GuppY

• Version : 4.6.17 (October 2011)


• Freeware for all web platforms with PHP servers

A databaseless CMS

GuppY is a web portal intentionaly designed to be easy to use for you, the final user. It doesn't require any database to run. It allows you to create quickly and without any technical knowledge, a complete and interactive website.

Guppy is what we call a CMS (Content Management System). It means that it provides a complete and secure administration interface, to design (your website and manage the content of its various sections/headings. You do not need to know HTML or PHP languages nor how to configurate a MySQL database : Guppy offers a "turnkey" website, with its already coded motor . In one word, Guppy takes care of the container so you just have to take care of the content.

The fact that GuppY doesn't use any external database such as MySQL is its first asset, the one that makes it set apart from all the other CMS o­n the web. It allows a great flexibility and offers various advantages :

• It can run with almost all web hosts even the free o¬nes, the only preriquisite being that your host provides a PHP scripting language facility, as Guppy is written in PHP (and this is the case for nearly all of CMS now)..


• no need to be a database expert to install it (see the very easy installation procedure)


• page rendering is very fast as database handling is the bottleneck of most web hosts

This website has been of course created with Guppy, so you can see its see for yourself. its rendering in operation

Multilingual and optionnally bilingual

Furthermore, GuppY provides a very original management of high added value, which makes it stand out in the CMS world on the web : GuppY offers the possibility of a bilingual content. With GuppY, you can easily build a bilingual portal, letting you choose the 2 languages to offer.

The downloadable package is shipped with both french and english languages, but  language pack (available in  separate download ) allows you to build a website in one (or two) of the available languages at the present time :



Please note : I didn't put all country flags. Flags were chosen to symbolize languages. For instance, the flag from France symbolizes the French language, the Jordanian flag symbolizes the Arabic language. I did'nt mean to be selective in doing so, I only used the friendly translator's flag for each language !

These various languages already offer a very nice geographical GuppY coverage , as shown on the following map, where we colored in orange all countries where GuppY exists in at least one of the official spoken languages :



GuppY being natively multilingual, missing languages can be added very easily... Translators are welcome !

Functional and complete

GuppY is a CMS which is intended for all, from the absolute beginner to the more experimented webmaster. It makes it possible to create, with a great facility, a complete interactive website, thanks to its many functionalities :

• home page you can adapt as you wish. You can display the last messages of the discussion board, your preferred message drawn from the guestbook, a number of news as you like, a leading article. You choose the boxes to be displayed, in which order and the number of elements to let appear for each one.


• a leading article


• a system of news with files. You can choose the number of news per page. The visitors can also propose their news, which are immediately posted or subjected to the validation of the administrator. It is possible to propose RSS news (in option)


• a management of articles distributed in two boxes, with a classification by headings. The articles are automatically dated, and amended ; a counter of hits can be activated. Each article is also proposed in a printable version.


• an optional system of comments makes it possible for the visitors to react to the articles


• a links directory, links being classified by categories. You choose the number of items to be displayed per page


• a download area, with classification by categories. You choose the number of items to be displayed per page


• a FAQ classified by categories. You choose the number of items to be displayed per page


• a diaporama of photographs declined in two versions. In both cases, management is as easy as can be.


• a guestbook, with a priori or a posteriori management


• a performing discussion board with avatar, posting rank, members facilities, possibility of being informed by mail when an answer has been posted in a thread (option). The forum can contain up to 15 topics, be a priori or a posteriori moderate, and is equipped with a counter of readings.


• a box poll


• a counter adding up the number of visits and indicating the number of o­nline visitors


• a newsletter with a complete system of management (files, list of the subscribers, etc.)


• a system of recommendation to post the address of your website and to allow your visitors to send its URL to their friends


• 5 free boxes are at your disposal to enter the content of your choice


• a calendar with, in option, a diary to announce / manage events


• a RSS box to syndicate contents and RSS news from other sites


• a multi-writers management (option), for a collaborative management of the site, with specific access rights for each writer + internal messagery for the writers.


• an internal messagery allowing the members in line to communicate by mini-messages


• member zones in option : you can choose to submit the access of some parts of your website to registration. You can precisely choose the public and private zones.


• a box Preferences making it possible for the visitors to record their profile by letting know their pseudo, email, Web site. They can also choose the skin they want for the site, the display of the boxes, and benefit from some other options.


• a light version of your site is proposed for cellular, PDA and partially-sighted persons.

