the first and most important is that all content is written in markdown. you can edit them using the built-in editor or simply paste any markdown document right into the pages/posts admin panels and they'll display formatted for the web. there's nothing new to learn and even extended markdown like tables and fenced code blocks is supported.
if you've written anything for github or reddit, you probably already know at least the basics in markdown. editors like ulysses, obsidian and ia writer also do their formatting using markdown.
for a self-hosted platform, you might be expecting to write in html. you won't need to know any of that. just write in paragraphs and mark your headings/subheadings and that's all the markdown you'll need to know for most basic tasks. you can always look at the markdown guide for help.
akelei is natively multi-language. there are no limits on which or how many languages you can use -- you can even define your own or modify existing languages. just turn them on in the languages admin panel and they'll be there. once a language is enabled, you have the option to add content in that language for every page, post, menu and tag site-wide right there in the same place.
when you add a page or post, the content for your default language and any other languages you have turned on will be together. each one is stored as its own markdown document and you can set different names for each language. users will see the site in the default language you pick unless they select a different one. next time they come back, it will remember their language and show them pages that way. the admin panels are multi-language, too.
if you want to customize the templates or create your own, that's easy, too. there's a complete templating system that allows you to create as few or as many as you like and break them into pieces for reuse. you can also call custom templates from inside your posts or pages and you can set different templates for different pages if you want. just add a template/name tag. the instructions are in the readme file included with akelei.
you can embed audio, youtube videos or soundcloud tracks directly inside your pages or posts -- as many as you like. that means you can have voiceovers for your blog posts, explanatory notes for sections of your pages or even whole pronunciation samples for glossaries. these can be language-specific, too.
the detailed instructions are in the readme file included with akelei but here's how it works. just add a tag to any content.
audio/idyoutube/idsoundcloud/idwhere id is the code for the media you want to embed. for audio, it shows up as a play button (pause while it's playing), youtube shows up as a video that resizes automatically to your available space and allows you to go fullscreen and soundcloud shows up as a horizontal player that fits in your window and allows you to control the track.
because akelei is written in procedural php, client-side javascript with jquery and vanilla css, it is natively compatible with apache web server. it's also compatible with nginx if the .htaccess file is converted to nginx format.
all configuration and data is stored as json and markdown so there's no database required at all.
akelei also includes automated conversion between markdown, phphtml & html because it integrates the phphtml conversion and display platform (also an avi sato project). that means any customization can be generated as phphtml code to run right inside the php instead of having to worry about dealing with the messy html.
automated datestamped versioning of all post/page and configuration changes means you won't lose anything, even if you make a mistake and save something. there's also one-click full-site backup from right inside the admin panel and, because everything is stored right there in the filesystem, you don't have to worry about complex backup systems. just make a copy of the directory and you're all backed up.
automated post/page creation from delimited files & wordpress importing are also included (these very prerelease but they've been successful without modification on multiple site conversions to date). this is an alpha feature but you're welcome to use it.
color customization is easy. just add any override colors to the custom.css file. add your custom logos to the customSvg.css file. anything that's a file, you can upload from inside the admin panel and use it anywhere on the site.
dark mode is natively included and automatically works with your system default unless you choose to override it. it remembers visit to visit what you picked.
first, there's a customizable menu system that integrates with templates. that means you can have menus for the whole site or per-page or even inside pages or templates. you can have the same menu in the header and footer or pick different ones. or simply don't have menus at all if that's not the style you want.
second, post tagging and pagination is there if you want it. just add tags or don't. it's up to you. if you don't use them, they won't show up. if you do, they'll work automatically.
pages are automatically linked using a hierarchical organization system. assign a page to a parent and it will be linked in both directions without you having to add anything manually. as with everything else, this is an optional feature and, if you don't define a hierarchy, you can create links anywhere you like. even if you do use the hierarchy, you can add and remove links as you like using markdown. it's completely up to you.
you can work on a site on your own or with others. multi-user administration is an option. just add another user and they can work on your site, too. or don't.
akelei also includes an uploading and file-management interface that generates unique links and thumbnails on the fly. these are hashable and can be divided if you're working with large volumes of storage to serve.