For reasons I cannot really get into, I am in the process of deploying a multi-user blogging package. Also included in this project are a bit of custom extension via the web services interfaces. And, for other reasons I shan’t get into at the moment, it cannot be a PHP/MySql package.
We actually ran into this selfsame problem a year back, but management eventually balked at blogging in general. At that time the only option was the venerable .TEXT engine. Which, at heart, is a very solid application but was also showing its age in many ways. Setup was archaic at best. And don’t even contemplate running it on a shared host. In the process of researching options for that project, I stumbled upon SubText. Now, at the time that project was in its infancy and did not have a release published. But now it is rocking and rolling. Hard.
What Is SubText?
SubText is a fork of the .TEXT engine. The major improvements in the current released version (1.5.2 at the time of this writing) include:
- Setup is disturbingly easy. And it could easily be managed on a shared host. By someone with very, very limited knowlege of managing a server.
- Stock templates are much, much cleaner. And much, much prettier. And work in non-IE browsers in general.
- Admin tool feels much, much better. The addition of Fck editor is a good one.
- Configuration and admin do not require command line tools and carnal knowledge of the server.
- MetaBlogAPI has been implemented, allowing it to work with all the neato blogger tools floating about. As well as easy, custom extension without futzing around with the core package.
- It is just a blog. Unlike some other packages you don’t get all manner of rather extraneous features if you just wanted to tell the wold about your expeiences with your belly-button lint on while sticking to the .NET platform.
In addition, SubText is a very active project. It’s Benevolent Dictator is no less than Phil Haack (who also has an instanely awsome SubText-powered blog). He is supported by a crack team of developers. And the team is marching towards the 1.90 release as I write. Furthermore, the dev team is very responsive. I posted a (mistaken) bug report to the SourceForge site and I had an email from Phil within minutes.
How can I get SubText?
Everything you need to get is at the SubText project SourceForge site. For more information about the project, check out the SubText project site.
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Thanks for the info. I was looking for wordpress-type blog for asp.net for the longest time. This has ways to go, but its roadmap looks promising.
August 21st, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Hah, at a first quick glance at the title of the post I read it like I wanted it to read:
“Need to Launch a Blog? Don’t run PHP!”
August 21st, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Why would i need to buy a SQL Server 2000 when I can get MySQL for free?
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:58 am
Lol.
It works fine with Sql 2005 Express Edition as well, which is just as free as MySql is. I promised sitepoint that I would not call MySql a glorified flat file, so I won’t.
Hosting-wise, you can generally find ASP.NET 2.0 hosting w/ a Sql Server DB in the under $10 a month range.
August 22nd, 2006 at 10:26 pm