Installation Instructions

Download the latest release from the para-cms GitHub project's download page (You can also clone the para-cms GitHub repository - note that versions found in the repository should be considered in-development and unstable).
Extract Para CMS to the location on your web server that you'd like to deploy it.
Copy config_default.php to config.php and edit it to contain appropriate details for your new site.
Set up your desired menu/site structure by creating folders within the content path you specified in config.php (each folder will be a new menu item, and subfolders will appear as submenus).
Replace images/background.png and images/logo.png with your own images.
Add text files with a ".txt" suffix into all folders without subfolders (content in folders with subfolders is ignored).
Add any additional styles to new CSS files in styles/ and add them in your config.php in the format described there.
Make any desired customisations to index.php.
Relax!

Last updated: 31 Oct 2012

Ugrading

If you'd like to upgrade to a newer version of Para CMS (or try out a development version), you can do so by extracting a para release over the top of your old one, being sure to exclude the content folder and any custom logo or background images in the images folder. For safety, back up your old install before attempting an upgrade.

Some new versions may require additional images, styles, or config settings. Please see the README.mb and CHANGES files for details.

Last updated: 31 Oct 2012

Customising Content

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All content in Para CMS is defined using plain text files, which are rendered as 'articles' on a page. All content filenames need to end in ".txt", and articles will be rendered in alphabetical order (lexically).

The first line of a file is always the article's heading. This can be any length you like, but I'd recommend keeping it brief.

All subsequent lines before five dashes (‐‐‐‐‐) are rendered as paragraphs.

Any lines after five dashes are rendered as unordered list elements.

You can make the text in a list element a link by putting a pipe (|) in followed by the URL. If you want to add non-link text on, add another pipe (|) and then your text.

If you want to start a new text/ul pair, leave a blank line.

Last updated: 24 Jul 2012

Customising Layout

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Page structure is defined in index.php

The embedded Twitter feed is automatically shown/hidden depending upon whether or not $twitterAccount is defined in config.php

You can also use CSS to adjust layout (see Customising Styles and Images).

Last updated: 24 Jul 2012

Customising Styles and Images

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The default Para CMS styles are defined in styles/default.css

If you want to use different or additional CSS files, you can declare them in index.php

default.css uses images/background.png to set a repeating background for the body element and logo.php to set a non-repeating background set in the top right corner of the #wrapper element.

There are plans for a simple theme/colour scheme wizard in the future.

Last updated: 24 Jul 2012

Future Features

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Para CMS is still very young (the current 0.1 release was created in a couple of afternoons).

Below is a list of some key features to be added in the future.

You can find a full list of enhancements and bugs on the para-cms GitHub issues page.

Last updated: 31 Oct 2012