From bef5e4479e95cbef617536e0df2ba03a1319af33 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Justin Mayer Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:45:46 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Getting Started documentation overhaul --- docs/getting_started.rst | 242 ++++++++++++++++++++------------------- 1 file changed, 126 insertions(+), 116 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/getting_started.rst b/docs/getting_started.rst index 8437ef6e..350cfb69 100644 --- a/docs/getting_started.rst +++ b/docs/getting_started.rst @@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ You can install Pelican via several different methods. The simplest is via $ pip install pelican -If you don't have ``pip`` installed, an alternative method is ``easy_install``:: +If you don't have ``pip`` installed, an alternative method is +``easy_install``:: $ easy_install pelican @@ -22,18 +23,16 @@ If you don't have ``pip`` installed, an alternative method is ``easy_install``:: commands with ``sudo`` in order to install Pelican system-wide.) While the above is the simplest method, the recommended approach is to create -a virtual environment for Pelican via virtualenv_ and virtualenvwrapper_ before -installing Pelican. Assuming you've followed the virtualenvwrapper -`installation `_ -and `shell configuration -`_ -steps, you can then open a new terminal session and create a new virtual -environment for Pelican:: +a virtual environment for Pelican via virtualenv_ before installing Pelican. +Assuming you have virtualenv_ installed, you can then open a new terminal +session and create a new virtual environment for Pelican:: - $ mkvirtualenv pelican + $ virtualenv ~/virtualenvs/pelican + $ cd ~/virtualenvs/pelican + $ . bin/activate Once the virtual environment has been created and activated, Pelican can be -be installed via ``pip`` or ``easy_install`` as noted above. Alternatively, if +be installed via ``pip install pelican`` as noted above. Alternatively, if you have the project source, you can install Pelican using the distutils method:: @@ -54,6 +53,42 @@ If you want to use AsciiDoc you need to install it from `source `_ or use your operating system's package manager. +Basic usage +----------- + +Once Pelican is installed, you can use it to convert your Markdown or reST +content into HTML via the ``pelican`` command, specifying the path to your +content and (optionally) the path to your settings file:: + +$ pelican /path/to/your/content/ [-s path/to/your/settings.py] + +The above command will generate your site and save it in the ``output/`` +folder, using the default theme to produce a simple site. The default theme +consists of very simple HTML without styling and is provided so folks may use +it as a basis for creating their own themes. + +You can also tell Pelican to watch for your modifications, instead of +manually re-running it every time you want to see your changes. To enable this, +run the ``pelican`` command with the ``-r`` or ``--autoreload`` option. + +Pelican has other command-line switches available. Have a look at the help to +see all the options you can use:: + + $ pelican --help + +Viewing the generated files +--------------------------- + +The files generated by Pelican are static files, so you don't actually need +anything special to view them. You can either use your browser to open the +files on your disk:: + + firefox output/index.html + +Or run a simple web server using Python:: + + cd output && python -m SimpleHTTPServer + Upgrading --------- @@ -69,7 +104,8 @@ perform the same step to install the most recent version. Dependencies ------------ -At this time, Pelican core is dependent on the following Python packages: +When Pelican is installed, the following dependent Python packages should be +automatically installed without any action on your part: * `feedgenerator `_, to generate the Atom feeds @@ -83,53 +119,57 @@ At this time, Pelican core is dependent on the following Python packages: * `unidecode `_, for ASCII transliterations of Unicode text -Optionally: +If you want the following optional packages, you will need to install them +manually via ``pip``: * `markdown `_, for supporting Markdown as an input format * `typogrify `_, for typographical enhancements -Kickstart a blog -================ +Kickstart your site +=================== -Following is a brief tutorial for those who want to get started right away. -We're going to assume that virtualenv_ and virtualenvwrapper_ are installed and -configured; if you've installed Pelican outside of a virtual environment, -you can skip to the ``pelican-quickstart`` command. Let's first create a new -virtual environment and install Pelican into it:: - - $ mkvirtualenv pelican - $ pip install pelican Markdown - -Next we'll create a directory to house our site content and configuration files, -which can be located any place you prefer, and associate this new project with -the currently-active virtual environment:: - - $ mkdir ~/code/yoursitename - $ cd ~/code/yoursitename - $ setvirtualenvproject - -Now we can run the ``pelican-quickstart`` command, which will ask some questions -about your site:: +Once Pelican has been installed, you can create a skeleton project via the +``pelican-quickstart`` command, which begins by asking some questions about +your site:: $ pelican-quickstart -Once you finish answering all the questions, you can begin adding content to the -*content* folder that has been created for you. (See *Writing articles using -Pelican* section below for more information about how to format your content.) -Once you have some content to generate, you can convert it to HTML via the -following command:: +Once you finish answering all the questions, your project will consist of the +following hierarchy (except for "pages", which you can optionally add yourself +if you plan to create non-chronological content):: + + yourproject/ + ├── content + │   └── (pages) + ├── output + ├── develop_server.sh + ├── Makefile + ├── pelicanconf.py # Main settings file + └── publishconf.py # Settings to use when ready to publish + +The next step is to begin to adding content to the *content* folder that has +been created for you. (See *Writing articles using Pelican* section below for +more information about how to format your content.) + +Once you have written some content to generate, you can use the ``pelican`` +command to generate your site, which will be placed in the output folder. +Alternatively, you can use automation tools that "wrap" the ``pelican`` command +to simplify the process of generating, previewing, and uploading your site. One +such tool is the ``Makefile`` that's automatically created for you when you use +``pelican-quickstart`` to create a skeleton project. To use ``make`` to +generate your site, run:: $ make html If you'd prefer to have Pelican automatically regenerate your site every time a -change is detected (handy when testing locally), use the following command -instead:: +change is detected (which is handy when testing locally), use the following +command instead:: $ make regenerate -To serve the site so it can be previewed in your browser at +To serve the generated site so it can be previewed in your browser at http://localhost:8000:: $ make serve @@ -153,18 +193,29 @@ use rsync over ssh:: That's it! Your site should now be live. -Writing articles using Pelican -============================== +Writing content using Pelican +============================= + +Articles and pages +------------------ + +Pelican considers "articles" to be chronological content, such as posts on a +blog, and thus associated with a date. + +The idea behind "pages" is that they are usually not temporal in nature and are +used for content that does not change very often (e.g., "About" or "Contact" +pages). File metadata --------------- +------------- Pelican tries to be smart enough to get the information it needs from the file system (for instance, about the category of your articles), but some information you need to provide in the form of metadata inside your files. -You can provide this metadata in reStructuredText text files via the -following syntax (give your file the ``.rst`` extension):: +If you are writing your content in reStructuredText format, you can provide +this metadata in text files via the following syntax (give your file the +``.rst`` extension):: My super title ############## @@ -182,23 +233,23 @@ Pelican implements an extension to reStructuredText to enable support for the This will be turned into :abbr:`HTML (HyperText Markup Language)`. You can also use Markdown syntax (with a file ending in ``.md``, ``.markdown``, -or ``.mkd``). Markdown generation will not work until you explicitly install the -``Markdown`` package, which can be done via ``pip install Markdown``. Metadata -syntax for Markdown posts should follow this pattern:: +or ``.mkd``). Markdown generation requires that you first explicitly install +the ``Markdown`` package, which can be done via ``pip install Markdown``. +Metadata syntax for Markdown posts should follow this pattern:: Title: My super title Date: 2010-12-03 10:20 - Tags: thats, awesome - Category: yeah + Category: Python + Tags: pelican, publishing Slug: my-super-post Author: Alexis Metaireau Summary: Short version for index and feeds This is the content of my super blog post. -Lastly, you can use vanilla HTML (files ending in ``.htm`` and ``.html``). Pelican -interprets the HTML in a very straightforward manner, reading meta data out -of ``meta`` tags, the title out of the ``title`` tag, and the body out of the +Pelican can also process HTML files ending in ``.html`` and ``.htm``. Pelican +interprets the HTML in a very straightforward manner, reading metadata from +``meta`` tags, the title from the ``title`` tag, and the body out from the ``body`` tag:: @@ -215,61 +266,34 @@ of ``meta`` tags, the title out of the ``title`` tag, and the body out of the -With HTML, there is one simple exception to the standard metadata. -``tags`` can be specified either