Conversant (C) + Radio Userland (RU) => Radio Conversant (RC)

1. Intro
   1. Userland are busily and rapidly building a tool(kit) that is based on their outliner technologies to ease(?) the task of creating content and administering their Manila-based web-sites.
   2. The new tool is called Radio Userland (RU) and it is starting to incorporate some compelling features.
   3. RU is free and will continue to be according to assurances made by Dave W.
   4. Whilst Manila (M) is IMO a poor cousin to C the combination of M and RU is attractive - not least because of it's "Wow!" factor.
   5. RU is being integrated with Zope and this should provide some insight into the process of morphing RU to support non-M frameworks.
2. Background and Assumptions
   1. C has a rich underlying structure - captured in Frontier's persistent ODB.
   2. C != (M).
   3. Current interaction with C content is via...
      1. browser with realm-protected, form submission of content, etc.
      2. e-mail
      3. newsgroup
      4. but not (yet) XML-RPC
   4. Current interaction with C presentation is via...
      1. browser-based, realm-protected, form submission of stylesheets, templates, etc.
         1. CSS is central to the control of the look'n'feel of C sites.
3. Proposal
   1. Investigate the potential of using XML-RPC and RU as interaction mechanisms for C. For convenience I shall refer to this as RC (Radio Conversant)
   2. Questions...
      1. Why - would it make sense to use RC?
      2. Where - would it make sense to use RC?
      3. What - would the functionality of RC be?
      4. Who - would develop the functionality of RC?
   3. Answers...
      1. TBA ;-)
4. Wishlist
   1. To augment RU with C-specific features
   2. Use RC to create and update the content of C sites
   3. Use RC to visualise/modify the structure and navigation of C sites
   4. More to follow...
5. Caveats
   1. I don't have an in-depth understanding of C's architecture
   2. Ditto RU's and M's architecture
6. Acronyms

   I always start a project by choosing potential acronyms. FWIW, here are some candidates - OVERdone of course ;-)

   ABOVE

   Administrator and Binder Outline Viewer and Editor

   COVE

   Css Outline Viewer and Editor

   DOVE

   Directory Outline Viewer and Editor

   DROVE

   Discussion Resources Outline Viewer and Editor

   GROOVE

   General Resource Object Outline Viewer and Editor
   Great Radio Object Outline Viewer and Editor

   GROOVER

   Great Radio Outline Object Viewer and Editing Resource

   GROVE

   General Resource Outline Viewer and Editor

   GROVEL

   General Resources Outline Viewer and Edit Layer

   HOVE

   Hierarchy Outline Viewer and Editor

   HOVEL

   Hierarchy Outline View and Edit Layer

   LOVE

   Layout Outline Viewer and Editor

   MOVE

   Message Outline Viewer and Editor

   NOVEL

   Newsgroup Outline Viewer and Edit Layer

   OVER

   Outline Viewer and Editing Resource

   PROVE

   P... R... Outline Viewer and Editing Resource

   ROVE

   Resources Outline Viewer and Editor

   SHOVE

   Site Hierarchy Outline Viewer and Editor

   SHOVEL

   Site Hierarchy Outline View and Edit Layer

   STROVE

   Stylesheet and Template Resources Outline Viewer and Editor

   TROVE

   Template Resources Outline Viewer and Editor

   WOVE

   Weblog Outline Viewer and Editor