Author: Dr. Frank Hoffmann, 2001/08/16
ZMS adopts the object model of ZOPE. The special ZMS "objects" are rubrics, documents and images. In turn the document object consists of: text passages, headings, tables etc.
Object hierarchy: documents are created within folders (rubrics) which can have further sub-folders (similar to a directory). Documents consist of text sections, images and binary data files. The text sections are defined by markup elements (e.g. headings, enumerations etc.) Links are assigned to the respective text sections.
The contents are stored in ZMS similar to a file system:
The "folder objects" assume the function of "directories". The folders serve for the orientation regarding the contents and should be declared as selective as possible so that no textual overlapping can occur. The actual documents are arranged in manageable quantities and attached to the defined "folders". Folders include further objects: either documents or further sub-categories (folders).
The "document objects" consist of particular text sections and in addition of images (illustrations/graphics). To each text section (sometimes called "element") a meaning is attributed, for example heading-1, body text, enumeration etc.
Any number of links can be added to each text section.
So the hierarchy of the text objects is as follows:
website->folder->document->text->link
In this hierarchy you can also insert further sub-categories at the document level; both at the folder level and the document level you can insert text as well as image objects.
The folders at the highest level are also called "channels" which indicates that different kinds of information are offered. Often it is necessary to give a different basic layout (e.g. colouring) to these "channels".