== Welcome to Alpha10

  Alpha10 is a simple web application to for a media review site. 
  It allows the editor to post a review and background information.
  Then registered users can provide their own reviews and comments.
  Alpha10 is written using Ruby on Rails.

== Getting Started

  1. You will need to install these files on a computer that can run Linux or Unix.
  Installing then in the home directory works well for the author. Just copy over the
  whole directly.  The files and directories should not be rearranged but must be kept 
  in their original directories.  Directories and files should not be renamed unless 
  you are doing your own development and are familiar with Rails.

  2. Using your command line tool, you should install the required gems (Alpha10 
  software components written in Ruby) by going to the root directory for Alpha10 and type:

  bundle install

  3. Wait until bundle install is completed. It may take awhile.  Then set up the Alpha10 
  database by typing:

  rake db:migrate

  4. Activate the Rails server by typing:

  rails s

  5. Open your web browser and go to the following URL to locally see and use Alpha10:

  http://localhost:3000/ 

  and if prompted, use the following authentication values of

  User Name: alpha10

  Password: zxm130w

  6. Other users on your network might be able to see and use the application by using their
  browser to go to the URL for your computer (where Alpha10 is hosted) appended with ":3000"
  without the quotes. Whether this will work and for whom depends upon your network set-up.

  7. Alpha10 can be made available for users across the internet by using a publicly
  available server, but the set up for that is beyond this document. There are special companies
  that specialize in hosting Rails web applications that may work best for you.

  8. Alpha10 is only intended for use by a limited, trusted group of people. You will need to
  give them a username and password. For simplicity, everyone can share the same user name and 
  password. The default values are shown above. You can customize those values by editing line 3
  in each of the following files:

  posts_controller.rb
  comments_controller.rb

  Or you can remove these lines and add your own authentication system.

== Instructions for Use

  To start, click on any media link.  Append /new to the URL and hit the return key.
  Enter your post.  For images, place the images in the /public/assets directory and 
  enter the links in the photo fields.  Discuss reviews using adding Comments.
  Deleting Reviews also deletes associated comments, so this should be avoided when possible.
  Reply to comments by creating additional comments.

== About Alpha10 is written using Ruby 1.9.2 with Rails 3.1.0. It draws heavily from the Rails tutorial, but then branches off by experimenting with CSS and other interface elements. Developed by Mark Ciotola. See contact information at bottom of page.

== Copyright Notice

Alpha10 is subject to the GNU License.