diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d796dba3..d46ee8d1 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,7 +29,73 @@ With PHPWord, you can create DOCX, ODT, or RTF documents dynamically using your
 * Use XSL 1.0 style sheets to transform main document part of OOXML template
 * ... and many more features on progress
 
+## Requirements
+* PHP 5.3+
+* PHP [Zip](http://php.net/manual/en/book.zip.php) extension
+* PHP [XML Parser](http://www.php.net/manual/en/xml.installation.php) extension
+
+### Optional PHP extensions
+* PHP [GD](http://php.net/manual/en/book.image.php) extension
+* PHP [XMLWriter](http://php.net/manual/en/book.xmlwriter.php) extension
+* PHP [XSL](http://php.net/manual/en/book.xsl.php) extension
+
+## Installation
+
+It is recommended that you install the PHPWord library [through composer](http://getcomposer.org/). To do so, add
+the following lines to your ``composer.json``.
+
+```json
+{
+    "require": {
+       "phpoffice/phpword": "dev-master"
+    }
+}
+```
+
+## Basic usage
+
+The following is a basic example of the PHPWord library. More examples are provided in the [samples folder](samples/).
+
+```php
+$PHPWord = new PHPWord();
+
+// Every element you want to append to the word document is placed in a section.
+// To create a basic section:
+$section = $PHPWord->createSection();
+
+// After creating a section, you can append elements:
+$section->addText('Hello world!');
+
+// You can directly style your text by giving the addText function an array:
+$section->addText('Hello world! I am formatted.',
+    array('name'=>'Tahoma', 'size'=>16, 'bold'=>true));
+
+// If you often need the same style again you can create a user defined style
+// to the word document and give the addText function the name of the style:
+$PHPWord->addFontStyle('myOwnStyle',
+    array('name'=>'Verdana', 'size'=>14, 'color'=>'1B2232'));
+$section->addText('Hello world! I am formatted by a user defined style',
+    'myOwnStyle');
+
+// You can also put the appended element to local object like this:
+$fontStyle = new PHPWord_Style_Font();
+$fontStyle->setBold(true);
+$fontStyle->setName('Verdana');
+$fontStyle->setSize(22);
+$myTextElement = $section->addText('Hello World!');
+$myTextElement->setFontStyle($fontStyle);
+
+// Finally, write the document:
+$objWriter = PHPWord_IOFactory::createWriter($PHPWord, 'Word2007');
+$objWriter->save('helloWorld.docx');
+
+$objWriter = PHPWord_IOFactory::createWriter($PHPWord, 'ODText');
+$objWriter->save('helloWorld.odt');
+
+$objWriter = PHPWord_IOFactory::createWriter($PHPWord, 'RTF');
+$objWriter->save('helloWorld.rtf');
+```
+
 __Want to contribute?__ [Fork us](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PHPWord/fork) or [submit](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PHPWord/issues) your bug reports or feature requests to us.
 
 __Want to know more?__ Read the full documentation of PHPWord on [Read The Docs](http://phpword.readthedocs.org/en/develop/).
-
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007.php b/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007.php
index 4eca69db..ecd9017d 100644
--- a/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Reader/Word2007.php
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ namespace PhpOffice\PhpWord\Reader;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\PhpWord;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\DocumentProperties;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exceptions\Exception;
-use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\File;
 
 /**
  * Reader for Word2007
@@ -84,10 +83,10 @@ class Word2007 extends AbstractReader implements IReader
     public function getFromZipArchive($archive, $fileName = '', $removeNamespace = false)
     {
         // Root-relative paths
-        if (strpos($fileName, '//') !== false) {
-            $fileName = substr($fileName, strpos($fileName, '//') + 1);
-        }
-        $fileName = File::realpath($fileName);
+        // if (strpos($fileName, '//') !== false) {
+        //     $fileName = substr($fileName, strpos($fileName, '//') + 1);
+        // }
+        // $fileName = realpath($fileName);
 
         // Apache POI fixes
         $contents = $archive->getFromName($fileName);
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Shared/File.php b/src/PhpWord/Shared/File.php
deleted file mode 100755
index 90309a1b..00000000
--- a/src/PhpWord/Shared/File.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,77 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/**
- * PhpWord
- *
- * Copyright (c) 2014 PhpWord
- *
- * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
- * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
- * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
- * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
- * Lesser General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
- * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
- * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
- *
- * @copyright  Copyright (c) 2014 PhpWord
- * @license    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.txt    LGPL
- * @version    0.8.0
- */
-
-namespace PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared;
-
-/**
- * Common file functions
- */
-class File
-{
-    /**
-     * Verify if a file exists
-     *
-     * @param  string $pFilename Filename
-     * @return bool
-     */
-    public static function fileExists($pFilename)
-    {
-        // Regular file_exists
-        return \file_exists($pFilename);
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Returns canonicalized absolute pathname, also for ZIP archives
-     *
-     * @param string $pFilename
-     * @return string
-     */
-    public static function realpath($pFilename)
-    {
-        // Returnvalue
-        $returnValue = '';
-
-        // Try using realpath()
-        $returnValue = realpath($pFilename);
-
-        // Found something?
-        if ($returnValue == '' || is_null($returnValue)) {
-            $pathArray = explode('/', $pFilename);
-            while (in_array('..', $pathArray) && $pathArray[0] != '..') {
-                for ($i = 0; $i < count($pathArray); ++$i) {
-                    if ($pathArray[$i] == '..' && $i > 0) {
-                        unset($pathArray[$i]);
-                        unset($pathArray[$i - 1]);
-                        break;
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            $returnValue = implode('/', $pathArray);
-        }
-
-        // Return
-        return $returnValue;
-    }
-}
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Writer/ODText/Manifest.php b/src/PhpWord/Writer/ODText/Manifest.php
index a7071810..e19bcb18 100755
--- a/src/PhpWord/Writer/ODText/Manifest.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Writer/ODText/Manifest.php
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ namespace PhpOffice\PhpWord\Writer\ODText;
 