Of course, GuppY is equipped with an administration area accessible with a password, from which you design and manage your portal. All the elements are activated on a click in a check box or selected from unfolding menus. It is this easiness that the developers privileged in the display of  the administration zone. Even children can easily use GuppY !

Free and open-source

GuppY is distributed under the free Cecill license : this means that it is free and that its source-code is available and open.

The developers can modify it and distribute it freely ; the users can use it for free. The o¬nly condition for its use and its redistribution is as follows : not to delete the copyrights in the bottom page and in the code-source of the scri¬pt. It is the o¬nly recognition to which the team aspires.

The GuppY Team does not earn anything to develop GuppY and does it voluntarily. None of us has vocation to grow rich by any way via GuppY. Nevertheless, if you wish to support us or to thank us for all the things that GuppY does for you, you can donate. Many thanks to all the generous donors from the past and those to come.

A script very documented

There is no needs to read ten volumes before controlling GuppY ; be quite ! On the contrary, its interface is very intuitive and its handling elementary. In fact, it is because of its increasing use in educational field, by children or absolute beginners, that the desire to document it through various supports and views aroused.

The main documentation, that any GuppYst must read when starting with GuppY, is reduced to little :

• First important reading : the read-me.txt file, which is a text that could figure in the world-wide literature anthologies, so complete it is and its reading instructive. This file, regularly refreshed and updated, is packed in your GuppY. It contents the information that will allow you to have your portal running correctly, to secure it and to configure it.


• Once your GuppY is set up, you will have to learn how to handle it : your next reading will be the GuppYst Bible, I mean the users manual written by Zerg and translated by WackoJacko (first edition) and Killer (second edition). Rich in details and updated information, abundantly illustrated with screenshots, this manual guides you and will hold your hand to learn more about GuppY. This is an essential doc, so much so that it exists in and in .

If all goes well, and for any normal use of GuppY, those two readings will be enough. Otherwise, you can also consult the following documents :

• In case of trouble, execute first of all the check-list of our emergency pack ; there is 90% of chance that you will be able to rescue your Guppy with it.


• Then you will find answers to your most frequently asked questions about GuppY in the FAQ, recently renewed and daily updated.


• In all cases, do not be so unfortunate to post hastily your SOS on the forum! You will have to face the Guppy team's anger, if your question is a classic, already asked and answered ! Prefer the  use of the internal search engine, recently renewed to make your research easier  (notice here). Do some research in the site THEN in the forum using several keywords that you will combine in different ways. Then strip carefully the results, even if they are numerous.

It is only on the last end, after going through all this documentation with no success, that you might publish your question on the discussion board, after having taken into account the  forum guidelines, which will inform you about its rules and the precisions needed in your message

Allow us to insist o¬n the need for you to read the documentation and to search o¬n the site, before flooding the forum with your various S.O.S. Indeed, our time is counted. The time we waste to answer a question for the thousandth time, so for which answer already exists, is time lost for development and it delays the release of the next version, as well as reducing the extent of its innovations. Be smart enough to see where is your interest !

Constantly evolving

Guppy is born in December 2003, from the will of Aldweb. At that time, it was called miniPortail but had all for a big one ! It did not stop evolving since then, with  its various versions. However the last 4.0 release has marked a certain result from our point of view :

• the primary functionalities have really been improved


• the code has been cleaned and the HTML 4.01 is now recognized as valid by the validator of the W3C


• the embarked editors are compatible IE/Mozi'likes.

Here are the main aims for the development  and the next versions :

• to make the code cleaner o­n a semantical point of view, in conformity with the recommendations of the W3C, with a passage to the XHTML and the DIV


• to extend the compatibility and the *portability* of GuppY to all the navigators and platforms


• improvement and debugging of the embarked editors


• improvement of the admin ergonomy

Users can also share their wishs or suggest improvements, by posting them in the suggestions box. Be aware however that the team does not give itself any obligation o­n this subject and remains entirely free of its development's choices.

So, tempted by GuppY ?

To convince ing you entirely of the wide possibilities of GuppY and its surprising adaptability, we suggest that you swim in the fresh waters of the aquarium, our directory of sites running with GuppY, and to visit this section of the site. You will discover there a large variety of sites and see the GuppY scri­pt at work.

You will find GuppY in the download area of the site :

• Download guppy.zip (includes the French and English languages modules)


• If needed, download the additional languages modules : guppylang.zip


• Don't forget to take the users manual, in (thanks to Zerg) or in (thanks to WackoJacko, Killer and Dan for their nice translations).

(Written by aldweb and Isa; translated by aldweb, Isa and Clotilde, corrected the 18/12/2008 by Christine)