could use the
portal interface to manage the look and feel of the portal :-)

> > Hmmm... good idea, but I think the folders in question need to be TTW
> > manageable...
>
> It sounds like you really want to just grant limited access to the
> management interface.

Hmmm, the users in question already have the manager role. What I'm looking
for is the ability to share skin layers between portals in a TTW editable
fashion...

Are there any suggestions for how to do that? The 'skin layers anywhere'
idea has other problems as I'm finding out in another thread ;-)

cheers,

Chris