The Ptidej Web site runs under Plone, a content management system. The rationale behind using Plone are the ease with which the Web site can be updated and managed from anywhere in the World as well as the professional look. One limit, though, is that it is somewhat difficult to integrate within a Plone instance some Web pages from outside Plone, such as automatically-generated Web pages. A solution exists in the form of a small Python script that allows Plone to act as a "proxy", i.e., to load and process Web pages in such a way as to include them within its own skin, as if the pages where within the instance. An example can be found here. This script allows giving a very professional look to the site even when some Web pages lay outside of the instance.

However, using Plone as well as the proxy was not an small feat inside University of Montreal. First, the people in charge of the servers did not have knowledge of Plone and did not (try to) understand either its rationale or functionning. Second, the people in charge of the network did not like the proxy very much, even though it is limited to a small set of domains, for fear of a breach of security. Thus, from October 2006 to March 2007, it has been very difficult and quite tiresome to maintain the Web site as part of the University, problems escalating to the point of attacks on the site (cf. there and here) and of the server being shut down in March for a week with no prior notice.

It was then decided to host the Web server outside of the University to avoid further interruption of service. This decision was made easier when the server unexpectedly crashed on Friday, April the 13^th (!). Since then, the Web site is hosted on a server outside of the University, with actually a quite decent in and out bandwidth and with much less hassle to the satisfaction of all concerned parties.