diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bcbc199..7408ad0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ ve/
 *.py[co]
 *.egg
 *.egg-info
+*.komodo*
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 22837bc..6caa029 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@
 
     packages = find_packages('src'),
     package_dir = {'': 'src'},
-    package_data={'pyll': ['templates/default.html'],},
+    package_data={
+        'pyll': ['templates/default.html',
+                 'quickstart.tar.gz'],
+    },
     zip_safe = False,
 
     test_suite = 'nose.collector',
@@ -30,6 +33,8 @@
         'markdown',
         'docutils',
         'Jinja2',
+        'python-dateutil==1.5',
+        'PyYAML',
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/src/pyll/app.py b/src/pyll/app.py
index 5eea322..ef897a5 100644
--- a/src/pyll/app.py
+++ b/src/pyll/app.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 import imp
 import logging
-import ConfigParser
+import yaml
 from optparse import OptionParser
 from os import makedirs, getcwd, getlogin
 from os.path import splitext, join, dirname, split, abspath, getctime,\
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ def _parse(self, input_data):
 
                 # parse the page
                 parser_cls = parser.get_parser_for_filename(page['path'])
-                with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf8') as f:
-                    parser_inst = parser_cls(self.settings, f.read())
+                with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                    parser_inst = parser_cls(self.settings, f.read(), page['path'])
 
                 try:
                     parsed = parser_inst.parse()
@@ -257,23 +257,23 @@ def run(self):
 def quickstart(settings):
     login = getlogin()
 
-    config = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
-    config.add_section('pyll')
     author_name = raw_input("Author Name [%s]: " % login) or login
-    config.set('pyll', 'author_name', author_name)
     author_email_default = '%s@example.org' % login
     author_email = raw_input("Author Email [%s]: " % author_email_default) or author_email_default
-    config.set('pyll', 'author_email', author_email)
     website_url_default = 'http://www.example.org'
     website_url = raw_input("Website URL [%s]: " % website_url_default) or website_url_default
-    config.set('pyll', 'website_url', website_url)
+    config = {'pyll': {
+        'author_name': author_name,
+        'author_email': author_email,
+        'website_url': website_url,
+    }}
 
     # before writing the settings file, make sure the _lib dir exists
     if not exists(settings['lib_dir']):
         makedirs(settings['lib_dir'])
     
-    with open(settings['settings_path'], 'wb') as configfile:
-        config.write(configfile)
+    with open(settings['settings_path'], 'wb', encoding='utf-8') as configfile:
+        configfile.write(yaml.dump(config, default_flow_style=False))
     
     # extract template
     tmpl_path = join(dirname(abspath(__file__)), 'quickstart.tar.gz')
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ def quickstart(settings):
     tar.extractall(path=settings['project_dir'])
     tar.close()
 
-    return dict(config.items('pyll'))
+    return config['pyll']
 
 def main():
     parser = OptionParser(version="%prog " + __version__)
@@ -306,8 +306,7 @@ def main():
                 'lib_dir': join(project_dir, '_lib'),
                 'url_path': join(project_dir, '_lib', 'urls.py'),
                 'settings_path': join(project_dir, '_lib', 'settings.cfg'),
-                'build_time': datetime.today(),
-                'date_format': '%Y-%m-%d'}
+                'build_time': datetime.today()}
 
     # configure logging
     logging_level = LOGGING_LEVELS.get(options.logging, logging.INFO)
@@ -322,9 +321,9 @@ def main():
 
     # read settings file
     if exists(settings['settings_path']):
-        config = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
-        config.read(settings['settings_path'])
-        settings.update(dict(config.items('pyll')))
+        with open(settings['settings_path'], 'rb', encoding='utf-8') as configfile:
+            config = yaml.safe_load(configfile.read())
+        settings.update(config['pyll'])
     logging.debug('settings %s', settings)
 
