Alternative databases to the traditional relational database model are becoming more prevalent, with Google DataStore, Amazon SimpleDB, CouchDB, eXist XML database, and other databases getting more traction and enticing more developers to consider them. This talk focuses on evaluating when a website's needs might be better suited by one of these alternatives and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Examples are presented using the Pylons framework along with implementations building on the unique strengths of a non-relational database with various content storage considerations.

Web applications provide many advantages over traditional desktop apps, but there are still times when users need to run an application without a network connection. A Browser Interface, Local Server (BILS) application provides a way to present your users with exactly the same interface as the web app, using a single code base, while the app runs on entirely on the local machine. We will discuss a number of options available for and shortcomings of developing a BILS app, and present the example of NOAA's CameoChemicals, a Pylons-based web app wrapped in a wxPython interface for desktop use.

Jython is back, and better than ever.
 
This talk covers how you can use the lightweight, flexible Pylons web framework to create web applications on Jython. I'll also cover some of the challenges encountered in the porting of Pylons and its dependencies to Jython.

Plone is a great content management system, recently voted best non-PHP open source CMS in a popular yearly contest. Many Python web developers, however, find Plone somewhat heavy and are not precisely in love with Zope, the web framework behind the CMS.
 
What if you could use Plone only as a CMS and program a frontend in whichever Python web framework you want, with transparent access to the content? This way you get a proven, high-reward, low-maintenance CMS as a content backend and are free to write your application on top of that using the power and flexibility of your favorite web framework.
 
In this talk, I will show how this can be done using a couple of Plone products and simple front ends for various frameworks which can be used as a base for other required functionality.