Entries For: May 2007
May 25, 2007
Jon Stahl: <drool>
GoReplace promises through-the-ZMI search and replace on Plone content. This could be really useful. (Obligatory warning about unreleased code applies.)
Even better would be a Plone control panel configlet. :-)
May 11, 2007
Jon Stahl: qSiloGroup: Looks Handy
Quintagroup's new product qSiloGroup, looks like a handy little tool. It lets you change the name of an item in the navigation tree without changing its title, and to show or hide specific items in the navigation tree.
Plone 3.0 has this latter feature, but qSiloGroup may well be useful to Plone 2.1 and 2.5 users who want a little more control over how things appear in navigation.
Disclaimer: I haven't looked at the code yet, nor have I tested the product in production.
May 06, 2007
Jon Stahl: "The software is an artifact of the community."
"The software is an artifact of the community."
Paul Everitt said this to me over a pitcher of beer. It was the first night of Plone Conference 2006, which I'd spent the past four months organizing. Three hundred and fifty Plone users and developers from around the world had made their way to my hometown, Seattle, and I was drunk with the delirium of what was already a wildly successful conference. The nearly-empty pitcher of Hammerhead Ale on the bar probably wasn't hurting my mood either.
"The software is an artifact of the community."
It was like a revelation from on high. Well, I'm pretty sure Paul's no deity, but he's definitely one of the high priests of Plone. He's been one of the most effective leaders and ambassadors in the Plone and Zope communities. He'd certainly helped me as I struggled through the anxiety of pulling together my first-ever major event for a community in which I was still very much a "newbie."
Plone-the-software is an artifact of Plone-the-community. I rolled the concept over in my head. It felt right, but what did it really mean? You can't really understand the code without understanding the community of people that have produced it. The software encodes the values of the community. It reflects the things we care about (and the things we don't!). It is the product of relationships, negotiations and efforts among specific human beings. If the community is healthy and happy, the software will be good. If you want to help make the software better, spend time and energy making the community stronger.
May 01, 2007
Jon Stahl: Darcilicious!
The indefatigable Darci Hanning ("darcilicious" to #plone IRC users), leader of the Plinkit Plone-for-public-libraries project, was recently profiled in a LibraryJournal.com article about "The Women Who Drive Library Technology."
After soul-searching and career counseling, she decided she wanted to use her problem-solving approach and technology skills to help people and thought of libraries. She entered the University of Washington Information School distance program and volunteered for a wide variety of library projects in the Portland, OR, area. As she graduated in 2005, the technology consultant at the Oregon State Library retired. Delighted, Hanning jumped at the opening and landed her “dream job.” She calls it luck, but people like... Hanning make opportunities for themselves through bold strokes and hard work.
