Don, I'm getting a couple of things from your post. First,
OpenACS 4.x is probably not suited for a hobbyist who wants to
create one database-backed web site for personal use. Nor is it
necessarily the best choice for commercial users who want to
create and maintain one simple to medium-complexity site
themselves. For both of these goals, 3.x may be as good as or
better than 4.x. In contrast, 4.x is intended to be an improvement
over 3.x for people who expect build either a bunch of moderately
complex web apps over time or one fairly large and complex app
that could be better accomplished through pre-built and
pre-integrated building blocks. Does that sound right?
I'm also hearing that, for this intended user base, it will be crucial
to make service contracts, the content repository, and workflow
relatively easy to learn how to use. (Do they also have to be
relatively easy to learn how to extend or modify?) I would imagine
that we would want to add permissions and templating to this
list. It's possible that portals will eventually make this list as well,
particularly if the module merges with the templating system.
From the perspective of the user described above, are there any
other features that need to be easy to learn how to use? Are
there any others that need to be easy to learn how to extend and
modify?
Interestingly, the list we've just outlined here looks an awful lot
like the crucial pieces of a real content management system.