Plone and the One-Person Web Shop
"Some one-person Web shops are intimidated by Plone. They feel that more of a team is necessary to make Plone work for them. With support from the Plone Community, you can make it work!"
— Rose Pruyne, Web Administrator in the Department of Dairy and Animal Science from 2005-2010
Dairy and Animal Science was one of the first units at Penn State to implement a Web content management system, starting in the year 2000. It's first CMS was built and maintained within the department, using ColdFusion.
This was a great CMS. But by 2006, it was time to move to an Enterprise-Level system so that Dairy and Animal Sciences could enjoy additional functionality with less building and supporting of code.
DAS was the first department in the College of Agricultural Sciences to move to Plone and become a WebLion Partner.
Here are some of the gains realized:
World-Class System
Plone is among the top 2 percent of all open-source projects worldwide, with more than 300 core developers and more than 300 solution providers around the world. It has the best security track record of any major CMS.
Many Innate Functionalities
Plone comes with a long list of features and functionalities. Versioning, built-in RSS feeds, user and group management, link and reference integrity checking, powerful workflow options, flexible authentication, collections, s5 presentation mode, and multiple language support are just a few.
A Wealth of Add-On Products
Hundreds of add-on products are available to extend Plone. There are also endless opportunities to create customized add-on products and contribute them to the Plone community.WebLion Hosting and Support
Support from the WebLion team meant that I was no longer a lone Web developer. I now had a team that could assist with issues, product development, and troubleshooting. The entire department of Dairy and Animal Science benefited from this.
Participating in users groups, training, sprints, and other work sessions contributed greatly to professional development, and I had the opportunity to take on leadership roles in documentation efforts and other projects.
WebLion's Hosting Service meant that the DAS Web Administrator could spend a lot less time on server management and more time on coding, product development, content provider training, and other important projects.
The Plone Community
It's a golden opportunity to be a part of the Plone community; to enjoy its support and to participate in projects that benefit users around the world.
Plone Products Used
- CMFSquidTool
- CacheSetup
- Content Lead Image
- ContentWellPortlets
- FacultyStaffDirectory
- RedirectionTool
- WebLionHostingPolicy
- WebServerAuth
- CMFPlacefulWorkflow
- agCommon
- dasPeopleExtender
- dasHorseExtender
- plone.app.imaging
- plonegalleryview
Plone Products Built
Integration With Other Systems
Penn State's Authentication System
Costs Avoided
By using WebLion's Hosting Service, the department was able to eliminate two Web servers, a cost of about $15,000 every two years. This also means fewer server-maintenance and security headaches. It's tough to put a price tag on that; however, consider the possible liability and cost if a server is compromised.
More Stats
- Size of Web Team: 1
- Number of Web Pages in Plone: 15,000
- Number of Accounts Managed: 280
Additional Comments
Some developer-integrators in one-person Web shops are intimidated by Plone. They feel that more of a team is necessary to make Plone work for them. With support from the Plone Community, you can make it work!
