Apache Forrest
If it happens that you have information that you would like to publish on the inter(intra)net but you do not have the time to set up and maintain the site's structure then Apache Forrest might be the perfect choice for you.
According to Forrest authors,
"Apache Forrest is a publishing framework that transforms input from various sources into a unified presentation in one or more output formats. The modular and extensible plugin architecture is based on Apache Cocoon and relevant standards, which separates presentation from content. Forrest can generate static documents, or be used as a dynamic server, or be deployed by its automated facility."
The site apwebco.com is built entirely using Forrest. We found Forrest easy to setup and configure.
The best way to get started with Forrest is to download the product and begin tailoring the sample site for your special needs.
There are several major issues that need to be addressed when using Forrest (and generally when you build a website for that matter):
- web pages content.
- The samples provided with Forrest installation cover common features for web publishing. Make sure you follow the rules illustrated by samples, this will save you time when you generate the static pages.
- web site's look and feel.
- Forrest provides different skins you can configure. The main configuration file that controls look and feel is skinconf.xml.
- web site's structure.
- Structure of the site is defined by navigational elements. Forrest offers set of horizontal tabs and a set of links at the left side of each page. These elements are controlled by tabs.xml and site.xml.
In order to assist those who would like to explore (the) Forrest :) we will constantly publish skinconfig.xml, tabs.xml and site.xml as we make changes to our site (we added these configuration files to the ANT script that uploads the site to our server).
Keep in mind that apwebco.com was set up in several hours starting from scratch and that we use a small subset of the powerful features Forrest can provide.
Get started now by downloading Apache Forrest from Apache Forrest
Good luck.