txture: a web log engine for people who like flat files, convenience, and Lisp

That fresh-ink scent don't come off a relational database.

I like flat files better than databases for my writing. I also like meta tags and other search-engine luring information to be derived and embedded into HTML based on the blog entries I write.

I wanted these two for sure, but I also wanted modern candy like Markdown parsing and Less rendering for CSS. So, I began to write txture.

In the process, I realized that a platform like this could really benefit from an excellent plugin architecture, so I wrote one up and it quickly began driving the development of txture.

txture is readable and easily modified, but it works pleasantly and simply out of the box. It is still in development and has not been formally released yet.

Philosophy

txture offers a bare Model-View-Controller core reliant on a simple plugin architecture for all modern goodies.

txture is shaped according to the Unix philosophy until it becomes stupid.

Comments are probably handled best by Disqus. Existing Markdown processors written in JavaScript should be used instead of something I'd write from scratch in Clojure. Similarly, CSS rendering tools like Less should be used via existing, separate scripts. The filesystem should be used for storing post information: you wanna symlink your posts in from somewhere else? wanna use git to version control your writing? wanna do both? I don't give a goddamn and I shouldn't have to: txture's use of flatfiles allows you to do whatever you like, so long as you specify the location and file extentions of the posts you're delivering.

txture offers a very minimal core which can be extended and manipulated by a robust plugin architecture. A great plugin architecture will allow you to

1. easily extend txture to accommodate your likes, and
2. allow you to distribute your plugin to others without too much cursing.

Txture's design philosophy is as follows:

1. never duplicate functionality that other, better, and existing tools already provide.
2. anything that is not basic to txture is a plugin. This includes features like Markdown parsing, LESS rendering, Disqus comments which are included within the core of other minimal weblog platforms. This reliance on a plugin architecture will not only keep the txture core stark, but it will provide numerous examples of how plugins are authored.

Architecture

|-- README.md
|-- metadata
|   `-- post-dates.data.clj <-- preserve when txture first saw a post here
|-- posts                   <-- posts are stored here, by default
|   `-- sample.txt                under any directory structure you like.
|-- project.clj                   Only caveat: no two posts can have same
|-- src                           filename.
|   `-- txture
|       |-- config.clj     <-- you modify this to your liking
|       |-- core.clj
|       |-- dates.clj
|       |-- hooks.clj      <-- defines plugin architecture
|       |-- mvc
|       |   |-- controller.clj
|       |   |-- model.clj
|       |   |-- models
|       |   |   `-- post.clj
|       |   |-- view.clj
|       |   `-- views
|       `-- plugins       <-- plugins are dropped in here and 
|           `-- markdown        automatically detected 
|               `-- core.clj
|-- static  
|   |-- js
|   |   |-- render-showdown.js <-- for Markdown plugin
|   |   `-- showdown.js        <-|
|   `-- stylesheets
|       |-- main.css
|       `-- main.less
`-- test                  <-- completely unused
    `-- deltaT
        `-- core_test.clj

Installation

1. Get Leiningen (Clojure not required)

2. Get txture

    $ git clone git@github.com:jamesob/txture.git
   

3. Let lein gather dependencies.

    $ cd txture && lein deps
   

4. Run txture

    $ lein run src/txture/core.clj
   

5. Browse to http://localhost:8080

Usage

1. Read src/txture/config.clj. Modify as necessary.

2. mkdir the directory where you'll be storing your posts.

3. cd into posts directory, crack open your favorite text editor and type up a post in the following form (YAML):

    title: Yabba dabba doo
    subtitle: A stern treatise on the Red Scare
    labels: fake, phony, lame
   
    [Markdown here]
   

   If you don't like Markdown, the Markdown plugin can be disabled simply by removing the src/txture/plugins/markdown file. This goes for any other plugin.

   Ensure that there is a blank line between the header information and the body, which can be any HTML.

License

Copyright (c) 2010 jamesob

 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 THE SOFTWARE.

TODO

• Hooks less shitty.
• More bland default theme.
• Cleaner barfing.
• Non-blog pages?