The Documentation page of the project website lists the places where Exponential is documented. Some are current, some describe releases from many years ago and are kept because their concepts still hold. This page lists them all, read in October 2026, says what each is good for, and how to use them next to this help.
Start with this help
This help is the documentation of the release you are running: it is the folder doc/ of the installation, shown in
the administration, and it changes with every change to the software. Where an older source and this help disagree
about the software, trust this help and the 6.0.15 changelog. It is free
documentation (Free documentation).
Current sources
| Source | What it covers | Address |
|---|---|---|
| The documentation website | The Exponential 6 installation documentation and the technical manual (concepts, templates, configuration), together with documentation of the Exponential Platform 5 line. doc.exponential.earth leads to the same site. | https://exponential.doc.exponential.earth/ |
| Installation, 6.x | The website's newest section, the installation of Exponential 6 | Installation |
| Share Exponential articles | Articles on key subjects collected over many years | https://share.exponential.earth/learn |
| eZpedia | The community wiki that anyone can edit after signing in | https://ezpedia.exponential.earth/ |
| ExponentialCMSInsights | Videos about Exponential on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ExponentialCMSInsights |
| Training | The website's collection of training material and developer knowledge sharing | https://exponential.earth/doc/training |
| Featured articles | Articles and blog posts about Exponential from around the web, with an RSS feed | https://exponential.earth/doc/exponential-featured |
The free books
The website offers free books as PDF downloads on its books page, starting with "Learning eZ Publish", written when the software still had its old name. Three books are kept in se7enxweb repositories, two of them under the GNU Free Documentation License; the chapter Learning from the free books lists them and has a table that maps what the books describe to how Exponential 6 does it today.
Older manuals, still useful for concepts
These describe much older releases. Their concepts (content classes and objects, the node tree, templates, overrides, siteaccesses, extensions) still apply; their installation steps, PHP versions and version numbers do not.
| Source | What it is | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Exponential Core Documentation | A refined copy of the usage documentation of the 3.0 to 3.4 era | https://doc.core.exponential.earth/ |
| Exponential SDK Documentation | A short introduction to the concepts and APIs, with usage examples, from the 3.0 to 3.2 era | https://doc.sdk.exponential.earth/ |
| Core concepts by Martin Bauer | An overview of the system's core concepts by an early author | martinbauer.com |
| Share Exponential: articles on the old name | Articles written when the software was still called eZ Publish | https://share.exponential.earth/learn/ez-publish |
| Mugo documentation | Documentation of the software under its old name, kept by Mugo Web, a long-time contributor | https://ezpublishdoc.mugo.ca/ |
| The older FAQ | The FAQ of the archived documentation, which the website calls "a bit older in age" | https://doc.ezpublishlegacy.se7enx.com/FAQ.html |
The website notes that Exponential is compatible with the documentation and software examples written for eZ Publish. In practice this holds for templates, the content model and the extension API; check PHP code against the PHP versions you run, and installation steps against the installation book.
Libraries Exponential uses
Exponential uses the Zeta Components, a set of PHP libraries for tasks such as mail, archives, the database and configuration. Their documentation, with many examples, is at zetacomponents.org.
How to use them together
- Search this help first: it matches your release.
- For a concept explained at length, read the books or the older manuals.
- For a practical recipe, search eZpedia and the Share articles, then compare with this help.
- If something is still unclear, ask (Getting support), and when you find the answer, add it to eZpedia or to this help so the next person finds it (Contribute to the project).
Related pages
- The Exponential project: start here
- The help for editors and users
- Learning from the free books
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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