I wanted to write up the virtues of a very elegant open-source app, Typemill (https://typemill.net which is one of the simplest, most elegant text-focused CMS solutions I've found to date. It's a flat-file CMS that uses markdown at the back end; it's remarkably simple to set up and very fast in action.

For anyone who, like me, is heavily involved in writing/translating/publishing text, it's a fascinating solution, and also has an impressive security setup (you can restrict access to logged-in users only, so it's ideal for use as a small-team intranet/extranet) complete with multi-factor authentication.

It also allows you to publish books from selected (or all) pages, as PDF or ePub files. This is a highly unusual feature with which I haven't yet experimented. But Typemill is designed to handle thousands of pages (despite the lack of backend database), and the Better Search plugin is extremely powerful (only available to paying subscribers, but a basic subscription only costs EUR 22); even the basic search engine is good.

I've used it to set up a "hub", designed to collect together information on all kinds of socially responsible organisations and initiatives. Alas, I've realised that this well-intentioned project needs a database backend with filters, tagging, etc. – there's no point just creating a kind of enormous telephone directory. At the same time, I want to find an open-source solution rather than relying on the usual Big Tech solutions (or even on solutions like Notion). Ideas would be welcome!

In the meantime, to get a flavour of Typemill, by all means visit my proto-hub at https://www.myndhub.org

Cheers!
Bill

Hi Bill.

Thanks, this sounds really interesting.
Could be the solution to something a member of a course I am giving right now asked for: a document hub where they could access docs I provide and upload their "homework" and make it accessible to the other menbers.

Where do you host your "proto-hub"?

Cheers
Franz

Hi Franz,
Sorry, a bit overloaded with work at the mo.
I host the site on IONOS (Germany), where we've hosted all our websites since the early noughties. Very reasonably priced, very robust servers -- I can recommend; I've had really good service from them in recent years. Typemill is very easy to install -- essentially extract, upload and configure from online admin panel. Although you do need an SFTP or similar connection to the server if you want to update or install plugins. But IONOS offer a rather good webspace explorer thingy (with built-in text editor) as part of their service, and otherwise I just use FileZilla or an equivalent.
Cheers!
Bill

Thanks Bill.

I was hoping you found a provider that pre-installed Typemill on your web space. Ionos does not offer that, neither does the provider that hosts my websites (All-inkl).

I'll install it locally to test-drive it and see if it fits my needs.

Best wishes
Franz

Oh, and having discovered Typemill, I've just discovered PureWiki (https://purewiki.org which is even leaner and faster. Good grief!

Both of them are really easy to install, Franz, assuming you have easy access to your web host and ideally an SFTP or WebDAV connection. I can't be doing with Docker and all these other automated unpackers used by developers: I like nice, simple solutions you can download, unzip, upload to your server and then optimise at your leisure. I guess you also need access to a domain control panel – but IONOS provides one that's also very easy to use (believe me, I'm not a sophisticated developer when it comes to websites! You point your domain at the web folder you've just uploaded your website to, and tada! it should work (assuming it's viable software, of course!)

My favourite WYSIWYG – more or less – web development software is the fantastic RocketCake by Nikolaus Gebhardt (in Austria), which you can find (along with other apps/utilities) on his website at https://www.ambiera.com RocketCake allows you to create responsive websites remarkably easily, and version 7.0 also includes some basic but very nice animations. It's not hugely sophisticated, but if you want something relatively simple but flexible, it's very enjoyable to use. What's more, it's available for Mac, Windows and Linux! The basic version is free; the Pro version allows you to install a number of plugins.