Implementation Considerations

Is Quire right for you and your project?

Licensing

As of 2022, Quire was released as open-source software under a BSD 3-Clause license.

Quire is compatible with macOS and Windows. Currently, support is better for macOS.
Quire is powered by 11ty, a static site generator, and includes programs such as Vite, Paged.js, CanvasPanel, and IIIF.
Installing Quire also requires installing several third-party applications: Node.js, xCode (for Mac users), GitHub Desktop (optional), and a text editor (such as Atom).
A standard web server/hosting service is required for publishing your project, but no special server software or setup is required. For site deploy, we recommend using either Netlify or GitHub Pages.

Quire does not offer a graphical user interface. Instead, publications are built using the command-line shell and a text editor. Working in human-readable plain text files is key to ensuring the stability and longevity of Quire publications.
Quire can be used “out of the box” by any individual, no matter their skill level. We provide documentation and additional resources to aid non-technical users in gaining the skills necessary to use Quire.
Advanced knowledge of CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and Liquid is required to customize Quire beyond its basic configuration.

Quire is free to use, however, depending on the nature of the project it can be helpful to hire a developer for general technical support, design customization, and deployment. Please reach out to us (mailto:quire@getty.edu) if you would like freelance developer recommendations.

Quire is optimized for book-like projects. Especially those that rely on visual illustrations and/or scholarly apparatus like citations, bibliographies, and footnoting.
For those looking to publish more non-textual, image-intensive presentations, like an online exhibition or a fully illustrated children’s book or graphic novel, Quire may not be the right fit.
Using Quire for journal publishing is also an option, though not yet fully developed. Please see our Community Showcase for current examples of journals created using Quire.

Quire projects, once published, no longer require Quire to keep running. After publication, a compatible version of Quire would only be necessary to make new updates and re-output the various file formats. To update your version of Quire please see the Install or Update section of this guide.