| The Blurb
                          WebMake is a simple content management system, based around a templating
                          system for HTML documents, with lots of built-in smarts about what a
                          "typical" informational website needs in the way of functionality; metadata,
                          sitemapping, navigational aids, and (of course) embedded perl code. ;)
                          
                         
                          
                            
                              Creates portable sites: It requires no dynamic scripting capabilities
                               on the server; WebMake sites can be deployed to a plain old FTP site
                               without any problems.
                              
                            
                            
                              No need to edit lots of files: A multi-level website can be generated
                               entirely from 1 WebMake file containing content, links to content files,
                               perl code (if needed), and output instructions. 
                              
                            
                            
                              Useful for team work: Since the file-to-page mapping is no longer
                               required, WebMake allows the separation of responsibilities between the
                               content editors, the HTML page designers, and the site architect. Only the
                               site architect needs to edit the WebMake file itself, or know perl or
                               WebMake code. Standard file access permissions can be used to restrict
                               editing by role.
                              
                            
                            
                              Efficient: WebMake supports dependency checking, so a one-line change
                               to one source file will not regenerate your entire site -- unless it's
                               supposed to. Only the files that refer to that chunk of content, however
                               indirectly, will be modified.
                              
                            
                            
                              Supports content conversion, on the fly: Text can be edited as
                               standard HTML, converted from plain text (see below), or converted from
                               any other format by adding a conversion method to the
                               WebMake::FormatConvert module.
                              
                            
                            
                              Edit text as text, not as HTML: One of the built-in content conversion
                               modules is Text::EtText, which provides an easy-to-edit,
                               easy-to-read and intuitive way to write HTML, based on the plain-text
                               markup conventions we've been using for years.
                              
                            
                            
                              Rearrange your site in 30 seconds: Since URLs can be referred to
                               symbolically, pages can be moved around and URLs changed by changing just
                               one line. All references to that URL will then change automatically. This
                               is vaguely Xanalogical.
                              
                            
                            
                              Scriptable: Content items and output URLs can be generated, altered,
                               or read in dynamically using perl code. Perl code can even be used to
                               generate other perl code to generate content/output URLs/etc.,
                               recursively. New tags can be defined and interpreted in perl.
                              
                            
                            
                              Extensible: New tags (for use in content items or in the WebMake file
                               itself) can be added from perl code, providing what amounts to a
                               dynamically-loaded plugin API.
                              
                            
                            
                              Inclusion of text: Content can incorporate other content items, simply
                               by referring to it's name. This is a form of Xanadu-style transclusion.
                              
                            
                            
                              Edit content in your web browser: WebMake now includes webmake.cgi,
                               which provides a CGI front-end to editing and managing a WebMake site.
                              
                            
                            
                              Site replication: with webmake.cgi's CVS integration, multiple copies
                               of the same site can be replicated, and changes made on any of the sites
                               will be automatically replicated to all the others.
                              
                            
                            
                              Version control: changes made to sites using webmake.cgi will be kept
                               under CVS version control, so older versions of the site can be "rolled
                               back" if necessary.
                              
                             
                          But enough of the bulleted lists. Here's where you should start:
                          
                         
                          
                            
                              First of all, read WebMake Concepts for a quick
                               intro to the assumptions and concepts that are used in WebMake.
                              
                            
                            
                              Next, read WebMake Operation for an overview
                               of how WebMake operates.
                              
                            
                            
                              Then, read How To Migrate to WebMake for a guide
                               to bringing an existing, simple web site into WebMake.
                              
                            
                            
                              After that, you just need to read the rest of the manual, which is mostly
                               reference text. Good luck!
                              
                             
                          
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