How to Set up a technical blog online - some options
In the last few weeks I've been asked by several would-be bloggers how they can start their own blog. Should they use custom blog software? what sites can they register to, how one goes about registering etc..
There are several blogging sites out there for technical bloggers, especially if you're from the Microsoft world that I know of.
Unfortunately, weblogs.asp.net isn't one of them (at least for now). http://Codebetter.com is invite-only but there are others who are open for business:
- You can start a blog at http://blogs.microsoft.co.il - Send me an email through the contact link on my blog and I'll hook you up with on how to get started.
- You can also join http://www.blogger.com, but on the condition that you have or open a Googlemail account.
- You may also register at the all new .NET blogging community site: http://Devlicio.us
- You can also check out GeeksWithBlogs.com
- There is also NETJunkies - and oldie but a goodie. There was some talk a while ago how the site is falling apart - I'm not sure what's the case now - seems to be working fine, i hope.
- Do you know of other good technical blogging sites one can register to? please give me a shout.
If you're going the "custom blog" route - you can check out these packages that are widely used, which you'll need to install and configure manually on your own server somewhere:
- Community Server is free for non commercial use (is what http://weblogs.asp.net runs on)
- DasBlog is a wonderful free open source blogging platform that just came out with a new version the other day .It's purely file-based and does not require a database as far as I know.
- SubText is a branch-out of .TEXT (which is now called Community Server) - back when it was much smaller and dealt with only blogging. main features: dead simple to setup and use - no hassles blogging engine. Also free and I think is open source to.
- WordPress is a free blogging platform that runs on PHP and MySQL (all the rest mentioned here are ASP.NET/SQL Server except DasBlog which is DB-less)
- You can also purchase a blogging engine - but I'm not too familiar with many options here which are very good.
- Can you recommend other blogging engines one can install?
- Update: There's also ThinkJot : based on DasBlog and ASP.NET 2.0, free and open source.
9 comments:
Hi Dr, Subtext is indeed simple to use and open source (BSD licensed) but it does require a database at this point in time, so it takes a little more to setup than DasBlog, but is way easier to setup than .TEXT was as it is simplified. I have a feature matrix here: http://subtextproject.com/Home/About/Features/tabid/152/Default.aspx It includes multi-blog support (I run three blogs off a single installation, my techie, my personal, and my soccer team). It also still has the photo gallery feature.
Do you know of other good technical blogging sites one can register to? I have a list on my blog. Not all of them are open but some of them are worth a shot: http://www.danielmoth.com/Blog/2006/07/my-blog-subscriptions.html
Daniel: I don't see any blog engines listed there - just your blogroll - ?
Actually, dasBlog does *not* use a database as your description implies. It is entirely file-based, too, using simple XML files to store everything. You could also use DotNetNuke, which is way more than just blogging, but it does include a blogging module. So, if you want to set up a complete portal, in addition to having a blog, that might be a good alternative to something like Community Server, too. My favorite is dasBlog, personally... :-)
I see file based blogs as *harder* to install than SQL-Server based, since almost no hosting provider lets you directly setup permission on directories, and almost no hosting provider uses a special identity for each hosted website so you actually are giving write access for general users, such as NETWORK SERVICE. When I've upgraded to dasBlog 1.9I came across another problem. The config folder did have it's write permissions set for the older version. However, the new version had one more file, and the permission did not bubble to the new file, so I've had to send e-mail to the hosting provider to fix that up. All that isn't necessary with DB based engine. You setup a login once, and that's it. It's often faster, and it's easier to maintain, query (if needed), backup, migrate, etc. after all, the blog data is table-based and hierachical, so it's better suited to be on a DB table than on a xml file.
Hi Roy. There's also Darren Neimke's SingleUserBlog (http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=SUB). It's asp.net 2, xml file based (all in the App_Data folder, so no permissions problems), uses WebParts for customisation and focusses on being a straight forward, no-nonsense blog platform - it's put together from simple asp.net controls. It's also Open Source, hosted on CodePlex. Downsides are that there is not really a good Out-Of-Box experience - you'll currently have to get your hands a bit dirty. It's also not quite as full featured as some of the competition (but still supports posts, categories, RSS, comments, CAPTCHA, trackback and Windows Live Writer support). (Full disclosure: I'm running it and have contributed to the source) Cheers! Matt
I attempted to start a technical blog because I wanted to post some different methods and what not that I came up with. But I had trouble posting code to a blog (colors, indenting, etc...). Does anyone have any pointers for tools for this?
Dr: You could check out http://bloggingabout.net These guys have some interesting .NET blogs over there.
Bob : use CopySourceAsHTML, there are versions for VS2003 and VS2005. This tool ROCKS! Manfred: Yeah! :) Dr : BloggingAbout.NET invites people that have something good to contribute to contact me.
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