PyConZA 2012: "Jmbo Tutorial (slides)" by Hedley Roos

Jmbo is a CMS (no, don't run!) built on Django. It was born after years of frustration with a rigid development pipeline and tools which are either too weak of overly complex.

So a CMS for mobi? Sure, it is that and more. Its real value lies in bringing project manager, designer, integrator and devops together in a sane and friendly way.

We'll start off with a short history of the problem domain and our naive first attempts at solving it. Then we try and recreate a popular news mobi site within the allotted time. If you're more of a CSS person than a Python coder we need you as well!

If you want to code then you'll need Ubuntu 12.04 since that is the easiest platform to set up. Make yourself a virtual machine if you're on a Mac.

I'll be assisted by my colleagues Milton Madanda, Shaun Sephton and Rizmari Versfeld.

Transcript

1. Why does Jmbo exist? • Sites (especially mobi) have recurring elements • We want a standard set of templates for all devices • Turnaround time • Make it easy for novice developers to be productive • Bring designers closer to the project • The usual project process is full of pain
2. The usual project process • Creative / strat has a beautiful vision • Write a scope of work promising a lot • Wireframe • Designer does HTML and CSS • Developer must integrate • QA etc etc • Deploy and support
3. Things always go wrong • Unrealistic promises → new unplanned features and code • Horrible HTML and CSS • Upside: most developers are CSS gurus • Developer must co-ordinate and fight with all involved parties
4. The Jmbo project process • The toolkit is known • Developer is involved from the start to identify problem areas • UX can create wireframes which focus on layout, not detail • Designer works with developer when development starts • Designer does not write HTML, only CSS • Designer can continue working in parallel • Rapid QA releases since there are no bottlenecks
5. No HTML? Really? • It depends • Identify what Jmbo offers you, then add custom bits as required • Write custom HTML in same style as Jmbo, then you get most styling for free
6. The stack • Python • Django • The usual web elements (JS, Jquery, CSS etc.) • Postgres with PostGIS preferred, MySQL will work, SQLite with Spatialite for demos and the insane • buildout • supervisord • nginx • gunicorn • User agent detection and switcher • HAProxy
7. Links http://pypi.python.org/pypi/jmbo Core CMS product. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/jmbo-foundry A.k.a. Jmbo Go. Present jmbo-* apps as a logical whole. Build pages. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/jmbo-skeleton Replacement for paste. Get a demo or new project up and running quickly.