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Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 17:03:06 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Re: Lets Not Go Big Game Hunting!
From: sandor@cs.uu.nl
To: users@cocoon.apache.org
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[stuff snipped]

> Expand capabilities?  Yes. Add power features?  Sure.
> But lets keep it simple and usable!!
>
> My 2c soapbox for the day...

You're right. My feeling is slightly different though.
Context: I'm trying to tame Cocoon to make it useful for
some lab exercises for our students.

I'm quite convinced Cocoon does not need to be so very
complicated, because its design is basically ok. I can
get basic Cocoon up and running in no time. Some XML,
stylesheets, databases etc. But once you try and move
into web applications, the learning curve gets steep.

Part of this has nothing to do with Cocoon. Writing a
web application that fulfills the promises of XML _is_
quite difficult. Period. Lots of standards, technology,
design issues, lots of data, various delivery contexts.

A very large part of "learning Cocoon is like eating an
elephant" (love the metaphore!) is due to documentation.
Not long big documents, not books, but little pieces :)
A paragraph per block, tops.

Most, if not all, stuff outside the Cocoon core relates
to web applications and the sitemap. What I miss is some
overview. What functionality does each block offer? Why
and when do I need it? How does it relate to the sitemap?

Without this information, I get a sort of "all or nothing"
feeling. I cannot quickly select relevant parts of Cocoon
for my apps. I don't know what parts I can skip. I have to
spend days taking little bites off the elephant, putting
it all in perspective one bit at the time. Where I have a
funny feeling I don't need _all_ of it, just some of it.

And at the same time, there's so much work gone into Cocoon
that it has a lot to offer. So you don't wanna go out and
write new code yourself.

Sorry, I'm trying to get rid of some frustration here :)
I _do_ appreciate the whole Cocoon effort. A lot actually.

Cheers,
Sandor


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