NorthernWind is a simple, lightweight Java™-based Content Management System. Small footprint, easy learning curve and simple infrastructure requirements: perfect for small and medium sized websites.
Simplicity is the core principle of NorthernWind: "don't use things that you don't need". Simple websites don't need complex technology and bloated deployments. That's why in its simpler configuration NorthernWind is just 8MB of bytecode.
On the other hand, NorthernWind is expandable. Using Java best practices and relying on Spring, it's easy to replace components or add new ones.
The core abstraction of NorthernWind is the logical filesystem. Why to use a database when a filesystem is what you need to store your documents? The filesystem can be implemented on different foundations, such a physical filesystem, a .zip file, a Mercurial or Git repository.
NorthernWind is so simple that it can be easily embedded in another web application. For instance, it can be used as a effective way to publish static contents within a dynamic webapp. Its frontend is available in different technologies: Spring MVC, Vaadin, Wicket. And it's easy to add another implementation based on the web framework you like.
NorthernWind really likes standards and fully supports HTML5 and CSS3. Thanks to the use of pre-packaged resources integrating frameworks such as Twitter Bootstrap or jQuery is just a matter of minutes.