iA Web
iA Web is a simple publishing engine based on the Darkside.js framework.
The core concept behind this engine is that it reads HTML exports from iA Writer, an awesome Markdown app, and presents them in form of a blog.
Usage
npm install iaweb
The bootstrapping script is then as simple as
var iaweb = require('iaweb');
var app = iaweb.create(__dirname);
app.listen(process.env['PORT']);
When you run this script, the most basic blog is presented to you.
Content
To add content (blog posts), create a folder called posts in your app directory and place HTML exports from iA Writer in it.
The filenames are the identifiers of the posts. If a file is names a-cool-post.html, its URL is '/a-cool-post'.
Static resources
Static resources such as images, CSS or JavaScript are looked up in a folder called public.
Plugins
You can add custom plugins to the engine. They can only modify posts before they are displayed. A sample plugin can look like this:
var IMG_EXPRESSION = /\[\[IMG:([^\]]+)\]\]/;
exports.handler = function (post) {
post.content = post.content.replace(IMG_EXPRESSION, function (match, file_path) {
return '<img src=' + file_path + '">';
});
post.content = content;
};
Place them in a folder called plugins.
Templates
The package includes the most basic templates required for the engine to work. You can use your own by creating a folder called views in your app directory.
The file/directory structure is:
[views]
- @layout.eco
- [post]
- index.eco
- show.eco
The templates are combined (it's always the @layout.eco + another template). There is a simple component system in the templates.
In @layout.eco, you request a component from the other template:
<%- @component 'content' %>
And in the other templates, you define it:
<% @component 'content', => %>
Content
<% end %>
Check out the provided templates to get the idea what variables are provided.
Do I need to use iA Writer?
No, iA Writer is just the preferred method.
The way it works is that a <h1> tag content is the title of the given post and anything after the <h1> tag until the closing </body> tag is its content. Thus, a sample post can look like
<body>
<h1>Hey, a cool post!</h1>
<p>I'm a cool post.</p>
</body>