diff --git a/i3pystatus/backlight.py b/i3pystatus/backlight.py
deleted file mode 100644
index cdddd21..0000000
--- a/i3pystatus/backlight.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-from i3pystatus import IntervalModule
-
-class Backlight(IntervalModule):
-    """
-    Shows backlight brightness
-    """
-
-    settings = (
-        ("format", "format string used for output. {brightness}, {max_brightness}, {percentage} are available"),
-        ("backlight", "backlight. See /sys/class/backlight/"),
-        "color",
-    )
-    format = "{brightness}/{max_brightness}"
-    color = "#FFFFFF"
-    backlight = "acpi_video0"
-
-    def init(self):
-        self.base_path = "/sys/class/backlight/{backlight}".format(backlight=self.backlight)
-  
-        with open("{base_path}/max_brightness".format(base_path=self.base_path), "r") as f:
-            self.max_brightness = int(f.read())
-
-    def run(self):
-        with open("{base_path}/brightness".format(base_path=self.base_path), "r") as f:
-            brightness = int(f.read())
-
-        percentage = (brightness / self.max_brightness) * 100
-        self.output = {
-            "full_text" : self.format.format(brightness=brightness, max_brightness=self.max_brightness, percentage=percentage),
-            "color": self.color,
-        }
diff --git a/i3pystatus/file.py b/i3pystatus/file.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7374561
--- /dev/null
+++ b/i3pystatus/file.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+from os.path import join
+
+from i3pystatus import IntervalModule
+
+class File(IntervalModule):
+    """
+    Rip information from text files
+
+    components is a dict of pairs of the form:
+
+        name => (callable, file)
+
+    * Where `name` is a valid identifier, which is used in the format string to access
+    the value of that component.
+    * `callable` is some callable to convert the contents of `file`. A common choice is
+    float or int.
+    * `file` names a file, relative to `base_path`.
+
+    transform is a optional dict of callables taking a single argument, a dictionary containing the values
+    of all components. The return value is bound to `name`
+    """
+    settings = (
+        ("format", "format string"),
+        ("components", "List of tripels"),
+        ("transforms", "List of pairs"),
+        ("base_path", ""),
+        "color"
+    )
+    required = ("format", "components")
+    base_path = "/"
+    transforms = tuple()
+    color = "#FFFFFF"
+
+    def run(self):
+        cdict = {}
+
+        for key, (component, file) in self.components.items():
+            with open(join(self.base_path, file), "r") as f:
+                cdict[key] = component(f.read().strip())
+
+        for key, transform in self.transforms.items():
+            cdict[key] = transform(cdict)
+
+        self.output = {
+            "full_text": self.format.format(**cdict),
+            "color": self.color
+        }