15 Feb 2008

Obscure blog software you might not be aware of

Filed under: Software and Technology by Hari
Posted at 21:16:32 IST (last updated: 7 May 2009 @ 21:13:34 IST)
In this series < Previous Next >
I thought it would be fun to compile a list of blogging tools that not many people might be aware of. Mind you, most of them are for the hardcore geek-types and all of them are not your run-of-the-mill PHP/MySQL driven CMS type blogging solutions. Most of them publish static, fully self-contained websites, but in a blog format. I think a few of them are also dead projects, not having been updated in years.

But it is interesting to check out. Here are a few I found out (mainly using Debian's package manager).

Blosxom - This is described as a lightweight, yet feature rich blogging tool. Mind you, it's written in Perl, so I guess not many present day bloggers would be comfortable dabbling with CGI scripts and such.

hobix - This one is odd. That's all I can say about that. Check out the website and prepare to be stunned. :))

chronicle - This one is described as a tool that will convert a directory of text files into a blog with an RSS feed. Appropriately called a blog compiler.

nanoblogger - This is a blog tool that you use entirely from the UNIX command line. It relies on no database, no GUI, nothing except a few simple UNIX command line tools to generate a complete blog-like static website. It does support plugins which sounds interesting.

tDiary - This one seems to be another online diary generator powered by Ruby. The original site is in Japanese, so I'm linking to the Debian package page.

I've not tried or tested any of these tools, except nanoblogger (very perfunctorily). But I always enjoy discovering such hobbyist software projects that never make it to the mainstream.

In this series

12 comment(s)

Leave a comment »
  1. Wow, there are some strange and exotic finds here. I'd be a little scared to try any of them, to be honest :)

    Comment by Troy (visitor) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 03:39:01 IST #
  2. Troy, most of them are just harmless HTML generators if you think about it. So you could try them out if you have the time and inclination.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 06:50:34 IST #
  3. Perhaps scared is the wrong word to use, although I still wouldn't trust my blog to something that isn't likely to ever be updated.

    Comment by Troy (visitor) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 07:32:06 IST #
  4. Troy, that's true, although since blog tools like nanoblogger generate static HTML, you are guaranteed that the site will work independent of the blog software used in this case.

    Also you cannot get better security against hackers than 100% pure HTML with no scripts involved. :>>

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 07:46:21 IST #
  5. You've given me an idea for an April fools post... hint txt file as blogging engine. It's fully customizable :)

    Comment by Troy (visitor) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 08:20:17 IST #
  6. Man, don't reveal them here. ;)

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 08:25:21 IST #
  7. Hehehe...

    I'd rather use Notepad+ to make my static blog. Of course, no commenting, pinging, or RSS feeds would be allowed.

    Comment by RT Cunningham (visitor) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 12:57:43 IST #
  8. RT, actually some of these static blogs do support RSS feeds. Of course you can always implement commenting using HaloScan or some other comment service :)

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 13:04:33 IST #
  9. that hobix site is indeed a sight/site to see!

    Obscure is definitely the word to use here!

    Comment by titanium (visitor) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 18:23:04 IST #
  10. Titanium geek, will you use to ta pawaar your blaaagh?

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 16 Feb 2008 @ 18:28:02 IST #
  11. How on earth do you discover these?

    And thanks for the tip about hobix: I was warned! :D

    Comment by Sudipta Chatterjee (visitor) on 17 Feb 2008 @ 06:12:34 IST #
  12. Sudipta, I discovered them using Debian's package manager. Yes, I was bored. :>>

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on 17 Feb 2008 @ 06:52:41 IST #

Leave a comment

First-time comments on this blog are moderated.
Your name*
Email ID*
(wont' be published)
Website
Your comments*
(No HTML allowed)		 :-) :-D :biggrin: :-P ;-) 8-) :-( :mad: |-| :oops: :-/ :-| :roll:
bold italic quote code
Code* captcha Enter the code you see in the image
* required fields