Site Distributions

wcs.backend ships three Plone distributions — the named site flavors you can pick from when creating a new Plone site. A distribution bundles a set of GenericSetup profiles (a base setup plus optional example content) so that a freshly created site already has the right content types, registry settings and workflows in place.

When you create a site through the Plone site-creation form (or the @@plone-addsite / classic add-site view), the distribution you choose determines which feature set the site starts with.

Overview

All three distributions share the same foundation:

  • plone.app.contenttypes:default — the standard Plone content types

  • plonetheme.barceloneta:default — the default Plone theme

  • wcs.backend:default — the core Webcloud7 backend setup (website workflow, trash/delete behavior, staging, theming, caching, Elasticsearch, REST API extensions, the full set of standard content and block types, and so on)

On top of that common base, each distribution layers exactly one extra thing, which is what distinguishes them:

Distribution

Adds on top of the core

Example content

7inOne

nothing (core only)

yes

7inOneBS

the bs profile (Basel-Stadt variant)

no

7inOneBook

the book profile (Library / Book)

no

7inOne — the default flavor

7inOne is the standard Webcloud7 CMS site. It installs the core backend profile and nothing extra, then seeds the site with example content so that a new installation is immediately browsable.

The example content includes:

  • A set of demo users

  • A topic tree with topics

  • A content page populated with blocks

  • News items and a general listing

This is the right choice for a normal Webcloud7 CMS website and for local development or demos where you want sample content to explore.

Distribution name: 7inOne Title: 7inOne Backend

7inOneBS — the Basel-Stadt variant

7inOneBS installs everything from the core backend and then applies the bs profile on top. It is tailored for Basel-Stadt websites and does not ship example content.

The bs profile adds the following content types that do not exist in the core distribution:

  • StartPage — a dedicated landing-page type with its own Simplelayout configuration

  • LinkListBlock — a block for curated lists of links

  • AccordionBlock / AccordionElement — an accordion block and its collapsible child elements

In addition, the bs profile customizes several existing types so that the StartPage and content pages can host the Basel-Stadt block set. The blocks that become available on a StartPage include:

  • TeaserBlock — up to three teasers, each with a title, image, description and internal/external link

  • FileListingBlock — a listing of referenced files

  • ImageListingBlock — an image listing with slider or gallery display

  • LinkListBlock and AccordionBlock (see above)

The bs profile also brings its own Simplelayout column/row configuration and workflow bindings for the new block types.

Choose 7inOneBS when you are building a Basel-Stadt site that needs the StartPage and the additional teaser/listing/accordion blocks.

Distribution name: 7inOneBS Title: 7inOne Basel Stadt

7inOneBook — the documentation / library flavor

7inOneBook installs the core backend and then applies the book profile. It ships without example content.

The book profile enables the Library and Book feature set — a container for organizing multiple books, the book itself with table-of-contents numbering and PDF export, chapters, and paragraphs, together with the registry and TinyMCE settings these need. For the full feature description see the Book and Library documentation.

Choose 7inOneBook when the primary purpose of the site is structured, hierarchical documentation (books and libraries) rather than a general website.

Distribution name: 7inOneBook Title: 7inOne Book Backend

Which distribution should I install?

  • Building a standard Webcloud7 CMS website? Use 7inOne. You get the full core feature set plus sample content to start from.

  • Building a Basel-Stadt website? Use 7inOneBS. You get the core feature set plus the StartPage and the Basel-Stadt block types (teaser, link list, file/image listing, accordion). No sample content is created.

  • Building a documentation / library site? Use 7inOneBook. You get the core feature set plus the Library/Book content types. No sample content is created.

The bs and book additions are not mutually exclusive at the profile level, but the shipped distributions each enable only one of them. If you need a combination, install the matching distribution first and apply the extra profile manually.

Where they are defined

Each distribution is registered with the <plone:distribution> ZCML directive and points at a directory under wcs/backend/distributions/. That directory contains a single profiles.json file listing the base profiles and the optional content profiles to apply:

  • distributions/7inOne/profiles.json — core + init_content

  • distributions/7inOneBS/profiles.json — core + bs

  • distributions/7inOneBook/profiles.json — core + book

The profiles those files reference live under wcs/backend/profiles/ (default, bs, book, and init for the example content).