View source for Plone (software)

{{Short description|Content management system}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Plone|Plone (band)}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Plone
| logo = Plone-logo.svg
| screenshot = Plone 5.2.png
| screenshot size = 300px
| caption = [[Screenshot]] of default Plone 5.2 install
| collapsible = yes
| developer = 603 Worldwide Current Contributors
| released = {{Start date and age|2001}}
| latest release version = {{Plone (software) version}} 
| latest release date = {{Plone (software) version|releasedate}} 
| operating system = [[Cross-platform software|Cross-platform]]
| platform = [[Zope]]
| genre = [[Content management system]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License]]
| website = {{URL|https://plone.org/}}
}}

'''Plone''' is a [[free software|free]] and [[open source software|open source]] [[content management system]] (CMS) built on top of the [[Zope]] [[application server]]. Plone is positioned as an [[enterprise CMS]] and is commonly used for [[intranet]]s and as part of the web presence of large organizations. High-profile public sector users include the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brazilian Government, United Nations, City of Bern (Switzerland), New South Wales Government (Australia), and European Environment Agency.<ref name="govfresh.com">{{cite web |url=http://govfresh.com/2011/03/gov-2-0-guide-to-plone/ |title=Gov 2.0 guide to Plone |publisher=Govfresh.com |date=2011-03-11 |access-date=2012-10-18 |archive-date=2017-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219115523/http://govfresh.com/2011/03/gov-2-0-guide-to-plone/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Plone's proponents cite its security track record<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realstorygroup.com/Blog/2523-Is-Plone-Really-More-Secure-Than-Drupal-and-Joomla |title=Is Plone Really More Secure Than Drupal and Joomla? |publisher=Real Story Group |date=2013-02-11 |access-date=2015-01-02}}</ref> and its accessibility<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sixfeetup.com/plone-cms/plone-cms-new#does-plone-support-visitors-with-disabilities |title=Plone - The Open Source Enterprise CMS |publisher=Six Feet Up |access-date=2015-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621091145/http://www.sixfeetup.com/plone-cms/plone-cms-new#does-plone-support-visitors-with-disabilities |archive-date=2017-06-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref> as reasons to choose Plone.

Plone has a long tradition of development occurring in so-called "[[Hackathon|sprints]]", in-person meetings of developers over the course of several days, the first occurring in 2003<ref name="sprints">{{cite web |url=https://plone.org/events/sprints/all_sprints |title=All sprints |publisher=Plone |access-date=2015-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102063354/https://plone.org/events/sprints/all_sprints |archive-date=2015-01-02}}</ref> and nine occurring in 2014. The largest sprint of the year is the sprint immediately following the annual conference. Certain other sprints are considered ''strategic'' so are funded directly by the Plone Foundation,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://plone.org/news/come-sprint |title=Bring Your Talent and Passion to a Sprint. Better Yet, Organize One! |publisher=Plone |date=2013-04-02 |access-date=2015-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102063431/https://plone.org/news/come-sprint |archive-date=2015-01-02}}</ref> although very few attendees are sponsored directly. The Plone Foundation also holds and enforces all [[copyrights]] and [[trademark]]s in Plone, and is assisted by legal counsel from the [[Software Freedom Law Center]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.softwarefreedom.org/news/2005/jul/13/plone-foundation/ |title=Software Freedom Law Center Adds Plone Foundation as Newest Client |publisher=Software Freedom Law Center |date=2005-07-13 |access-date=2015-01-02}}</ref>

