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Setup
Setup for the conference skinning course.
It is important that you come to class prepared. If you have problems getting the required packages installed, please ask on the mailing list before class, so we can get you up to speed.
If you come to class unprepared, you will likely not be able to enjoy many of the benefits of a hands-on class. Please ask on the list if you need help.
Windows
[Windows] Plone
Required. You must have this software installed.
For Windows, the best thing is to install Plone from the installer. You can find the most recent version (2.5.1) at:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/plone/plone-2.5.1-zope-2.9-6179.exe
When installing Plone, it will prompt you for a username and password for the administrative user--please use "admin" for both username and password.
You do not need to install Zope separately, and should not do so.
Note
Already have Plone installed?
If you already have Plone installed, you can use the same setup you have, as long as it's 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, or 2.5. I'll walk everyone through creating a new instance with your existing installation on the first day, if needed. If you'd like to keep the class instance separate from the already-installed instance, you can do that, too--just install it again, choosing a different location (instead of c:\Program Files\Plone 2, you can choose something like c:\Program Files\Plone 2 Bootcamp.
[Windows] WinZip
Required but only needed for very old versions of Windows.
Recent versions of Windows can open .zip files directly, but very old versions will require a program like WinZip:
http://www.winzip.com
We'll need this to open up Plone add-on products, which are often packaged as archives.
[Windows] Firefox
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
Even if you use Internet Explorer for your daily browsing, it's very useful to have a second browser for Plone--that way, one browser can be used for the Manager-logged-in-user, and one for testing as an ordinary person. In addition, Firefox has one very useful extension (below) we'll also be using.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[Windows] Web Developer Extensions
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
A fantastically useful add-on for Firefox; we'll be using this to learn to how to stylize Plone, bug fix CSS errors, etc. It's a very easy install once Firefox is set up:
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
Mac OSX
[OSX] Plone
Required. You must have this software installed.
For OSX, the best thing is to install Plone from the installer. You can find the most recent version (2.5.1) at:
http://plone.org/products/plone
The Mac installer does not prompt you for a password; it selects a random one for you. You can find this by looking in your INSTANCE_HOME (unless you've changed something, this shoud be /opt/Plone-2.5/Instance), in a file called adminPassword.txt.
You do not need to install Zope separately, and should not do so.
[OSX] Firefox
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
Even if you use Safari for your daily browsing, it's very useful to have a second browser for Plone--that way, one browser can be used for the Manager-logged-in-user, and one for testing as an ordinary person. In addition, Firefox has one very useful extension (below) we'll also be using.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[OSX] Web Developer Extensions
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
A fantastically useful add on for Firefox; we'll be using this to learn to how to stylize Plone, bug fix CSS errors, etc. It's a very easy install once Firefox is set up:
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
Linux
If you're coming using Linux, I'm going to assume you're a fairly technical user; therefore, my instructions here assume you're familiar with building and installing software under Linux.
[Linux] Python
Required. You must have this software installed.
Almost all Linux distributions already ship with Python. If not, check for a compiled-for-your-distribution version.
Only Python 2.3.x is technically supported for the versions of Zope we'll be using, but I use Python 2.4, since that's what my Linux distribution installs, and everything works fine. Note that to install Zope on Python 2.4, you'll need to pass the Zope configuration command a "--with-python=/path/to/python/executable" option so that it knows that you want to use that version of Python; otherwise, it will complain that it can't find Python 2.3.x.
[Linux] Zope
Required. You must have this software installed.
I strongly recommend you install from the Zope and Plone sources. Zope and Plone are an easy install from source. Almost all of the RPM/deb/Gentoo packaging efforts for Zope and Plone tend to be nonstandard and not updated. Furthermore, no serious developer I know uses them, and, so, if you use them, you tend to put yourself out on an island with regard to support.
Please download Zope 2.9 (or anything on the Zope 2.9.x line). Do not install Zope 3; this is an entirely unrelated product to the Zope we'll be using.
You can install this anywhere; in class, I'll usually assume your Zope software is installed somewhere like /usr/local/zope.
Once you've installed Zope, you can build your INSTANCE_HOME by executing:
/usr/local/zope/bin/mkzopeinstance.py
Give it the username of "admin" and password of "admin" and the directory of /var/zope (if you choose a different directory, please remember that; you'll need to know where your instance home is to install Plone!)
[Linux] Plone
Required. You must have this software installed.
Please install from source (as described above).
The Plone source package is just a bunch of Zope products. These should be installed in your INSTANCE_HOME, the location of your Zope server. Within your instance home (normally, /var/zope), place the contents of the Plone tarball in Products. So, you should have, in /var/zope/Products, a bunch of folders (CMFCore, CMFDefault, CMFPlone, etc.)
Please test that you know how to start up and stop your Zope instance; if you can, check that you can add a Plone site.
If you create a Plone Site in your new zope instance, please give it the ID of "Plone" (so that it's the same as the Windows and OSX installers use by default).
[Linux] Firefox
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
Chances are, you already have Firefox, but if your Linux distro uses a different browser, please install it. It's very useful to have a second browser for Plone--that way, one browser can be used for the Manager-logged-in-user, and one for testing as an ordinary person. In addition, Firefox has a very useful extension (below) we'll also be using.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[Linux] Web Developer Extensions
Highly recommended. If possible, please install.
A fantastically useful add on for Firefox; we'll be using this to learn to how to stylize Plone, bug fix CSS errors, etc. It's a very easy install once Firefox is set up:
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/