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| <!DOCTYPE document PUBLIC "-//APACHE//DTD Documentation V2.0//EN" "http://forrest.apache.org/dtd/document-v20.dtd"> |
| <document> |
| <header> |
| <title>Welcome to Apache Forrest</title> |
| <abstract> |
| Apache Forrest™ software is a publishing framework that transforms |
| input from various sources into a unified presentation in one or more |
| output formats. The modular and extensible plug-in architecture of |
| Apache Forrest is based on Apache Cocoon and the relevant industry |
| standards that separate presentation from content. Forrest can generate |
| static documents, or be used as a dynamic server, or be deployed by its |
| automated facility. |
| </abstract> |
| </header> |
| <body> |
| <p> |
| The Apache Forrest project uses the opensource |
| <a href="site:license">Apache License 2.0</a> and adheres to |
| <a href="site:way">open development</a> ideals. |
| We are part of The Apache Software Foundation (<a href="ext:asf">ASF</a>). |
| </p> |
| <note> |
| Please realise that Forrest is still pre-1.0 release version. It is |
| certainly usable for those who are prepared to move with it. See more |
| notes about <a href="#status">status</a> below. |
| </note> |
| <section> |
| <title>Explanation and features</title> |
| <p> |
| Forrest is designed with the new user in mind. Much effort has gone into |
| making the process of generating a new site <strong>easy</strong> and |
| <strong>simple</strong>: |
| </p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><strong>Step 1</strong>: Do <code>'forrest seed'</code> to populate |
| the directory with template site structure and contents.</li> |
| <li><strong>Step 2</strong>: Add content by editing docs in |
| task-specific, presentation-neutral XML.</li> |
| <li><strong>Step 3</strong>: Do <code>'forrest run'</code> then use |
| the web browser to immediately review |
| changes at <code>http://localhost:8888/</code></li> |
| <li><strong>Step 4</strong>: Do <code>'forrest'</code> to generate the |
| complete website from the XML sources. |
| Various styles (known as skins) are available. Custom skins |
| can be developed.</li> |
| <li><strong>Step 5</strong>: For more information about installation |
| and use, see the |
| <a href="site:your-project">Using Forrest</a> guide. |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <!-- FIXME: Needs review for 0.9 --> |
| <note> |
| The first time you run Forrest it may attempt to retrieve some plugins |
| from the Internet (it depends on which distribution of Forrest you have |
| installed). In some cases this will happen whenever a new plugin is |
| specified, in other cases, for example when you have installed all |
| plugins locally or have checked out the full source tree, the plugins |
| will be retrieved from your local installation. In all cases once a |
| plugin has been installed locally there is no need for Forrest to access |
| the Internet. For more information see the |
| <a href="site:pluginVersions/overview">plugins documentation</a>. |
| </note> |
| <p> |
| Forrest's focus on low "startup cost" makes it ideal for rapid |
| development of small sites, where time and budget constraints do not |
| allow time-wasting HTML experiments. Of course, that same methodology |
| can scale up to large projects. Your development team does not need Java® |
| experience, or even XML skills, to use Forrest. The framework lets you |
| concentrate on content and design. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| By <strong>separating content from presentation</strong>, providing |
| <strong>content templates</strong> and <strong>pre-written |
| skins</strong>, Forrest is unequalled at enabling content producers to |
| get their message out fast. This separation of concerns makes Forrest |
| excellent to publish <strong>project documentation</strong> (notably |
| software projects), <strong>intranets</strong>, and <strong>home |
| pages</strong>, and anything else you can think of. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Forrest is far from a quick and dirty solution however. Forrest is built |
| on the world's leading XML application framework, |
| <a href="ext:cocoon">Apache Cocoon</a>, which provides advanced |
| users with extremely powerful publishing capabilities. |
| </p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Multiple task-specific source XML formats can be used |
| (<a href="site:write-howto">How-To</a>, |
| <a href="site:faq"> |
| <acronym title="Frequently Asked |
| Questions">FAQ</acronym></a>, |
| <a href="site:changes">changelogs</a> and |
| <a href="site:todo">todo lists</a> supported natively). |
| Source formats include: Apache xdocs xml format, plain html |
| documents, some Wiki formats, a subset of DocBook, ... |
| </li> |
| <li>Multiple output formats supported, for example HTML and PDF (using |
| <a href="ext:fop">Apache FOP</a>). |
| </li> |
| <li>SVG to PNG rendering (using <a href="ext:batik">Apache |
| Batik</a>). Simply drop the SVG in the appropriate directory |
| and it will be rendered as PNG.</li> |
| <li> |
| Transparent inclusion and aggregation of external content, like |
| <a href="site:changes-rss">RSS feeds</a>. |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| Anything else possible with the |
| <a href="ext:cocoon/sitemap">Cocoon sitemap</a>. Using database |
| queries, <a href="ext:apache-stats">charting</a>, web services |