== History ==
The Plone project began in 1999 by Alexander Limi, Alan Runyan, and Vidar Andersen. It was made as a [[usability]] layer on top of the [[Zope]] Content Management Framework. The first version was released in 2001. The project quickly grew into a community, receiving plenty of new [[Plug-in (computing)|add-on products]] from its users. The increase in community led to the creation of the annual Plone conference in 2003, which is still running today. In addition, "sprints" are held, where groups of developers meet to work on Plone, ranging from a couple of days to a week. In March 2004, Plone 2.0 was released. This release brought more customizable features to Plone, and enhanced the add-on functions. In May 2004, the Plone Foundation was created for the development, marketing, and protection of Plone. The Foundation has ownership rights over the Plone codebase, trademarks, and domain names. Even though the foundation was set up to protect ownership rights, Plone remains [[Open-source software|open source]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plone.org/foundation/about/faq |title=Plone Foundation FAQs — Plone CMS: Open Source Content Management |publisher=Plone.org |date=2009-01-03 |access-date=2012-10-18}}</ref>
On March 12, 2007, Plone 3 was released. This new release brought inline editing, an upgraded visual editor, and strengthened security, among many other enhancements.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://plone.org/news/plone-3.0-released/ |title=Plone 3.0 released! — Plone CMS: Open Source Content Management |publisher=Plone.org |date=2007-08-21 |access-date=2012-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309141041/http://plone.org/news/plone-3.0-released |archive-date=2012-03-09}}</ref> Plone 4 was released in September 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://plone.org/news/plone-4-released |title=Plone 4 CMS Unveiled: Advancing Power, Performance & User Experience — Plone CMS:- Open Source Content Management |publisher=Plone.org |access-date=2012-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309135231/http://plone.org/news/plone-4-released |archive-date=2012-03-09}}</ref> Plone won two [[Packt]] Open Source CMS Awards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.packtpub.com/open-source-cms-award-previous-winners |title=Open Source Awards Previous Winners &#124; Packt Publishing |publisher=Packtpub.com |access-date=2012-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707094004/http://www.packtpub.com/open-source-cms-award-previous-winners |archive-date=2009-07-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Release history===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 70%"
|-
! style="width: 5%" | Version
! data-sort-type="date" style="width: 10%" | Release date
! style="width: 5%" | Development time (days) <!-- Default half of the year, i.e. 1st of July (e.g. 1999-07-01) -->
! style="width: 50%" class="unsortable" | Notes and significant changes
|-
| 0.1
| October 4, 2001
| 
| Initial public release
|-
| 1.0
| February 6, 2003
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2001|10|04|2003|02|06}}
| First stable release
|-
| 2.0
| March 23, 2004
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2003|02|06|2004|03|23}}
| 
|-
| 2.1
| September 6, 2005
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2004|03|23|2005|09|06}}
| 
|-
| 2.5
| September 19, 2006
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2005|09|06|2006|09|19}}
| 
|-
| 3.0
| August 21, 2007
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2006|09|19|2007|08|21}}
| 
|-
| 3.1
| May 2, 2008
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2007|08|21|2008|05|02}}
| 
|-
| 3.2
| February 7, 2009
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2008|05|02|2009|02|07}}
| 
|-
| 3.3
| August 19, 2009
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2009|02|07|2009|08|19}}
| 
|-
| 4.0
| September 1, 2010
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2009|08|19|2010|09|01}}
| Infrastructure improvements increasing performance and reducing resource use, new base theme, more efficient blob storage, overlays, fit and polish.
|-
| 4.1
| August 8, 2011
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2010|09|01|2011|08|08}}
| Configuration registry, improved commenting system, more versatile caching, more detailed security roles.
|-
| 4.2
| July 5, 2012
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2011|08|08|2012|07|05}}
| Diazo [[Theme (computing)|theming]] system, [[HTML5]], Python 2.7, improved collections, improved search.
|-
| 4.3
| April 13, 2013
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2012|07|05|2013|04|13}}
| Dexterity Content Type development system, [[Kupu]] removal, KSS removed, Password API, Improved Syndication, [[NewsML]], TTW Theme Editor
|-
| 5.0
| September 28, 2015
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2013|04|13|2015|09|28}}
| Simpler, faster Dexterity as the new default content type framework. Theming is made easier with Diazo. The Chameleon rendering engine improves response times by 15 to 30 percent. A modern series of form widgets have been created with usability and accessibility in mind.
|-
| 5.1
| May 1, 2018
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2015|09|28|2018|05|01}}
| Release notes<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plone 5.1 |url=https://plone.org/download/releases/5.1 |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=plone.org |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| 5.2
| July 19, 2019
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2018|05|01|2019|07|19}}
| Python 3 support, Inclusion of plone.restapi and more.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plone 5.2 |url=https://plone.org/download/releases/5.2 |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=plone.org |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| 6.0
| December 12, 2022
| style="text-align: center" | {{age in days|2019|07|19|2022|12|12}}
| Headless CMS with React frontend.<ref>[https://plone.org/download/releases/6.0 Unknown]{{Dead link | date=April 2025 | fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> 
|}
<!-- Please add minor version dates e.g. 1.2 || 2001-02-02, 2.2 || 2005-02-02 -->

