by Jim
Dec 08, 2005 12:41 PM
Cat pointed out to me that my comment count is not updating on my blog(s). It hadn't occurred to me to think about it, but it was immediately obvious that the blog file itself is static; and if it's not hosted on blogger, then it has no way of knowing a comment was added. Shoot.
So I embarked on a quest to get my own blog software. I'm a .NET developer, and the choices are slim. There are about a zillion free PHP packages out there, but for .NET there's DasBlog and dotText. The former is way more than I want to maintain, and having Brinkster as my server makes the whole operation trickier. dotText hasn't been updated in two years, but if I'm going to install and modify my own, I think I'll use that as a jumping-off point.
I almost went with haloscan for the comments, because I'm perfectly happy with the Blogger interface. But then I realized that my trackback was going to point to haloscan's site always and forever, making an eventual port of the blog impossible.
I don't have the time or inclination to write a blog from scratch, but I think I can do a comment system, and my research has given me some nifty ideas. Stay tuned.