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README.md

@@ -1,2 +1,20 @@
-# temporary-indexing
+# temporary index
+
+*temporary index* is a static website containing content made in Etherpad. Plain text files are exported from indices created with [etherpump], and converted into Markdown. 
+
+They can then be used to make catalogue cards, by adding them as content to Pelican's file system. Running make commands allows HTML files to be generated and served over a network.
+
+## Dependencies
+
+[Pelican](), a static site generator
+[Markdown](), a lightweight markup language
+
+Create a python virtual environment to install Python dependencies
+
+$ python3 -m venv env
+$ source env/bin/activate
+
+Next, with the environment activated, install Pelican and Markdown
+
+$ pip install pelican markdown