If the marketing people are going to be touching the content at all, then I highly recommend a template engine like Velocity. What would the Velocity naysayers tells the marketing folks the first time an obscure Java message comes up?
For example, suppose they tried to put the following expression into a JSP:
<% count %>
and the JSP engine come up with the following message:
work/8080/_0002ftest_0002ejsptest_jsp_0.java:56: Class count not found in type declaration.
count
^
work/8080/_0002ftest)9992ejsptest_jsp_0.java:59: Invalid declaration.
out.write("\r\n");
How does anyone (even a seasoned programmer) expect to easily figure out that the expression is missing an equal sign. This is a ridiculous way to debug content, yet that is what you get with JSP. Velocity gives much better error messages (it even actually points to the line of code in the template that caused the error, and gives a useful message).
Velocity (or a similar template engine) will empower the non-programmers a whole lot more than JSP will.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cynthia Jeness [mailto:cj@goldencode.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 3:18 PM
To: javasummit@yahoogroups.com
Cc: ajug-members@ajug.org
Subject: Re: [JS] Velocity Templates vs. JSP
Noel,
Your clarification is exactly correct. Our next project involves the production of an on-line marketing notebook. It will be viewed over an
intranet and will be used by the "seller" to assist in the selling process. The seller does, however, show the contents of the notebook to the
potential purchaser. The marketing people want the notebook to look very polished and professional and they would like to control the update
of the content. We do not want them to do the Java logic. We just want to empower them to handle the presentation side to the extent
possible.
Cynthia
"Noel J. Bergman" wrote:
> Cynthia: From my perspective, it is important to separate the HTML from the
> Java logic because I would like to delegate the HTML production to good web
> designers who may in fact be "marketing people" with little technical skill.
> I am a little concerned that this is a practical goal with JSP.
>
> Dion: My major concern with this line of thinking is that is presumes that
> "marketing people" with little technical skill are going to start writing
> Java logic...?
>
> Dion, I think you mis-read her comment. She does not want the marketing
> people to code Java. She wants to avoid that, and is expressing concern as
> to whether or not JSP technology allows that degree of separation with
> non-programming HTML designers.
>
> The answer, of course, is yes.
>
> --- Noel
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
> Secure your servers with 128-bit SSL encryption! Grab your copy of VeriSign's FREE Guide: "Securing Your Web Site for Business." Get it Now!
> http://www.verisign.com/cgi-bin/go.cgi?a=n094442340008000
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/n7RbFC/zhwCAA/yigFAA/saFolB/TM
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
> http://www.bobrow.net/kimberly/JavaSummit for info on subscribing/unsubscribing
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/