NostalgiaPHP

NostalgiaPHP — Project Tour

This is a tiny file‑based PHP CMS: Markdown in, HTML out. No database, no framework.

Top-Level Files

  • index.php — Router. Reads the URL and decides whether to render a page, a collection list, or a collection item.
  • functions.php — Helpers: config, paths, URL building, front‑matter parsing, Markdown → HTML, loaders, and render.
  • config.php — Site settings (name, timezone, base_url) and collection definitions.
  • .htaccess — Pretty URLs when using Apache in production (everything routes to index.php).

Folders

  • templates/ — Layouts. main.php wraps every page with head/foot and includes partials.
  • partials/ — Reusable chunks. header.php and footer.php.
  • content/ — File‑based content.
    • pages/ — Static pages (e.g., about.md). URL is /{filename}.
    • collections/ — Named groups (e.g., blog/). Items are /{collection}/{slug}.
  • static/ — CSS, images, etc. Served as static files.

Routing Flow (index.php)

  1. Parse the current request path.
  2. If / → render content/pages/index.md.
  3. If /{collection} → list items under content/collections/{collection}.
  4. If /{collection}/{slug} → render that item.
  5. Else treat as a page: content/pages/{slug}.md.

Template Flow

  • Router prepares $title and $content (HTML).
  • templates/main.php outputs HTML head, includes partials/header.php, dumps $content, and includes partials/footer.php.

Content Files

Each .md file can start with simple front‑matter followed by Markdown:

---
title: Hello World
date: 2025-09-01
draft: false
---

# Heading

Some **markdown** body text.

Supported front‑matter keys are free-form; date is auto‑cast to DateTime if YYYY-MM-DD.

Collections

Define collections in config.php:

'collections' => [
  'blog' => [
    'permalink' => '/blog/{slug}',
    'list_url'  => '/blog',
    'sort'      => ['date','desc'],
  ],
],

Create items under content/collections/blog/*.md. The filename (without .md) is the slug unless overridden in front‑matter.

Helpers Cheat Sheet (functions.php)

  • site($key) — read site config (e.g., site('name')).
  • path($key) — resolve paths: pages, collections, templates, partials.
  • url($path) — base‑aware URL builder (works in subfolders).
  • request_path() — current URL path (e.g., about, blog/hello-world).
  • load_page($slug) — load content/pages/{slug}.md.
  • list_collection($name) — list items with meta for a collection.
  • load_collection_item($name, $slug) — load one item.
  • render($view, $vars) — include template with variables.

Mental Model for WP Folks

  • Think template hierarchy without the hierarchy: it’s all handled by index.php.
  • Think Loop, but the “query” is a directory listing for a collection.
  • Think the_content() being $content already HTML‑ified from Markdown.
  • Menus are old‑school: edit partials/header.php by hand.

Deploy Notes

  • Apache: enable .htaccess as included. Nginx: route non‑file requests to index.php.
  • Set correct base_url in config.php if serving from a subdirectory.
  • Set permissions: directories 755, files 644.