diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 34dbc2e..7651547 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,11 +1,136 @@
 # cf-view
 
-## Exploration & plotting Graphical User Interface (GUI) for netCDF & Met Office format data
+## Exploration & plotting GUI for netCDF & Met Office format data
+
+### Overview
+
+**cf-view is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for earth science and aligned
+research which supports the exploration, analysis and plotting of netCDF
+and Met Office format (PP or fields) data.**
+
+It is intended to be an updated
+replacement and improvement on
+the [xconv+](https://ncas-cms.github.io/xconv-doc/html/index.html) tool,
+using the power of:
+
+* Python ([PyQt](https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/)) for the GUI;
+* [cf-plot](https://github.com/NCAS-CMS/cf-plot)
+  (building on top of
+  [matplotlib](https://matplotlib.org/) and
+  [Cartopy](https://scitools.org.uk/cartopy/docs/latest/)) for the plotting;
+* [cf-python](https://ncas-cms.github.io/cf-python/) for the data
+  reading, processing and analysis; and
+* [cfdm](https://ncas-cms.github.io/cfdm/) for the underlying data model.
+
+It is designed to be a useful tool for environmental, earth
+and aligned sciences, for example to facilitate climate and meteorological
+research. cf-view is developed and maintained by the
+[NCAS-CMS](https://cms.ncas.ac.uk/index.html) group, part of
+[NCAS](https://ncas.ac.uk/).
+
+
+![cf-view screenshot preview](media/cfview-screenshot-preview-1.png "Preview of the cf-view GUI")
+
 
 ### Documentation
 
 For now, please see the static cf-view documentation hosted at 
-[http://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view](http://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view)
-(`http://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view`), noting that soon the canonical location for the
-full documentation will be moved to be under the NCAS-CMS organisation space, at
-`https://ncas-cms.github.io/cf-view/build/index.html` (these pages do not currently exist).
+[https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view](https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view)
+(`https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view`), noting that soon the canonical
+location for the full documentation will be moved to be under the NCAS-CMS
+organisation space, at `https://ncas-cms.github.io/cf-view/build/index.html`
+(these pages do not currently exist).
+
+
+### Quickstart
+
+After installing (see below), start cf-view through the command line via
+running:
+
+```
+cfview
+```
+
+or if you wish to start working with a specific file, add a positional
+argument:
+
+```
+cfview <file>
+```
+
+where `<file>` is the path to the netCDF, Met Office PP or fields file.
+
+*Note:* when starting cf-view for the first time, it might take twenty or
+so seconds to start while matplotlib does some initialisation work.
+
+
+### Installation
+
+There are two main ways to install cf-view: through a package manager, or
+by downloading and running a dedicated installation script.
+
+
+#### Installation by package manager
+
+You can use `pip` with `conda` (or similar package managers such
+as `mamba`) as follows.
+
+To use `pip`, run:
+
+```bash
+pip install cf-python cf-plot cf-view
+```
+
+In future you will be able to install cf-view and all of its dependencies
+fully with `conda`, but for now only the dependencies are installable
+this way, like so:
+
+```bash
+conda install -c ncas -c conda-forge cf-python cf-plot udunits2
+```
+
+and you must use e.g. `pip` to install the cf-view library itself.
+
+
+#### Installation by download script
+
+Alternatively, to install cf-view with its required dependencies, you can
+download from source. For Linux, run:
+
+```bash
+wget http://gws-access.jasmin.ac.uk/public/ncas_climate/ajh/cfview_install/cfview_install.sh
+```
+
+or for Mac, instead run:
+
+```bash
+curl -O -L http://gws-access.jasmin.ac.uk/public/ncas_climate/ajh/cfview_install/cfview_install.sh
+```
+
+and then install by running the `cfview_install.sh` script, for example with:
+
+```bash
+bash cfview_install.sh
+```
+
+#### Further installation information
+
+More detail about installation is provided on the
+[installation page](https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view/download.html)
+(`https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view/download.html`)
+of the documentation.
+
+
+### Contributing
+
+Everyone is welcome to contribute to cf-view in the form
+of bug reports, documentation, code, design proposals, and more.
+
+Contributing guidelines will be added to the repository shortly.
+
+
+### Help: Issues, Questions, Feature Requests, etc.
+
+For any queries, see the
+[guidance page](https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view/issues.html)
+(`https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view/issues.html`).
diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 2297fa2..0000000
--- a/README.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-
-
-=======
-cf-view
-=======
-
-cfview is a netCDF and Met Ofice file format data analysis and viewer for the atmospheric sciences and is intended to be an xconv+ replacement.
-
-
-Documentation
-=============
-Please refer to the cf-view homepage http://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view
-
-
-
-
diff --git a/media/cfview-screenshot-preview-1.png b/media/cfview-screenshot-preview-1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96f4114
Binary files /dev/null and b/media/cfview-screenshot-preview-1.png differ