Partially rewrite README.

[ci skip]

README.md

@@ -2,23 +2,21 @@
 
 Predis is a flexible and feature-complete PHP (>= 5.3) client library for the Redis key-value store.
 
-For a list of frequently asked questions about Predis, see the __FAQ__ file in the root of the repository.
-For a version compatible with PHP 5.2 you must use the backported version from the latest release in the
-0.6.x series. More details are available on the [official wiki](http://wiki.github.com/nrk/predis) of the
-project.
+For a list of frequently asked questions about Predis, see the __FAQ.md__ in the root of the repository.
+More details are available on the [official wiki](http://wiki.github.com/nrk/predis) of the project.
 
 
 ## Main features ##
 
-- Complete support for Redis from __1.2__ to __2.6__ and unstable versions using different server profiles.
+- Wide range of Redis versions supported (from __1.2__ to __2.6__ and unstable) using server profiles.
 - Smart support for [redis-cluster](http://redis.io/topics/cluster-spec) (Redis >= 3.0).
-- Client-side sharding with support for consistent hashing or custom distribution strategies.
+- Client-side sharding via consistent hashing or custom distribution strategies.
 - Support for master / slave replication configurations (write on master, read from slaves).
-- Command pipelining on single and aggregated connections.
 - Transparent key prefixing strategy capable of handling any command known that has keys in its arguments.
+- Command pipelining on single and aggregated connections.
 - Abstraction for Redis transactions (Redis >= 2.0) with support for CAS operations (Redis >= 2.2).
-- Abstraction for Lua scripting (Redis >= 2.6) capable of switching between EVAL and EVALSHA transparently.
-- Connections to Redis instances are automatically and lazily estabilished upon the first call to a command.
+- Abstraction for Lua scripting (Redis >= 2.6) capable of automatically switching between `EVAL` and `EVALSHA`.
+- Connections to Redis instances are lazily estabilished upon the first call to a command by the client.
 - Ability to connect to Redis using TCP/IP or UNIX domain sockets with support for persistent connections.
 - Ability to use alternative connection classes to use different types of network or protocol backends.
 - Flexible system to define and register your own set of commands or server profiles to client instances.
@@ -36,11 +34,11 @@ by browsing the list of [tagged releases](http://github.com/nrk/predis/tags).
 
 ### Loading the library ###
 
-Predis relies on the autoloading features of PHP to automatically load the needed files and complies
-with the [PSR-0 standard](http://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards/blob/master/accepted/PSR-0.md) for
-interoperability with most of the major frameworks and libraries. Everything is transparently handled
-for you when installing the library using Composer, but you can also leverage its own autoloader class
-if you are going to use it in a project or script without any PSR-0 compliant autoloading facility:
+Predis relies on the autoloading features of PHP to load its files when needed and complies with the
+[PSR-0 standard](http://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards/blob/master/accepted/PSR-0.md) which makes it
+compatible with most of the major frameworks and libraries. Autoloading in your application is handled
+automatically when managing the dependencies with Composer, but you can also leverage its own autoloader
+class if you are going to use it in a project or script without any PSR-0 compliant autoloading facility:
 
 ``` php
 <?php
@@ -50,20 +48,19 @@ require 'Predis/Autoloader.php';
 Predis\Autoloader::register();
 ```
 
-You can create a single [Phar](http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.phar.php) archive from the repository
-just by launching the `bin/create-phar.php` executable script. The generated Phar archive ships with a
-stub defining an autoloader function for Predis, so you just need to require the Phar to be able to use
-the library.
+It is possible to create a single [Phar](http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.phar.php) archive from the
+repository just by launching `bin/create-phar.php`. The generated Phar archive ships with a stub defining
+an autoloader function for Predis, so you just need to require the Phar to be able to use the library.
 
-Alternatively you can generate a single PHP file that holds every class, just like older versions of
-Predis, using the `bin/create-single-file.php` executable script. In this way you can load Predis in your
-scripts simply by using functions such as `require` and `include`, but this practice is not encouraged.
+Alternatively it is possible to generate a single PHP file that holds every class, just like older versions
+of Predis, using `bin/create-single-file.php`. In this way you can load Predis in your scripts simply by
+using functions such as `require` and `include`, but this practice is not encouraged.
 
 
-### Connecting to a local instance of Redis ###
+### Connecting to Redis ###
 
-When connecting to local instance of Redis (`127.0.0.1` on port `6379`), you do not have to specify any
-additional parameter to create a new client instance:
+By default Predis uses `127.0.0.1` and `6379` as the default host and port when creating a new client
+instance without specifying any connection parameter:
 
 ``` php
 <?php
@@ -72,7 +69,7 @@ $redis->set('foo', 'bar');
 $value = $redis->get('foo');
 ```
 
-However you can use an URI string or a named array to specify the needed connection parameters:
+It is possible to specify the various connection parameters using URI strings or named arrays:
 
 ``` php
 <?php
@@ -88,7 +85,7 @@ $redis = new Predis\Client(array(
 ```
 
 
-### Pipelining multiple commands to multiple instances of Redis with client-side sharding ###
+### Pipelining commands to multiple instances of Redis with client-side sharding ###
 
 Pipelining helps with performances when there is the need to send many commands to a server in one go.
 Furthermore, pipelining works transparently even on aggregated connections. To achieve this, Predis
@@ -111,11 +108,21 @@ $replies = $redis->pipeline(function ($pipe) {
 ```
 
 
-### Overriding standard connection classes with custom ones ###
+### Multiple and customizable connection backends ###
 
-Predis allows developers to create new connection classes to add support for new protocols or override
-the existing ones and provide a different implementation compared to the default classes. This can be
-obtained by implementing `Predis\Connection\SingleConnectionInterface`.
+Predis can optionally use different connection backends to connect to Redis. One of them leverages
+the [phpiredis](http://github.com/seppo0010/phpiredis) C extension resulting in a major speed bump
+especially when dealing with long multibulk replies (the `socket` extension is also required):
+
+``` php
+$client = new Predis\Client('tcp://127.0.0.1', array(
+    'connections' => array('tcp' => 'Predis\Connection\PhpiredisConnection')
+));
+```
+
+Developers can also create their own connection backends to add support for new protocols, extend
+existing ones or provide different implementations. Connection backend classes must implement
+`Predis\Connection\SingleConnectionInterface` or extend `Predis\Connection\AbstractConnection`:
 
 ``` php
 <?php
@@ -130,8 +137,8 @@ $client = new Predis\Client('tcp://127.0.0.1', array(
 ));
 ```
 
-The classes contained in the `Predis\Connection` namespace give you a better insight with actual code
-on how to create new connection classes.
+For a more in-depth insight on how to create new connection backends you can look at the actual
+implementation of the classes contained in `Predis\Connection` namespace.
 
 
 ### Defining and registering new commands on the client at runtime ###
@@ -188,6 +195,9 @@ on your newly created repository to fix or add features (possibly with tests cov
 and then open a new pull request with a description of the applied changes. Obviously you can use any
 other Git hosting provider of your preference.
 
+Please also follow some basic [commit guidelines](http://git-scm.com/book/ch5-2.html#Commit-Guidelines)
+before opening pull requests.
+
 
 ## Dependencies ##