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====== Introduction ======
WinterCMS (find it at [[http://wintercms.com|wintercms.com]]) is a pretty, versatile and very capable CMS, or even more an WACS (Web Application Creation System).
Although there is an extensive [[https://wintercms.com/docs/setup/installation|documentation]] available on the project homepage, for a beginner it is not easy to find all the information required. Especially when starting from scratch.

===== Ways to use WinterCMS =====
WinterCMS is a versatile system, so it can be used for various purposes. Let's sum up the most important:
  - to manage some content in WYSIWYG mode
  - to create HTML code based content
  - to create HTML & PHP code based content
  - to create web applications (the unique strength of OctoberCMS)

===== Technical requirements =====
Technical requirements for OctoberCMS are almost simple, no advanced prerequisites are recommended. What you need is:
  - Some webspace - shared hosting or a dedicated server or a NAS with http server capabilities - or a local environment on your computer.
  - A php version 7.2 or later.
  - If you like or need (for larger projects) a DB engine like mySQL, mariaDB. For small websites the integrated SQLlight will do the job too.

===== Personal requirements: skills & knowledge =====
Even when it's said there is no need to have special skills or knowledge for something, in most cases this is not exactly true. For WinterCMS you need some skills too, depending on the way you want to use this CMS.

  - If you want to create some WYSIWYG based content you need to know how to install OctoberCMS and some plugins that integrates WYSIWYG editing.  Don't worry, this is really simple.
  - If you want to create HTML based content (on top of point 1) you only need to know how to install WinterCMS , because HTML editing is a native mode of this system. Of course you have to be familiar with HTML coding :)
  - If you want to create HTML and PHP based code, see point 2 and, in addition, you have to know how to do PHP programming and you have to know some basics about TWIG. That means you have to learn how PHP has to be integrated into OctoberCMS.
  - If you want to create web applications you have to have all skills from point 1 to 3 and a lot of tips and tricks how to create your own plugins and how to interact with them.

For all cases - except point 1 - it is good to have some skills in css and JavaScript (especially jQuery or alternatively vue.js)