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Blog

Blog is an automatic web logging program which allows you to update your site easily without the hassles of HTML editing and having to use a separate program to upload your work. You simply set Blog up with the necessary information for logging into your site via FTP, define a template to specify the look for your page and then type in your entries in the main Blog window and click Publish and Blog does the rest! Blog also handles the task of generating archival entries for older posts. It is a really convenient way to keep a site (or multiple sites) updated without going through several programs to do the job.

Blog can be operated in three different modes - a) Standalone - which allows a single person to maintain their own site(s) from their desktop machine b) Server - which allows collaboration between several people or for the same person to post from multiple locations using the third mode of Blog which is ... c) Client. The Client and Server modes might be a bit confusing to set up but do refere to the included Blog.txt file which is present in all distros of Blog to get some hints as to what you need to do.

Features

  • Everything is self-contained - no need for other programs like an HTML editor or an FTP client.
  • Can handle multiple journals so that you can have more than one site or more than one page updated on the same server.
  • Can handle different templates for each journal so if you have multiple pages on the same site, you can have a different look for each page.
  • You can also have the same journal on several sites - especially useful for keeping mirror sites in synch with the main site.
  • You can have multiple journals/pages on the same site - for instance a news page and a product update page.
  • Creates archival entries for older posts on request and you can specify a look of your choice (different from that of general posts) for the archive table of contents.
  • Built in spell checker and thesaurus. You can have live spellchecking as you type.
  • The Client and Server modes let several people share the joy/burden of maintaining a single site by sharing postings - all you need is to have one machine running Blog in Server mode - this machine need not even be always connected to the Net since Blog dials out when necessary to collect posts sent in Client mode.
  • The ability to summarize posts with an automatically generated page which contains the whole post and a link to this page from the main journal.
  • The option to receive posts from a variety of different sources with e-mail capability such as cellular phones, PDA's, web-based e-mail etc. in Server mode.
  • The ability to assign often used custom HTML tags as menu commands and toolbar buttons for easy accessibility.
  • The ability to have built-in comments without the need for any server-side scripting. (The comments work via e-mail and so, Blog needs to be running in Server mode)
  • The ability to send a weekly or monthly digest of entries to subscribed users and built-in basic listserver functionality to handle digest subscription/unsubscription.
  • The ability to assign multiple categories to any entry and be able to display archives by category.

Screenshots


The main window

Site definiton

Template definition

Journal defintion


Archive publication

The License :-)