with the ``tags`` metadata, as is standard in -Pelican, or with the ``keywords`` metadata, as is standard in HTML. The two can -be used interchangeably. +With HTML, there is one simple exception to the standard metadata: ``tags`` can +be specified either via the ``tags`` metadata, as is standard in Pelican, or +via the ``keywords`` metadata, as is standard in HTML. The two can be used +interchangeably. -Note that, aside from the title, none of this metadata is mandatory: if the date -is not specified and DEFAULT_DATE is 'fs', Pelican will rely on the file's -"mtime" timestamp, and the category can be determined by the directory in which -the file resides. For example, a file located at ``python/foobar/myfoobar.rst`` -will have a category of ``foobar``. If you would like to organize your files in -other ways where the name of the subfolder would not be a good category name, -you can set the setting ``USE_FOLDER_AS_CATEGORY`` to ``False``. +Note that, aside from the title, none of this article metadata is mandatory: +if the date is not specified and ``DEFAULT_DATE`` is set to ``fs``, Pelican +will rely on the file's "mtime" timestamp, and the category can be determined +by the directory in which the file resides. For example, a file located at +``python/foobar/myfoobar.rst`` will have a category of ``foobar``. If you would +like to organize your files in other ways where the name of the subfolder would +not be a good category name, you can set the setting ``USE_FOLDER_AS_CATEGORY`` +to ``False``. -If there is no summary metadata for a given post, the ``SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH`` -setting can be used to specify how many words from the beginning of an article -are used as the summary. Summaries can also be specified inline with the body -using the :ref:`Summary Plugin `. +If you do not explicitly specify summary metadata for a given post, the +``SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH`` setting can be used to specify how many words from the +beginning of an article are used as the summary. You can also extract any metadata from the filename through a regular -expression to be set in the ``FILENAME_METADATA`` setting. -All named groups that are matched will be set in the metadata object. The -default value for the ``FILENAME_METADATA`` setting will only extract the date -from the filename. For example, if you would like to extract both the date and -the slug, you could set something like: -``'(?P\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})_(?P.*)'`` +expression to be set in the ``FILENAME_METADATA`` setting. All named groups +that are matched will be set in the metadata object. The default value for the +``FILENAME_METADATA`` setting will only extract the date from the filename. For +example, if you would like to extract both the date and the slug, you could set +something like: ``'(?P\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})_(?P.*)'`` Please note that the metadata available inside your files takes precedence over the metadata extracted from the filename. -Generate your blog ------------------- - -The ``make`` shortcut commands mentioned in the *Kickstart a blog* section -are mostly wrappers around the ``pelican`` command that generates the HTML from -the content. The ``pelican`` command can also be run directly:: - - $ pelican /path/to/your/content/ [-s path/to/your/settings.py] - -The above command will generate your weblog and save it in the ``output/`` -folder, using the default theme to produce a simple site. The default theme is -simple HTML without styling and is provided so folks may use it as a basis for -creating their own themes. - -Pelican has other command-line switches available. Have a look at the help to -see all the options you can use:: - - $ pelican --help - -Auto-reload ------------ - -It's possible to tell Pelican to watch for your modifications, instead of -manually re-running it every time you want to see your changes. To enable this, -run the ``pelican`` command with the ``-r`` or ``--autoreload`` option. - Pages ----- @@ -303,6 +327,7 @@ following syntax: ``|filename|path/to/file``:: │   ├── cat/ │   │   └── article2.md │ └── pages + │      └── about.md └── pelican.conf.py In this example, ``article1.rst`` could look like:: @@ -444,19 +469,4 @@ publishing, for example), you can add a ``status: draft`` attribute to its metadata. That article will then be output to the ``drafts`` folder and not listed on the index page nor on any category page. -Viewing the generated files ---------------------------- - -The files generated by Pelican are static files, so you don't actually need -anything special to see what's happening with the generated files. - -You can either use your browser to open the files on your disk:: - - firefox output/index.html - -Or run a simple web server using Python:: - - cd output && python -m SimpleHTTPServer - .. _virtualenv: http://www.virtualenv.org/ -.. _virtualenvwrapper: http://www.doughellmann.com/projects/virtualenvwrapper/