[Plone-NGOs] Initial thoughts on a "Plone for Nonprofits" bundle

[john habermann]

Hi Kai

On 1/8/07, Kai Harris <kai.harris at gmail.com> wrote:
> I second Derec's suggestion of CMFContentPanels.  I found it to be
> much easier to use 'out of the box' than CompositePack.  ContentPanels
> needs its UI refined some and it would be very helpful to have some
> additional Panel templates.  But you don't need to go to the ZMI and
> once you figure out the quirky UI, it's pretty powerful.
>
> I'm currently developing a Plone site to replace our current website.
> Our intranet site content and website content will be in the same
> plone instance.  Users login to see intranet site content.  The most
> useful products I've found are:
> CMFContentPanels
> EasyBlog - I chose this on a recommendation, didn't look much at Quills

I ended up using CoreBlog2 primarily because I liked the way it let
you associate images and other media with you blog entries.

> PlonePoPoll
> SimplePortlets
> PloneFormGen - really cool custom form generation and I've only
> scratched the surface of this products capabilities
> AnalyticsForPlone - Must have for all sites.  Track your usage stats
> in an *incredibly* useful manner.
>
> LDAP and Active Directory integration is one area where I think Plone
> could use real help.  It's possible now but a pain to get set up and
> groups don't work without patching (at least in 2.5).  Having this
> integration as 'out of the box' as possible would make it much easier
> for nonprofits to develop one Plone site that supports both website
> content and intranet content.

We have a Plone based intranet that integrates with LDAP. Sam the
developer has the project online at
http://sustainablesoftware.com.au/projects/ssidm. The aim of the
project was to provide a central repositry for our users and groups
that we can integrate our other IT systems, like email, request
tracking systems, website and CRM into. Still early days yet as far as
the integration goes with other systems goes as they are still being
setup but I have used it to extract user information into RT (ticket
tracking system) easily. Other people in our organisation are using it
as a contact source for OutLook and Thunderbird. Having a central user
repositry should make life a lot easier as we try to improve the use
of IT systems in our organisation  and I guess other NGO's which have
a distributed nature like ours would find the same thing.

cheers
John

>
> Anyhow, that's my 2 pennies.
>
> Kai
>
> Kai Harris
> Operations Manager
> Legal Assistance for Seniors
> http://www.lashicap.org
>
> On 1/1/07, Derec Davies FoE Brisbane <derec.davies at brisbane.foe.org.au> wrote:
> > Hi All
> > Looks like a good list Jon.
> > However I personally have some issues with CompositePack. I recommend
> > CMFContentPanels as an alternative for review.
> >
> > I feel that although CompositePack is good it requires a lot of ZMI tweaking
> > to get it up to a basic level of usability. I say this because if you are
> > targeting this package at small NGO's with limited tech support -
> > CompositePack is hard to get the average user off and running.
> >
> > CMFContentPanels is easy to use and ready out of the box.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Derec
> >
> > Hi all
> > My name is Derec. I am the coordinator of the Friends of the Earth Australia
> > ITC team. My technical knowledge in IT is limited, as I come from a user
> > perspective. My primary role in my team is coordination and vision
> > development.
> >
> > FoEA currently runs Plone for our local group Intranets and public sites.
> > I have been watching this list for many months.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > NGO at lists.plone.org
> > http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/ngo
> >
> >
> >
>
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>


-- 
John Habermann
Internet Programmer, System Administrator
The Wilderness Society Inc
http://www.wilderness.org.au