--- /dev/null
+<%!
+ section = "docs"
+%>
+<%inherit file="_templates/i3.mako" />
+<div id="content" class="usergen">
+<h1>User-contributed article: enhanced and extensible i3bar with py3status</h1>
+
+<p>
+In the i3 documentation, the recommended tool for <a
+href="http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_displaying_a_status_line">displaying
+a status line is to use i3status</a> combined with i3bar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While i3status is very efficient at what it does, it is by design limited to
+a few modules and does not allow you to inject your own scripts output on your
+i3bar. This is said pretty clearly on the i3status man page:
+</p>
+
+<pre><tt>In i3status, we don’t want to implement process management again.
+Therefore, there is no module to run arbitrary scripts or commands.
+Instead, you should use your shell.</tt></pre>
+
+<h2>Introducing py3status</h2>
+
+<p>
+The goal of py3status is to fill this gap by allowing users to simply extend
+their i3bar while preserving their current i3status configuration. The main idea
+is to rely on i3status' strengths without adding any configuration on the user's
+side. py3status is thus a wrapper script for i3status and you can
+<a href="https://github.com/ultrabug/py3status/wiki"> read more on the wiki</a>.
+</p>
+
+<h2>Requirements</h2>
+
+<p>
+To achieve this, py3status uses the <a
+href="http://i3wm.org/docs/i3bar-protocol.html">i3bar protocol</a> so your
+i3status.conf should specify this as its output_format.
+</p>
+
+<pre><tt>general {
+ output_format = "i3bar"
+}</tt></pre>
+
+<h2>Usage</h2>
+
+<p>
+Using py3status is easy, no need to multi-pipe your scripts after i3status.
+Instead, just replace i3status in your current status_command by py3status.
+For example, if you're using your own i3status.conf, you need to change your
+i3 config file with:
+</p>
+
+<pre><tt>status_command py3status -c ~/.i3/i3status.conf</tt></pre>
+
+<h2>Display your own stuff</h2>
+
+<p>
+py3status features a simple and straightforward plugin system which you can use
+to get your own output displayed on your i3bar. You can read more and view some
+examples <a
+href="https://github.com/ultrabug/py3status/wiki/Write-your-own-modules"> on the
+wiki</a>.
+</p>
+
+<h2>Documentation</h2>
+
+<p>
+You can read the full and up to date documentation on the <a
+href="https://github.com/ultrabug/py3status">py3status home page</a>.
+</p>