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exceptions\Exception;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\PhpWord;
-use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\File;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\XMLWriter;
 
 /**
@@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ class Manifest extends WriterPart
      */
     private function _getImageMimeType($pFile = '')
     {
-        if (File::fileExists($pFile)) {
+        if (file_exists($pFile)) {
             $image = getimagesize($pFile);
             return image_type_to_mime_type($image[2]);
         } else {
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Writer/Word2007/ContentTypes.php b/src/PhpWord/Writer/Word2007/ContentTypes.php
index 2f6ab4e1..0d61dfcb 100755
--- a/src/PhpWord/Writer/Word2007/ContentTypes.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Writer/Word2007/ContentTypes.php
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 namespace PhpOffice\PhpWord\Writer\Word2007;
 
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exceptions\Exception;
-use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\File;
 use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\XMLWriter;
 
 /**
@@ -189,7 +188,7 @@ class ContentTypes extends WriterPart
      */
     private function _getImageMimeType($pFile = '')
     {
-        if (File::fileExists($pFile)) {
+        if (file_exists($pFile)) {
             $image = getimagesize($pFile);
             return image_type_to_mime_type($image[2]);
         } else {
diff --git a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/PhpWordTest.php b/tests/PhpWord/Tests/PhpWordTest.php
index 199e96b9..bcabcfb3 100644
--- a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/PhpWordTest.php
+++ b/tests/PhpWord/Tests/PhpWordTest.php
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ class PhpWordTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
     {
         $templateFqfn = \join(
             \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR,
-            array(\PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR, 'data', 'templates', 'blanks.docx')
+            array(\PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR, 'PhpWord', 'Tests', 'data', 'templates', 'blanks.docx')
         );
         $phpWord = new PhpWord();
         $phpWord->loadTemplate($templateFqfn);
diff --git a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Reader/Word2007Test.php b/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Reader/Word2007Test.php
index 1afbb1b1..f372a9e2 100644
--- a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Reader/Word2007Test.php
+++ b/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Reader/Word2007Test.php
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ class Word2007Test extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
      */
     public function testCanRead()
     {
-        $dir = __DIR__ . "/../_files/documents";
-        $object = new Word2007;
-        $file = $dir . \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'reader.docx';
-        $this->assertTrue($object->canRead($file));
+        $object = new Word2007();
+        $fqFilename = join(
+            DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR,
+            array(PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR, 'PhpWord', 'Tests', '_files', 'documents', 'reader.docx')
+        );
+        $this->assertTrue($object->canRead($fqFilename));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -29,21 +31,22 @@ class Word2007Test extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
      */
     public function testCanReadFailed()
     {
-        $dir = __DIR__ . "/../_files/documents";
-        $object = new Word2007;
-        $file = $dir . \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'foo.docx';
-        $this->assertFalse($object->canRead($file));
-        $object = IOFactory::load($file);
+        $object = new Word2007();
+        $fqFilename = join(
+            DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR,
+            array(PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR, 'PhpWord', 'Tests', '_files', 'documents', 'foo.docx')
+        );
+        $this->assertFalse($object->canRead($fqFilename));
+        $object = IOFactory::load($fqFilename);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Test load document
-     */
     public function testLoad()
     {
-        $dir = __DIR__ . "/../_files/documents";
-        $file = $dir . \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'reader.docx';
-        $object = IOFactory::load($file);
+        $fqFilename = join(
+            DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR,
+            array(PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR, 'PhpWord', 'Tests', '_files', 'documents', 'reader.docx')
+        );
+        $object = IOFactory::load($fqFilename);
         $this->assertInstanceOf('PhpOffice\\PhpWord\\PhpWord', $object);
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Shared/FileTest.php b/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Shared/FileTest.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 83764748..00000000
--- a/tests/PhpWord/Tests/Shared/FileTest.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-namespace PhpOffice\PhpWord\Tests\Shared;
-
-use PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\File;
-
-/**
- * @coversDefaultClass          \PhpOffice\PhpWord\Shared\File
- * @runTestsInSeparateProcesses
- */
-class FileTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
-{
-    /**
-     * Test file_exists()
-     */
-    public function testFileExists()
-    {
-        $dir = __DIR__ . "/../_files/templates";
-        chdir($dir);
-        $this->assertTrue(File::fileExists('blank.docx'));
-    }
-    /**
-     * Test file_exists()
-     */
-    public function testNoFileExists()
-    {
-        $dir = __DIR__ . "/../_files/templates";
-        chdir($dir);
-        $this->assertFalse(File::fileExists('404.docx'));
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Test realpath()
-     */
-    public function testRealpath()
-    {
-        $dir = realpath(__DIR__ . "/../_files/templates");
-        chdir($dir);
-        $file     = 'blank.docx';
-        $expected = $dir . \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file;
-        $this->assertEquals($expected, File::realpath($file));
-    }
-}
diff --git a/tests/bootstrap.php b/tests/bootstrap.php
index d3351272..1e7de79f 100755
--- a/tests/bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/bootstrap.php
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ date_default_timezone_set('UTC');
 
 // defining base dir for tests
 if (!defined('PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR')) {
-    define('PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR', realpath(__DIR__ . '/..'));
+    define('PHPWORD_TESTS_BASE_DIR', realpath(__DIR__));
 }
 
 $vendor = realpath(__DIR__ . '/../vendor');