diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..434bab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
+
+---
+
+## Unreleased
+
+#### Links
+- upstream: https://code.lindeas.com/lindeas/jilo-web
+- codeberg: https://codeberg.org/lindeas/jilo-web
+- github: https://github.com/lindeas/jilo-web
+- gitlab: https://gitlab.com/lindeas/jilo-web
+
+### Added
+- Initial version
+- Added login and registration
+- Added session persistence and cookies
+- Added config page with configuration details
+- Added conferences page with listing of conferences from the jilo database
+
+### Changed
+
+### Fixed
+
+---
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d30f97b..7b1a861 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,3 +9,11 @@ This is still not operational. Goals for v.0.1 - browsing of basic info about Ji
 - php support in the web server (deb: php-fpm | libapache2-mod-php)
 
 - pdo and pdo_sqlite support in php (deb: php-db, php-sqlite3) uncomment in php.ini: ;extension=pdo_sqlite
+
+## config
+
+- edit jilo-web.conf.php and set all the variables correctly
+
+- "database" is the sqlite db file for jilo-web itself, create it with `cat jilo-web.schema | sqlite3 jilo-web.db`
+
+- "jilo_database" is the sqlite db file for jilo, with data from the Jitsi logs
diff --git a/public_html/classes/conference.php b/public_html/classes/conference.php
index e879933..a945533 100644
--- a/public_html/classes/conference.php
+++ b/public_html/classes/conference.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 class Conference {
     private $db;
-    private $table_name = 'conferences';
+    private $queries;
 
     public $jitsi_component;
     public $start;
diff --git a/public_html/classes/database.php b/public_html/classes/database.php
index 08bfb38..57a0c57 100644
--- a/public_html/classes/database.php
+++ b/public_html/classes/database.php
@@ -4,11 +4,17 @@ class Database {
     private $pdo;
 
     public function __construct($dbFile) {
+
         // pdo and pdo_sqlite needed
         if ( !extension_loaded('pdo_sqlite') ) {
             throw new Exception('PDO extension for SQLite not loaded.');
         }
 
+        // database file check
+        if (empty($dbFile) || !file_exists($dbFile)) {
+            throw new Exception('Database file is not found.');
+        }
+
         // connect to database
         // FIXME: add mysql/mariadb option
         try {
diff --git a/public_html/index.php b/public_html/index.php
index b04a1a6..ce1c7ec 100644
--- a/public_html/index.php
+++ b/public_html/index.php
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@
  * Version: 0.1
  */
 
+// error reporting, comment out in production
+ini_set('display_errors', 1);
+ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
+error_reporting(E_ALL);
+
 // list of available pages
 // edit accordingly, add 'pages/PAGE.php'
 $allowed_urls = [
diff --git a/public_html/pages/conferences.php b/public_html/pages/conferences.php
index 9ad0545..14baec4 100644
--- a/public_html/pages/conferences.php
+++ b/public_html/pages/conferences.php
@@ -7,11 +7,18 @@ require 'classes/conference.php';
 $from_time = '0000-01-01';
 $until_time = '9999-12-31';
 
-// list of all conferences
+// connect to database
 try {
     $db = new Database($config['jilo_database']);
-    $conference = new Conference($db);
+} catch (Exception $e) {
+    $error = 'Error: ' . $e->getMessage();
+    include 'templates/message.php';
+    exit();
+}
 
+// list of all conferences
+try {
+    $conference = new Conference($db);
     $search = $conference->conferencesAllFormatted($from_time,$until_time);
 
     if (!empty($search)) {
@@ -27,7 +34,6 @@ try {
                 'end'			=> $end,
                 'conference_id'		=> $conference_id,
                 'conference_name'	=> $conference_name,
-//                'participants'		=> $participants,
                 'participants'		=> $participants,
                 'name_count'		=> $name_count,
                 'conference_host'	=> $conference_host
@@ -38,7 +44,9 @@ try {
     }
 
 } catch (Exception $e) {
-    $error = $e->getMessage();
+    $error = 'Error: ' . $e->getMessage();
+    include 'templates/message.php';
+    exit();
 }
 
 echo "Conferences for the time period $from_time - $until_time";
@@ -58,7 +66,8 @@ if (!empty($conferences['records'])) {
     foreach ($conferences['records'] as $row) {
         echo "\t\t<tr>";
         foreach ($row as $column) {
-            echo "\t\t\t<td>" . htmlspecialchars($column) . "</td>";
+            // sometimes $column is empty, we make it '' then
+            echo "\t\t\t<td>" . htmlspecialchars($column ?? '') . "</td>";
         }
         echo "\t\t</tr>";
     }
diff --git a/public_html/pages/config.php b/public_html/pages/config.php
index 418fbc1..f78b4d2 100644
--- a/public_html/pages/config.php
+++ b/public_html/pages/config.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 <ul>
 <?php foreach ($config as $config_item=>$config_value) { ?>
-    <li><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config_item) . ': ' . htmlspecialchars($config_value); ?></li>
+    <li><?php echo htmlspecialchars($config_item) . ': ' . htmlspecialchars($config_value ?? ''); ?></li>
 <?php } ?>
 </ul>