FAQ/Known Issues

  • How do I convert Blogger templates? You can use this handy conversion guide that Jason has kindly whipped up.
  • I get a DBISAM error in Blog. This usually happens if you make a journal entry but don't save it and instead go change something - like a template for instance. So always save your entry before you do something else (and let me know what sequence of events caused the error and I'll try to fix it <g>).
  • How do I get a PHP comments system set up with Blog? If your server or ISP supports PHP or if you have access to another server with PHP installed, you can simply modify the contents of this archive that I put together of the scripts that I use myself - but read the readme.txt file first :p
  • Where do I get dictionaries besides the US English one included with Blog? Go to the dictionary download page of Addictive Software.
  • I keep on getting the error "DBSIAM: Engine Error # 8708 Record has been changed or deleted by another user, session, or table cursor in table Journal.DAT" even after I quit Blog and restart it. What do I do? This particular problem should be solved after Blog 5.0 Beta 2 but was caused by starting a new entry, not saving it and trying to delete it. Go to the ElevateSoft website and download their DBISAM System Utilities for DBISAM 2.12 if your Blog version is before Blog 5.0 Beta (otherwise get their latest DBISAM System Utilities - it's a free download and should be towards the very bottom of their download page ...). Install it and run the Database System Utility, select Utilities-Repair from the menu and point to the Journal.DAT file in your Blog directory (you should of course, back up your data before you do this). Once the repair is done, your Blog installation should be back to normal.
  • When I try to publish my blog, I get an FTP error regarding a SYST command failure. What should I do? This problem seems to be caused by having an FTP proxy installed (maybe if you are at work?) Other than disabling the FTP proxy or talking to your systems administrator to find a way around it, I can't recommend anything. Sorry :-(
  • I am confused about how to setup Blog. Can you give me step-by-step instructions? This information is slightly out of date since it was originally for Blog 4.0 but most of the instructions are still valid. So take a look at this AT&T WorldNet users page which gives you instructions on how to set up Blog.
  • Is there a web ring for Blog users? Yes, SilverLining has set one up. The join-the-ring link is:
    http://home.earthlink.net/~sigmar01/blogusers/
  • How do I send new entries to Blog in Server mode from a normal email client like Outlook, rather than using Blog in Client mode? Simply send an e-mail to the address that Blog Server checks with the subject line formatted thus:
    [Blog]<$BlogName={name}>{title}
    In the above, [Blog] should be changed to whatever you use as the subject header if you change the default value and {name} should be the name of the journal, exactly as it appears in Blog Server. {title} is optional and is simply any title you may want to assign to your entry.
  • Can I use my own "Powered by Blog" button rather than the ones you've provided? Sure, go ahead! As long as you acknowledge the fact that your site uses Blog and link back to my site, I don't mind what you use :-)
  • Is there a location from which I can get new templates for Blog? Yes, try the Blog Skins site which has templates compatible with Blogger.com and Moveable Type. It shouldn't take too long for you to convert them to be used with Blog. Refer to Jason's conversion guide (referred to in the very first FAQ point) if you are stuck.
  • I just upgraded Blog to a newer version and got an Access Violation error but everything seems to work fine. Should I reinstall? Just quit and restart Blog. If the Access Violation is gone, then it was probably some toolbar related error due to changes in the toolbar. If not, quit Blog, delete the Blog.cfg file in the Blog directory and see if that works. If even that doesn't work, then quit Blog, delete the Blog.cfg file, restart Blog and then right-click on the edit toolbar (not the main toolbar) on the Blog main screen, select customize and drag any button from the selection on to the edit toolbar. Close the customize menu and then close and restart Blog. If it works, you can simply go back to customizing the toolbars and drag the button you created off the Blog window to remove it. If none of the above works, let me know but do not do a full install at any cost since that will delete all your existing entries.
  • Why won't my comments/digest feature work? Blog needs to be running in Server mode for both comments and digest to work. Please ensure that you change the Blog mode to Server and fill in the POP and SMTP server information and the To: email address field if you want comments and digests to work properly.
  • I just installed and configured Blog but when I publish my entry, I have the message "Cee is not installed! Fortune Cookies not available!" on my page. What am I doing wrong? This is not something you've done wrong but rather it's due to the fact that I used all the Blog tags in the default template that comes with Blog and so also used the <$BlogCookie> tag which needs another of my programs, Cee, to be installed in the same directory as Blog. If you don't want to install Cee, then simply remove the <$BlogCookie> tag from the default template and republish and you will not get the error message.

User Testimonials

  • I love this concept of having a quick program that I can make quick changes or additions to a web page in a text area and then upload it to my server and be done with it. Awesome. I already have two friends in mind that could benefit from such a great program. (Raven - 11 Apr 2001)
  • You may or may not remember me, but I emailed you a couple months back (Novemberish) about the BLOG program. I ranted about being unable to allow other users to upload to the same blog! But now I see you've implemented it and this proggy is AWESOME! The best blog program by far!! (Phillip Chiu - 5 Aug 2002)
  • I love this program, I downloaded it yesterday after many failed attempts with GreyMatter. This is so easy to configure, anyone could do it. You make the online diary experience so great. Geeze I am just soooo happy. (CamBratJenny - 20 Aug 2002)
  • I was looking to start a journal, but I didn't want to rely on a web-based solution and I didn't want to get into CGI until I was sure I was going to persist with it, so Blog was perfect for me. (Stephen Horgan - 7 Sep 2002)
  • You can chalk me up on the list of satisfied users just two days after I dowloadad Blog. (kraz - 9 Sep 2002)

Linking and Acknowledgements

If you use Blog, please be kind enough to use one of the following great looking buttons created by sinesolis on your page and link back to this site. I have provided the HTML code that you can use as well so that it would be a simple copy-and-paste operation :-) (Of course, you'll have to save the appropriate button and upload it to your site - but you knew that, right?)

<a href="http://www.
farook.org"><img src=
"Blogbutton.gif"></a>
<a href="http://www.
farook.org"><img src=
"Blogbutton2.gif"></a>
<a href="http://www.
farook.org"><img src=
"Blogbutton3.gif"></a>

This is a list of sites that use Blog (this list is outdated - I have not updated it in ages):

 
       
Copyright © 2001-2008 Fahim Farook