Hi, I'm evaluating Zine for a project where we'd like to give an existing community of users accounts on a shared blog, have them write blog posts, moderate the publishing of these posts, and add additional content (an image with a link, based on a code the user enters into a box) to each post in an automated fashion. So far I'm quite impressed with Zine (though I have not spent much time looking at the code yet) and would prefer to use it. These are the biggest obstacles I see in my path: 1. Using a different database for username/password authentication and auto-creating a new Zine user on first login. I guess the only way to get this done would be to dive into Zine's code and hack the authentication bits to suit my needs. 2. Zine's current user permission system does not seem to allow the creation of accounts that can create drafts, but not publish them. This seems like a fairly important missing feature. Do you have any plans to add this in? Should I attempt to commit a patch if I decide to do it myself? 3. Adding uneditable content to the top and bottom of every blog post in such a way that it would show up in preview mode and it should be determined by a code entered in a box in the post editing/writing view. This probably needs some modification of the source code as well. Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because Zine, while a great project, is still pretty new and I would like to keep receiving updates instead of forking the project, which it seems that I might have to do in order to implement everything I need. What do you, elder developers, think could be done using plugins alone? Or should I just dive in, make the modifications I need, and submit it all as a pile of patches for you to clean up later? Because some of this stuff would surely be useful to others as well. Note that using Zine is not yet my final decision and I'd like to get more input from all of you here before I commit to anything. Best, Elver elver.loho@gmail.com +372 5661 6933 http://memeresearch.com/ skype: elver.loho
Hi, It is great that time and time again people find Zine and get excited about it! The obstacles you describe can be worked around - there's nothing that a little coding can't fix ;) 1. I could imagine some sort of an OAuth/LDAP/IMAP/db authentication plug-in that would offer a separate "register" page and would create a zine user based on the data gathered from that source. If you want to hook this directly in the log-in page, it might not be as non-intrusive as the "register" page approach. 2. This is a shortcoming indeed. Currently there are "CREATE_ENTRIES", "MANAGE_OWN_ENTRIES" and "EDIT_OTHER_ENTRIES" types of privileges defined. You will need to hack some code to add a "can publish" privilege to the views and templates. 3. If I understand correctly, this may be achievable with a plug-in. One part of it would offer the widget for the edit page, another will store it in a table and the third one will render it to the final view. I do have to say one thing though and it is something that will upset a lot of people. As a project, Zine is dead! There are many individuals and groups around that use it and add features/fix bugs, but there is no central leadership, road-map or vision. I am sure, many of us would like the project to spring back to life and evolve into a rich and powerful publishing platform, but there is no strong force driving Zine at the moment. Sincerely, Artem On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Elver Loho <elver.loho@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm evaluating Zine for a project where we'd like to give an existing > community of users accounts on a shared blog, have them write blog > posts, moderate the publishing of these posts, and add additional > content (an image with a link, based on a code the user enters into a > box) to each post in an automated fashion. So far I'm quite impressed > with Zine (though I have not spent much time looking at the code yet) > and would prefer to use it. These are the biggest obstacles I see in > my path: > > 1. Using a different database for username/password authentication and > auto-creating a new Zine user on first login. > > I guess the only way to get this done would be to dive into Zine's > code and hack the authentication bits to suit my needs. > > 2. Zine's current user permission system does not seem to allow the > creation of accounts that can create drafts, but not publish them. > > This seems like a fairly important missing feature. Do you have any > plans to add this in? Should I attempt to commit a patch if I decide > to do it myself? > > 3. Adding uneditable content to the top and bottom of every blog post > in such a way that it would show up in preview mode and it should be > determined by a code entered in a box in the post editing/writing > view. > > This probably needs some modification of the source code as well. > > Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because Zine, while a great project, > is still pretty new and I would like to keep receiving updates instead > of forking the project, which it seems that I might have to do in > order to implement everything I need. > > What do you, elder developers, think could be done using plugins > alone? Or should I just dive in, make the modifications I need, and > submit it all as a pile of patches for you to clean up later? Because > some of this stuff would surely be useful to others as well. > > Note that using Zine is not yet my final decision and I'd like to get > more input from all of you here before I commit to anything. > > Best, > Elver > > elver.loho@gmail.com > +372 5661 6933 > http://memeresearch.com/> > skype: elver.loho >
Hi Artem, Since you say that Zine has been essentially abandoned, I'm just going to make my modifications right in the code itself, and not bother with doing plugins. The internals of Zine are surprisingly clean, so it should be a lot easier than trying to do this with plugins :) Best, Elver elver.loho@gmail.com +372 5661 6933 http://memeresearch.com/ skype: elver.loho On 12 August 2010 11:23, Artem Egorkine <arteme@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > It is great that time and time again people find Zine and get excited about > it! The obstacles you describe can be worked around - there's nothing that a > little coding can't fix ;) > > 1. I could imagine some sort of an OAuth/LDAP/IMAP/db authentication plug-in > that would offer a separate "register" page and would create a zine user > based on the data gathered from that source. If you want to hook this > directly in the log-in page, it might not be as non-intrusive as the > "register" page approach. > > 2. This is a shortcoming indeed. Currently there are "CREATE_ENTRIES", > "MANAGE_OWN_ENTRIES" and "EDIT_OTHER_ENTRIES" types of privileges defined. > You will need to hack some code to add a "can publish" privilege to the > views and templates. > > 3. If I understand correctly, this may be achievable with a plug-in. One > part of it would offer the widget for the edit page, another will store it > in a table and the third one will render it to the final view. > > I do have to say one thing though and it is something that will upset a lot > of people. As a project, Zine is dead! There are many individuals and groups > around that use it and add features/fix bugs, but there is no central > leadership, road-map or vision. I am sure, many of us would like the project > to spring back to life and evolve into a rich and powerful publishing > platform, but there is no strong force driving Zine at the moment. > > Sincerely, > Artem > > On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Elver Loho <elver.loho@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> I'm evaluating Zine for a project where we'd like to give an existing >> community of users accounts on a shared blog, have them write blog >> posts, moderate the publishing of these posts, and add additional >> content (an image with a link, based on a code the user enters into a >> box) to each post in an automated fashion. So far I'm quite impressed >> with Zine (though I have not spent much time looking at the code yet) >> and would prefer to use it. These are the biggest obstacles I see in >> my path: >> >> 1. Using a different database for username/password authentication and >> auto-creating a new Zine user on first login. >> >> I guess the only way to get this done would be to dive into Zine's >> code and hack the authentication bits to suit my needs. >> >> 2. Zine's current user permission system does not seem to allow the >> creation of accounts that can create drafts, but not publish them. >> >> This seems like a fairly important missing feature. Do you have any >> plans to add this in? Should I attempt to commit a patch if I decide >> to do it myself? >> >> 3. Adding uneditable content to the top and bottom of every blog post >> in such a way that it would show up in preview mode and it should be >> determined by a code entered in a box in the post editing/writing >> view. >> >> This probably needs some modification of the source code as well. >> >> Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because Zine, while a great project, >> is still pretty new and I would like to keep receiving updates instead >> of forking the project, which it seems that I might have to do in >> order to implement everything I need. >> >> What do you, elder developers, think could be done using plugins >> alone? Or should I just dive in, make the modifications I need, and >> submit it all as a pile of patches for you to clean up later? Because >> some of this stuff would surely be useful to others as well. >> >> Note that using Zine is not yet my final decision and I'd like to get >> more input from all of you here before I commit to anything. >> >> Best, >> Elver >> >> elver.loho@gmail.com >> +372 5661 6933 >> http://memeresearch.com/> >> skype: elver.loho > >