     # initialize site
diff --git a/src/pyll/parser.py b/src/pyll/parser.py
index 5e43a9d..e4f93f8 100644
--- a/src/pyll/parser.py
+++ b/src/pyll/parser.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-import datetime
-import re
+import logging
+import yaml
 from os.path import splitext
 
+
 class ParserException(Exception):
     """Exception raised for errors during the parsing."""
     pass
@@ -9,77 +10,21 @@ class ParserException(Exception):
 class Parser(object):
     output_ext = None
 
-    def __init__(self, settings, source):
+    def __init__(self, settings, source, filename):
         self.settings = settings
         self.source = source
         self.headers = {}
         self.text = ''
+        self.filename = filename
 
     def _parse_headers(self):
         """
-        Parses and removes the headers from the source.
-        """
-        META_RE = re.compile(
-            r'^[ ]{0,3}(?P<key>[A-Za-z0-9_-]+):\s*(?P<value>.*)')
-        lines = self.source.splitlines()
-        for num, line in enumerate(lines):
-            match = META_RE.match(line)
-            if match:
-                key = match.group('key').strip().lower()
-                value = match.group('value').strip()
-                if value:
-                    # custom header transformation
-                    header_method = getattr(self, '_parse_%s_header' % key,
-                                            None)
-                    if header_method:
-                        value = header_method(value)
-                    self.headers[key] = value
-                    num_last_match = num
-            else:
-                break
-        # remove header lines from input source
-        try:
-            del lines[:num_last_match + 1]
-        except UnboundLocalError:
-            pass
-
-        # check if a blank line followed the header lines and remove it
-        try:
-            if not lines[0]:
-                del lines[0]
-        except IndexError:
-            pass
-        self.text = '\n'.join(lines)
-
-    def _parse_tags_header(self, value):
-        """
-        Parses the value from the 'tags' header into a list.
-        """
-        return [t.strip() for t in value.split(',')]
-
-    def _parse_date_header(self, value):
-        """
-        Parses the date header into a python datetime.datetime object.
-        The value must be in the format as specified by the 'date_format'
-        setting; otherwise a ParserException will be thrown.
-        """
-        format = self.settings['date_format']
-        try:
-            return datetime.datetime.strptime(value, format)
-        except ValueError as error:
-            raise ParserException(error)
-
-    def _parse_updated_header(self, value):
-        return self._parse_date_header(value)
-
-    def _parse_status_header(self, value):
-        """
-        Checks that the value of the 'status' header is 'live', 'hidden' or
-        'draft'. If not 'live' is returned.
+        Parses the headers from the source.
         """
-        if value in ('live', 'hidden', 'draft'):
-            return value
-        return 'live'
+        self.headers = yaml.safe_load(self.header_raw) if self.header_raw != '' else {}
+        if not 'status' in self.headers \
+           or self.headers['status'] not in ('live', 'hidden', 'draft'):
+            self.headers['status'] = 'live'
 
     def _parse_text(self):
         """
@@ -88,7 +33,24 @@ def _parse_text(self):
         """
         return self.text
 
+    def _split_input(self):
+        """
+        Segregates header from actual text.
+        Used to later parse these parts a different way.
+        """
+        parts = self.source.split("\n\n", 1)
+        if len(parts) < 2:
+            parts = self.source.split("---\n", 1)
+        if len(parts) >= 2:
+            self.header_raw = parts[0]
+            self.text = parts[-1]
+        else:
+            logging.warn("'%s' has no headers, only content - at least 'title' will be missing.", self.filename)
+            self.header_raw = ''
+            self.text = self.source
+
     def parse(self):
+        self._split_input()
         self._parse_headers()
         self._parse_text()
         return (self.headers, self.text)
diff --git a/src/pyll/quickstart.tar.gz b/src/pyll/quickstart.tar.gz
index 5e867e2..78341cd 100644
Binary files a/src/pyll/quickstart.tar.gz and b/src/pyll/quickstart.tar.gz differ