====== How it works ======
===== In a word... =====
Each time you create or edit an entry, a category, a user, etc., Dotclear triggers the recording of the new elements in a [[:glossary#base_de_donnees|Database]] and puts them in relation with one another (e.g. this entry is linked to this category).

Each time a visitor requires the display of a page on your blog ((or a robot attempts to index your pages, or an [[:glossary#agrégateur|aggregator]] checks for updates...)), Dotclear fetches the information in the database, processes it, formats it then displays  (or provides) it.

The language used by Dotclear to process information is called [[:glossary#php|PHP]]. To display/provide content, Dotclear uses [[:glossary#xhtml|XHTML]] (or XML), [[:glossary#css|CSS]] and a touch of [[:glossary#javascript|Javascript]]. The files used to process and display information are those you uploaded to your web space.

<note important>
To [[..:admin:backup|back your blog up]], you need to not only download your custom files (themes, plugins, etc.), but also to back your database up.
</note>

===== Or two .... =====

Dotclear uses [[:glossary#php|PHP]] (version 5) and a [[:glossary#base-de-donnees|database]] (PostgreSQL, MySQL or SQLite).

PHP is said to be a "dynamic" language for generating web pages on the [[:glossary#serveur|server]] side (aren't you glad to know that?:p). In fact, it means that when you request to show a page, the "server" - the computer on the other end of the wire, on which the pages are stored - "computes" the page content to send it to your screen as a web page in [[:glossary#xhtml|XHTML]] format. Which is great, because your navigator doesn't understand PHP but is perfectly fluent in XHTML (or at least it should be).

What you will place on your server through your [[:glossary#ftp|FTP]] access contains everything related to the presentation of your blog: **where** the entries, comments, and various links are placed in your page, and **how** these elements are displayed in the browser window.

So these files use the PHP and XHTML technologies, of course, but also [[:glossary#css|CSS]], for the graphic part of the layout and [[:glossary#javascript|JavaScript]], for some dynamic behaviors on the web page. 

So now our content is ready to be put in light, but the content itself - entries, comments, information structure, etc. - is, just like Truth, out there. Our friend PHP actually "calls" it in the page from the database. That's also part of its job : sending information to be stored (e.g. when you create an entry or a visitor leaves a comment), and retrieving information to include it in the page.

During installation, the software automatically creates [[:glossary#table|tables]] in a database (existing or created or the occasion, depending on your hosting). The initial installation creates 16 tables and names them starting with dc_ by default. They will contain the information related to the different  blogs in your installation, and, of course, all the entries and comments.

<note important>
To [[..:admin:backup|back your blog up]], you need to not only download your custom files (themes, plugins, etc.), but also to back your database up.
</note>



===== Or in full uncensored version for geeks =====

[[http://doc.dotclear.net/2.0/api|Dotclear 2.0 API Documentation]].