==Design==
Plone runs on the [[Zope]] application server, which is written in [[Python (programming language)|Python]]. Plone by default stores all information in Zope's built-in transactional object database ([[Zope Object Database|ZODB]]). It comes with installers for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[macOS]], and [[Linux]], along with other operating systems. New updates are released regularly on Plone's website. Plone is available in over 50 languages. It complies with [[Web Content Accessibility Guidelines|WCAG 2.0 AA]] and [[Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973|U.S. section 508]],<ref>Plone: [http://plone.org/products/plone/features/old/3.0/referencemanual-all-pages Features in Plone 3].</ref><ref>Alex Limi: [http://plone.org/products/plone/features/old/3.0/existing-features/accessibility-compliant Accessibility Compliant].</ref><ref>[http://plone.org/products/plone Plone] (features in Plone 4.0).</ref> which allows people with disabilities to access and use Plone. A major part of Plone is its use of [[Skin (computing)|skins]] and [[Theme (computing)|themes]]. Plone's Diazo theming engine can be used to customize a website's look. These themes are written with [[JavaScript]], [[HTML]], [[XSLT]], and [[Cascading Style Sheets]]. In addition, Plone comes with a user management system called Pluggable Authentication Service (PAS). PAS is used to search for users and groups in Plone. Most importantly, PAS covers the security involved for users and groups, requiring authentication in order to log into Plone. This gives users an increase in both security and organization with their content.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://plone.org/documentation/manual/definitive-guide/definitive_guide_to_plone.pdf |title=The Definitive Guide to Plone - First Edition - 12 December 2006 |publisher=Plone.org |access-date=2012-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521053549/http://plone.org/documentation/manual/definitive-guide/definitive_guide_to_plone.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
A large part of Plone's changes have come from its community. Since Plone is open source, the members of the Plone community regularly make alterations or add-ons to Plone's interface, and make these changes available to the rest of the community via Plone's website.

The name Plone comes from a [[Plone (band)|band]] by that name and "Plone should look and feel like the band sounds".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://plone.org/documentation/faq/name |title=What does Plone mean? How is it pronounced? — Plone CMS: Open Source Content Management |publisher=Plone.org |access-date=2012-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019151929/http://plone.org/documentation/faq/name |archive-date=2012-10-19 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Languages===
Plone is built on the Zope application framework and therefore is primarily written in Python but also contains large amounts of HTML and CSS, as well as JavaScript.<ref name="ohloh">{{cite web |author=Ohloh |url=http://www.ohloh.net/p/plone/analyses/latest |title=Plone : Project Summary |publisher=Ohloh |access-date=2012-10-18 |archive-date=2011-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228183907/http://www.ohloh.net/p/plone/analyses/latest |url-status=dead}}</ref> Plone uses [[jQuery]] as its Javascript framework<ref>{{cite web |url=http://docs.plone.org/develop/addons/javascript.html |title=Plone documentation |access-date=2015-01-02 |archive-date=2015-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102081343/http://docs.plone.org/develop/addons/javascript.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> in current versions, after abandoning a declarative framework for progressive enhancement called [[Kinetic Style Sheets|KSS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://plone.org/documentation/glossary/kss-kinetic-style-sheets |title=Kinetic Style Sheets |access-date=2015-02-01}}</ref> Plone uses an XML dialect called ZCML for configuration, as well as an XML based templating language, meaning approximately 10% of the total source code is XML based.<ref name="ohloh" />

