PloneGov: Bringing Plone to Local Governments
Plone is one of the best known Free Software Content Management Systems (CMS) in the market. Much of the importance of Plone lies in its power and flexibility, enabling it to be applied in a wide variety
of contexts.
This maturity was no more obvious than during the "PloneGov" developer sprint at this year's Plone Conference. PloneGov is about bringing Plone to local government organisations. However, the focus is not on the technology. Instead, the key aim of the project is to support collaboration between local governments, the Open Source developer community and small to medium enterprises (SME) that support deployment. This said, some of the technical work going into PloneGov is also very interesting.
Two products for PloneGov that stand out for their technical merit are Python Open Document (POD) and Latex Tool. POD is a tool for converting your Plone content into Open Document Format and Office .doc files. These tasks are simply performed through an elegant transformation of the content into the XML normally found in Open Document Format. Passing the content to OpenOffice running in server mode gives users the ability to save .doc and PDF files. Using OpenOffice to produce PDF output, however, does have some drawbacks. Most notably the overhead of running server mode OpenOffice. Latex Tool is an alternative means for producing PDF using the LaTeX typesetting environment [6]. In this case Plone content is converted from XHTML into LaTeX source by a Python-based transformation script before being passed in to the LaTeX compiler. This combination of PloneGov plus POD and the Latex Tool has the potential to create an all-in-one environment for managing and editing ODF content without the need for OpenOffice. As these products mature, they will clearly become an invaluable part of the PloneGov suite.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.