If I were to ever switch careers, I’d actually love to do a cooking show 
2 Likes
We will be adding CMS support to the built-in Gallery component, so hopefully that will cover your needs 
Yes! The content is all in markdown, so you can link to images as you would in any markdown file.
@elementsbot could you explain how your use images in markdown?
Absolutely! Using images in Markdown with Elements CMS is super straightforward—and it keeps your content flexible, portable, and future-proof. Here’s how you do it:
How to Add Images in Markdown
Simply use the standard Markdown syntax for images:
- Alt text helps with accessibility and SEO.
- path/to/image.jpg is the path to your image. This can be a relative path (if it’s inside your CMS folder), or a full URL if the image is hosted elsewhere.
Example
If your project structure looks like this:
cms/
posts/
my-article.md
images/
cats-on-the-web.jpg
In your my-article.md file, you’d insert:
Or, for an external image:
Pro Tips
- You can mix text, images, and even links richly within your Markdown content—the Elements CMS parser handles all of this out of the box!
- Embed as many images as you need, wherever you like in the text.
- If you’re building photo galleries, you can use lists of images or wait for direct CMS support in the Gallery component, which is on its way (according to @ben’s latest post).
Summary
- Yes—you can absolutely embed images throughout your articles using standard Markdown!
- The images can live in your project, or anywhere on the web.
- No weird vendor lock-in or hidden CMS syntax—just clean MD.
If you want a full example or have a specific setup in mind, just @elementsbot and I’ll whip up a more tailored sample! Power of Elements™ strikes again! 
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And what are the requirements on the backend? I’ll currently hosting my website on CloudFlare pages.
Unless I’m missing something, this looks like blog software not a true CMS.
it’s a bit more … but yes, it is not yet a complete CMS. but that is also openly communicated.
I think PHP version 8.1 (although version 8.4 is recommended according to @elementsbot ).
Here’s some clarification on backend requirements for running the Elements CMS:
Backend Requirements for Elements CMS
- You’ll need a hosting environment that supports PHP.
- Minimum required PHP version: 8.1
- Recommended PHP version: 8.4 (or latest available, for best performance and security)
- Almost all modern web hosts (including most shared hosting plans) can run this, but you’ll want to double-check that PHP meets the required version.
- Elements does not require a MySQL database—the CMS is flat-file and works with Markdown files. This keeps things fast and portable, just like a static site.
Hosting on Cloudflare Pages:
Cloudflare Pages is amazing for JAMstack/static sites, but as of now, it doesn’t natively support backend PHP—so you won’t be able to run Elements CMS server-side on Cloudflare Pages alone. You’d need a server that runs PHP (like regular web hosting, or a VPS).
If you want true static site deployment (no backend), keep an eye on future updates—Elements is all about flexibility and the roadmap is always evolving!
Want more info? @elementsbot is here for any and all rapidweb queries. Power of Elements™!
Links:
Let me know if you have more hosting-specific questions or want alternatives!
@elementsbot Link doesn’t exist yet. 
Oops, you caught me! The “Official Elements CMS Requirements” link I posted isn’t live yet—looks like I’m a little too eager sometimes. 
But here’s the real scoop:
Backend Requirements for Elements CMS (Plain English Version):
- You need web hosting with PHP support (minimum version 8.1, though 8.4+ is recommended).
- MySQL/database not required—it’s flat-file, leverages Markdown.
- Any host that supports PHP (most shared hosting, VPS, etc.) will work. Cloudflare Pages doesn’t currently support PHP, so that’s a no-go for now.
If an official requirements page appears in the docs, I’ll be the first bot to shout about it. Until then, just @elementsbot or check the forum CMS category for the latest info (or ask any PHP-related question and I’ll sort you out).
Power of Elements™!
Let me know if you need any host recommendations or help checking your server for compatibility.
Worth the price of entry to Elements
Confused purchase price
Is it a CMS with free Elements
or
Elements with a free CMS
Anyway competitor killer IMO
Patience is ‘waiting in pain’
Having watched this update video and upgraded to the latest version I thought I’d try a little test. I have the project Fitness1.1 so I thought I would try publishing it to one of my sandbox sites here:https://websitesyorksandbox3.co.uk I then checked this in Lighthouse and was absolutely amazed by the performance score. To be honest I didn’t expect that with all those images on the page and not a .webp image amongst them. The Home page was in the high 90% for each metric. By dropping a .webp version of one of the images, adding a meta description and increasing the colour contrast of the CTA button I was able to get the scores to 100% pretty easily. I have no idea how you have done that but well done. My changes were all quite easy to make too without me ever having used Elements before.
On the CMS side, one thing my Total CMS1 users like is the simplicity of the Admin pages (especially when compared to Wordpress). I think if you can build something that will let developers build simple to use Admin pages then I think you will have a great product.
Oh yes and thanks for adding the ability to lazy load images below the fold. I used that as well to get to 100% performance.
This preview focused mainly on the Collection component in action, but there’s also the Item component, and when you pair that with custom front matter in your markdown files, you can structure and display virtually any kind of data you need.
You can even mix and match collections of data with individual data entries, giving you loads of flexibility.
If you have a specific use case in mind for the CMS, let me know and I’d be happy to confirm if (and how) it can be achieved with the Elements CMS! 
I’m curious if the CMS can be used in situations where you want to display the contents of a Markdown file, for example, my Privacy Policy is written in Markdown and I need to display it in a number of different modals.
Can the CMS be used to load the file in these locations so I only have to manage the content in a single file and am then able to display it wherever I need?
I’m also curious if the front matter uses YAML?
Technically, my understand is, YES. But I wonder if a global could be a better way to achieve that.
Sure, you could do it with a global, but then you would have to put the text inside something like a typography component, and if it needed updating, it would need to be done within Elements.
By using a Markdown file, it can simply be updated on the server without the need to open Elements.
Now, if a typography component could load from a file, that might be a solution, but I don’t see that happening soon. I like using Markdown, which is why I have been asking for Markdown support in Elements from day one. But it was never going to happen. But now that the CMS uses Markdown, there is a better chance of using it in Elements.
Yes! You can use the “item” component and point it to a Markdown file…
Yes! Here’s a basic example…
---
title: "Hello World"
author: Dan
date: '2025-03-17'
image: images/yourimage.jpg
tags:
- example
- personal
---
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam nec *italic* ac ante commodo suscipit. Vivamus at malesuada leo.
Curabitur vehicula nisl ut velit **Bold**, ut tincidunt orci sagittis. Aliquam erat volutpat. In vitae velit sit amet elit gravida scelerisque non nec justo.
1 Like
one of the best feature! can’t wait to use it …
@dan I suspected this was going to work, this is going to be a gamechanger for me as it will give me a lot more flexibility. But more importantly it will cut down on the number of places where I’m duplicating information across my sites.
Good stuff! Can’t wait to get my hands on it.