==Add-on products==
The community supports and distributes thousands of add-ons via company websites but mostly through PYPI and www.plone.org. There are currently 2149 packages available via PyPI for customizing Plone.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=browse&c=518 |title=Browse : Python Package Index |publisher=Pypi.python.org |access-date=2012-10-18}}</ref>

Since its release, many of Plone's updates and add-ons have come from its community. Events called Plone "sprints" consist of members of the community coming together for a week and helping improve Plone. The Plone conference is also attended and supported by the members of the Plone community. In addition, Plone has an active [[IRC]] channel to give support to users who have questions or concerns. Up through 2007, there have been over one million downloads of Plone. Plone's development team has also been ranked in the top 2% of the largest open source communities.

== Strengths and weaknesses ==
A 2007 comparison of CMSes rated Plone highly in a number of categories (standards conformance, access control, internationalization, aggregation, [[user-generated content]], micro-applications, active user groups and value).<ref name="cmswatch.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/164-WCM-Marketplace |title=Feature Article &#124; Real Story Group |publisher=Cmswatch.com |date=2007-06-11 |access-date=2012-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925045720/http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/164-WCM-Marketplace |archive-date=2009-09-25}}</ref> However, as most of the major CMSes, including Plone, [[Drupal]], [[WordPress]] and [[Joomla]], have undergone major development since then, only limited value can be drawn from this comparison. Plone is available on many different operating systems, due to its use of platform-independent underlying technologies such as Python and Zope. Plone's Web-based administrative interface is optimized for standards, allowing it to work with most common web browsers, and uses additional accessibility standards to help users with disabilities. All of Plone's features are customizable, and free add-ons are available from the Plone website.

===Focus on security===
Mitre is a not-for-profit corporation which hosts the [[Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures]] (CVE) Database. The CVE database provides a worldwide reporting mechanism for developers and the industry and is a source feed into the U.S. [[National Vulnerability Database]] (NVD).<ref>{{cite web|title=Mitre FAQ|url=http://cve.mitre.org/about/faqs.html#a2|publisher=Mitre|date=2015-12-10 |access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref> According to Mitre, Plone has the lowest number of reported lifetime and year to date vulnerabilities when compared to other popular Content Management Systems. This security record has led to widespread adoption of Plone by government and non-governmental organizations, including the FBI.<ref name="govfresh.com" />

The following table compares the number of CVEs as reported by Mitre. Logged CVEs take into account vulnerabilities exposed in the core product as well as the modules of the software, of which, the included modules may be provided by 3rd party vendors and not the primary software provider.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 40%"
|-
|+ Comparison of [[Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures]] 
|-
! style="width: 10%; text-align: left" class="unsortable" | [[Content management system|CMS]]
! style="width: 10%" | First released
! style="width: 20%" | {{tooltip|CVEs|As of Sep 12, 2024}}
|-
| style="background: #3280C2; color: white" | '''Plone'''
| style="background: #3280C2; color: white" | '''2003'''
| style="text-align: center; background: #3280C2; color: white" | '''120'''<ref>{{cite web|title=Mitre CVE Database for Plone|url=http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=plone|publisher=Mitre|access-date=2024-09-12}}</ref>
|-
| Joomla
| 2005
| style="text-align: center" | 1324<ref>{{cite web|title=Mitre CVE Database for Joomla|url=http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=Joomla|publisher=Mitre|access-date=2024-09-12}}</ref>
|-
| Wordpress
| 2003
| style="text-align: center" | 10471<ref>{{cite web|title=Mitre CVE Database for Wordpress|url=http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=wordpress|publisher=Mitre|access-date=2024-09-12}}</ref>
|-
| Drupal
| 2001
| style="text-align: center" | 1110<ref>{{cite web|title=Mitre CVE Database for Drupal|url=http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=drupal|publisher=Mitre|access-date=2024-09-12}}</ref>
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
*[[Content management system]]
*[[Diazo (software)]]
*[[List of content management systems]]
*[[Zope]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Plone}}
*{{Official website}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Free content management systems]]
[[Category:Zope]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in Python]]
[[Category:Cross-platform software]]
[[Category:Web frameworks]]