Pagelove Documentation

Introduction

Pagelove is a web application platform that treats HTML documents as the core unit of software.

Rather than splitting an application across databases, API servers, real-time systems, and frontend frameworks, Pagelove collapses those layers back into a single, inspectable substrate: documents served over HTTP. The document you view is the document that is the application — its structure, data, permissions, and behaviour are all present, addressable, and manipulable in the HTML itself using simple, declarative instructions.

Pagelove extends standard HTTP semantics so that individual elements within a document can be read and written directly. Updates are scoped to elements rather than whole files, using familiar mechanisms like selectors, conditional requests, and ETags. This means concurrency, validation, access control, and real-time updates are handled by the platform, not re-implemented by every application team. The result is a dramatically smaller operational footprint: fewer moving parts, lower cost, and a system that remains legible to humans, browsers, and machines alike.

System Elements

There are three main concepts to consider for Pagelove.

1. HTTP messages - HTTP extensions that enable the pagelove platform
2. HTML Microdata Schema - hints to the pagelove platform that help message processing
3. Server Side Processing Instructions - instructions carried out on the server

Each of the three elements is as simple as possible, while retaining all the power and flexibility of the web.