| integration; the possibilities are constantly growing as Cocoon grows. |
| See the <a href="ext:cocoon/features">Cocoon Features</a> list |
| for the full suite of capabilities. |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| Based on Java and XML standards, Forrest is platform-independent, |
| making for a documentation system that is just as portable as the |
| XML data that it processes. |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <p> |
| Unique amongst comparable documentation tools, Forrest generates sites |
| that can run both <strong>interactively</strong> as a dynamic web |
| application, or as statically rendered pages. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| This provides a path for site growth: start off small and static, and if |
| dynamic features (user login, forms processing, runtime data, site |
| search etc) are one day needed, these can be accommodated by switching |
| to webapp mode. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Running as a webapp has a major advantage during development: content |
| can be written, and then the rendered output viewed almost instantly in |
| a web browser. This <a href="site:your-project/webapp">webapp |
| technique</a> enables Forrest's edit/review cycle to be faster than |
| command-line transformation tools. |
| </p> |
| </section> |
| <section id="status"> |
| <title>History and project status</title> |
| <p> |
| Apache Forrest was started in January 2002, with the major use-case |
| being to create a consistent and efficient |
| <a href="http://xml.apache.org/">xml.apache.org</a> group of |
| project websites with a uniform, lightweight, easy-to-navigate layout |
| and structure. In addition, Forrest was to be a Sourceforge-like project |
| management tool, complementing <a href="ext:gump">Apache Gump</a> |
| (hence the name 'Forrest'). |
| See the Apache XML and Apache Cocoon mail lists around end 2001 (e.g. |
| <a href="http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/xml-general/200112.mbox/%3C3C173108.CEF1A1E7@apache.org%3E">here</a> |
| and |
| <a href="http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/xml-general/200112.mbox/%3C3C1D1333.4249357A@apache.org%3E">here</a> / |
| <a href="http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/cocoon-dev/200112.mbox/%3C3C1D1333.4249357A@apache.org%3E">here</a>). |
| Forrest <a href="site:guidelines/pmc">became</a> a top-level project |
| in May 2004. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The focus shifted for Apache Forrest to primarily be a generic |
| documentation tool capable of meeting many needs. Certain relevant |
| project management facilities are being added. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Apache Forrest is currently progressing rapidly through a series of 0.x |
| releases. It is certainly usable now (despite not yet being version |
| 1.x). See the growing list of <a href="site:live-sites">example |
| sites</a> including many Apache sites. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| In general, prior to 1.0, ensuring quality of design will be considered |
| more important than retaining backwards-compatibility. Users |
| (particularly those with custom sitemaps and skins) should be aware that |
| this is evolving software, and read the release notes carefully before |
| upgrading. That said, we appreciate the commitment in time that adopters |
| make, and will not make capricious or undocumented |
| backwards-incompatible changes. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Documentation on the Apache Forrest website exists for various versions |
| including the latest release, the current development, and past |
| releases. All versions of Forrest include their own copy of the |
| documentation. There is also documentation for each plugin and the |
| forrest seed site contains further examples and documentation (see |
| <a href="site:faq/docs">FAQ</a>). |
| </p> |
| </section> |
| <section id="news"> |
| <title>News and events</title> |
| <p> |
| See the <a href="site:events">events</a> list for more detail. |
| </p> |
| <ul> |
| <!-- |
| <li> |
| <a href="http://apachecon.com/"> |
| <img src="http://apache.org/images/ac2005eu_135x50.gif" |
| alt="ApacheCon Europe 2005" width="135" height="50"/> |
| </a> |
| |
| <a href="http://apachecon.com/2006/EU/">ApacheCon EU 2006</a> |
| - Please make plans to join us for the conference in |
| Dublin, Ireland on 26-30 June 2006. |
| |
| See our <a href="site:events">events</a> list for the schedule |
| of Forrest meetings at ApacheCon. |
| </li> |
| --> |
| <li>Apache Forrest 0.9 was released on 2011-02-07. Consolidation. |
| </li> |
| <li>Apache Forrest 0.8 was released on 2007-04-18. |
| Locationmaps define the mapping from requests to locations, |
| which enables content and resources to be located at various |
| different sources. |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </section> |
| <section id="help"> |
| <title>Help Wanted!</title> |
| <p> |
| Apache Forrest is in need of developers. If you know |
| (or want to learn) any of XML, Ant, HTML, XSLT, or CSS, then you are |
| qualified to help. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| As with all Apache projects, Forrest is a meritocracy; the more you put |
| in, the more you get to define the project's future. See the |
| <a href="site:contrib">"contributing"</a> page for more |
| information. |
| |
| </p> |
| </section> |
| </body> |
| </document> |