diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9df9d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+
+all: 
+	python microblog.py ./template.html ./content.txt > result.html
diff --git a/microblog.py b/microblog.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dfdee7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/microblog.py
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+
+import sys
+
+import subprocess
+
+def make_post(num, timestamp, email, msg):
+    # used <a class> for name and email but it's not actually needed.
+    #     <a class=\"name\">%s</a>
+    #     <a class=\"email\">(%s)</a>
+    output = ""
+    fmt  = ""
+    part = '''
+<div class=\"postcell\" id=\"%i\">
+    <div class=\"timestamp\"><a href=#%i>%s</a></div>
+    <div class=\"message\">%s</div>
+'''
+    if email != None: 
+        fmt = part + "<div class=\"reply\"><a href=\"mailto:%s?subject=p%i\">[reply]</a></div></div>"
+        output = fmt % (num, num, timestamp, msg, email, num)
+    else:
+        fmt += part + "</div>"
+        output = fmt % (num, num, timestamp, msg)
+    return output
+
+def make_gallery(i, w):
+    tag = []
+    if i == []:
+        return tag
+    tag.append("<div class=\"gallery\">")
+    for index in reversed(i):
+        image = w.pop(index)
+        template = '''
+<div class=\"panel\">
+    <a href=\"%s\"><img src=\"%s\" class=\"embed\"></img></a>
+</div>
+''' 
+        tag.append(template % (image, image))
+    tag.append("</div>")
+    return tag
+
+def markup(msg):
+    result = 0
+    tagged = ""
+    words  = msg.split()
+    # support multiple images (gallery style)
+    images = [] # list of integers
+    tags   = [] # list of strings
+    for i in range(len(words)):
+        word  = words[i]
+        # don't help people click http
+        if word.find("src=") == 0 or word.find("href=") == 0:
+            continue
+        elif word.find("https://") != -1: 
+            new_word = ("<a href=\"%s\">%s</a>") % (word, word)
+            words[i] = new_word
+        elif word.find("#") != -1 and len(word) > 1:
+            # split by unicode blank character if present
+            w = word.split(chr(8206)) 
+            # w[0] is the portion closest to the #
+            tags.append(w[0])
+            new_word = "<span class=\"hashtag\">%s</span>" % (w[0])
+            if len(w) > 1:
+                new_word += w[1]
+            words[i] = new_word
+        elif word.find(".jpg") != -1 or word.find(".png") != -1:
+            images.append(i)
+            # are .gifs and other media files too much bloat?
+    gallery = make_gallery(images, words)
+    words += gallery
+    return " ".join(words), tags
+
+def parse_txt(filename):
+    content   = []
+    with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+        content = f.readlines()
+    stack   = [] # stack of lists - only a stack b/c order of contents
+    message = [] # queue of lines
+    #  {-1 = init;; 0 = timestamp is next, 1 = message is next}
+    state       = -1 
+    timestamp   = ""
+    for line in content:
+       # print (line, len(line), state)
+        if state == -1:
+            state = 0
+            continue
+        elif state == 0:
+            cmd      = ['date', '-d', line, '+%y %b %d']
+            result    = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+            timestamp = result.stdout.decode('utf-8')
+            state     = 1
+        elif state == 1:
+            if len(line) > 1:
+                message.append(line)
+            else:
+                stack.append([timestamp, "<br>".join(message)])
+                message = []
+                state = 0 
+    return stack
+
+def make_timeline(filename, email=None):
+    timeline  = []
+    tagcloud  = dict()
+    # note: content is ordered from newest to oldest
+    # format requires two line breaks before EOF
+    stack_of_posts = parse_txt(filename) # [timestamp, message]
+    count = len(stack_of_posts)
+    for post in stack_of_posts:
+        p, t = markup(post[1])
+        timeline.append(
