Theming is probably the most used way to customize Plone, and Plone customization is often considered a complex issue. Part of this complexity comes from its high level of abstraction (Plone manages "contents" not "applications, controllers, views" and other low level stuff). Part of the complexity reside instead in the Zope platform itself. Besides, Plone is currently based on two different architectures: Zope 2 and Zope 3.

This allows us to use the best features of both technologies but can also be very confusing for newbies! "Plone 3 theming" explains very well both sides of Plone/Zope architecture, with a main topic and aim: theming.

The first chapters explain Plone customization in general, and help to set the development environment and the basic tools we need. The next chapters explain the basic machinery needed to do customization in a repeatable way. Then, the book goes deep on almost every detail about theming customization using a sample theme as a reference.

In the last chapter Alexander Limi unveils the future of Plone theme customization: collective.xdv, an add-on based on xslt technology that will be platform and technology independent, a new and exciting approach that doesn't need programming knowledge!

The prerequisite to appreciate to the best this book is a fair understanding of web design (HTML, CSS). It can also be a good reading if you already use another classic of Plone literature: Professional Plone development, Aspeli, Packt. Both these books are based on Plone 3.

Happy reading

Maurizio Lupo