diff --git a/Hermes/GUI.rkt b/Hermes/GUI.rkt
index e8f3ec1..cae776a 100644
--- a/Hermes/GUI.rkt
+++ b/Hermes/GUI.rkt
@@ -9,9 +9,6 @@
 
 ;Object stuff
 ; TODO make different objects threadable send button vs text area vs canvas
-; TODO gui is just a relay remember
-; TODO create a dialog to ask user for his username. This should be wrapped in a
-; function get-username that we can call 
 
 (provide make-gui)
 
@@ -200,7 +197,8 @@
     (define name "Me")
     (define min-h-size 80)
     (define min-v-size 30)
-    (define listy (list (list "Server" "Connected" "Red" 0))) ; initializes
+    ;(define listy (list (list "Server" "Connected" "Red" 0))) ; initializes
+    (define listy '())
       ; listy with first message to be drawn on screen
     ; wrap in closure
     (define my-color "black") ; default color of the text messages if none
@@ -225,7 +223,8 @@
                             #f))))
       (set! my-color returned)
       returned)
-    (define height 15) ; height between messages drawn on the screen
+    (define height 0) ; determines starting height
+    ; TODO create height variable that stores the height/space between messages
 
      ;; prompt user for username
     ;; could randomly assign a user
diff --git a/Hermes/README.md b/Hermes/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bc0c70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Hermes/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Hermes - the code
+# This is a work in progress. Kindly report all issues
+## Installation
+
+The only pre-requisite is to have a recent version of Drracket, then go ahead
+and launch an instance of Drracket running server.rkt and one or more
+instances running client.rkt.
+
+## Using Hermes
+
+### General
+
+The clients can run on the same computer with the server, or you can run the
+server alone in another compute on the internet. As long as you have the
+server's public ip address, the port its listening on(must port forward on home
+network!), and the server allows communication through that port in the firewall
+you are good to go.
+
+### Clients
+
+In the clients follow the prompt to set you up. Type in messages to send to
+other clients. You can list users in chat with /list users. You can get the
+count of users with /list count. If you want to send a message to a particular
+user, do /whisper username message in chat. If you want to leave chat, type in
+quit. As a consequence you can't use quit alone in your messages.
+
+### Server
+
+You can stop the server by typing in (stop-server) in the interactive window.
+It's really important you do this to free up the ports.
diff --git a/Hermes/TODO b/Hermes/TODO
index db51e46..7a192c8 100644
--- a/Hermes/TODO
+++ b/Hermes/TODO
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 FEATURES
-5. parser in the client side should do something similar (/color, /quit)
+need to pass color settings between users
 16. plain tcp -> ssl based 
 ***17. fix breaks for improper disconnects from clients
 18. Add topics after project completion