+            make_post(count, post[0], email, p)
+        )
+        count -= 1
+        for tag in t:
+            if tagcloud.get(tag) == None:
+                tagcloud[tag] = 0
+            tagcloud[tag] += 1
+    return timeline, tagcloud
+    pass
+
+def make_tagcloud(d):
+    sorted_d = {k: v for k, 
+                v in sorted(d.items(), 
+                key=lambda item: -item[1])}
+    output = []
+    fmt    = "<span class=\"hashtag\">%s(%i)</span>"
+    for key in d.keys():
+        output.append(fmt % (key, d[key]))
+    return output
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    def get_params():
+        argc = len(sys.argv)
+        if argc < 3:
+            msg = '''This is microblog.py. (%s/3 parameters given; 4 maximum)
+\tpython microblog.py [template] [content] [optional: email]
+'''
+            print(msg % argc)
+        # script = argv[0]
+        return argc
+
+    def main():
+        param_count = get_params()
+        template = sys.argv[1]
+        content = sys.argv[2]
+        email = sys.argv[3] if (param_count >= 4) else None
+        tl, tc = make_timeline(content, email)
+        tcl    = make_tagcloud(tc)
+        count  = len(tl)
+        with open(template,'r') as f:
+            html = f.read()
+            print(html % (count, "\n".join(tcl), "\n\n".join(tl)))
+    main()
+
diff --git a/template-generic.html b/template-generic.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f95d138
--- /dev/null
+++ b/template-generic.html
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta content="initial-scale=1.0">
+    <title>Microblog</title>
+    <link href="/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all">
+<!--     local testing -->
+    <link href="./style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all">
+    <link href="./timeline.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all">
+</head>
+<body>
+<div class="content"> 
+
+
+<h1>A Microblog in Plain HTML</h1>
+
+<div class = "column">
+    <div class="profile">
+        <img src="./images/avatar.jpg" alt="Avatar" class="avatar">
+        <span class="handle">Your Name Here</span>
+        <p><span class="email"><a href="mailto:user@host.tld">user@host.tld</a></span></p>
+        <div class="bio">TDescription</h4>
+        <h3>Tags</h3>
+        <p>%s</p>
+    </div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class = "timeline">
+%s
+</div>
+
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/timeline-generic.css b/timeline-generic.css
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fef8ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/timeline-generic.css
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+.column {
+    float: left;
+    width: 30%;
+    background-color: #1a1a1a;   
+}
+.timeline {
+    float: right;
+    width: 67%;
+    background-color: #1a1a1a;   
+}
+.postcell {
+    border: 1px solid gray; 
+    text-align: left;
+    margin: 0.25em 0
+}
+.message {
+    margin: 1em 1em 1em 3em;
+    white-space: pre-wrap;
+    word-wrap: break-word;
+}
+.reply {
+    margin: 0.5em
+}
+.timestamp {
+    text-align: right;
+    margin: 0.5em
+}
+.hashtag {
+    font-weight: bold;
+}
+.profile {
+    vertical-align: middle;
+    padding-left: 10px;
+}
+.avatar {
+    vertical-align: middle;
+    width: 50px;
+    height: 50px;
+}
+.handle{
+    font-size: large;
+    font-weight: bold;
+}
+.email{
+    text-align:left;
+    font-size: x-small;
+    text-decoration:none;
+}
+.bio {
+    vertical-align: middle;
+    font-size: small;
+    margin: 1em
+}
+.gallery {
+    margin-left: auto ;
+    margin-right: auto ;
+    display: flex;
+    align-items: center;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+.header {
+    background: black;
+    color: white;
+    font-size: large;
+    font-weight: bold;
+    padding: 0.5em;
+}
+div.panel {
+    margin: 2px;
+    /* border: 1px solid #ffbc06; */
+    width: auto
+}
+
+div.panel:hover {
+    border: 1px solid #777;
+}
+
+div.panel img {
+    width: 100%;
+    height: 100%;
+}
+
+div.panel img:hover {
+    filter: invert(100%);
+}