Client side blog software

Posted on July 26, 2002 @ 18:34 in General

The other day I mentioned John Hiler's Blogging Software Roundup. He makes a little typology of blogging software and one of the types he defines is "client apps": software that runs on the clients computer. He mentions there are two packages out there (CityDesk and Tinderbox) both of which cost quite a bit and he laments:

I'm surprised that no one has built a free blog-centric Client App. By that, I mean a standalone client app... not one that piggybacks off of a weblog API. Perhaps in the next 6-9 months we'll see something along those lines.

Ah! But there is a free standalone client app that allows you to blog from your own desktop computer. It's simply called Blog, coded by programmer Fahim Farook.

I actually started out blogging with Blog and just after I had installed version 2 on my computer to test out the program, Fahim came out with version 3. The very first post of this blog (now converted to MovableType by way of Greymatter) and the posts of the next 3 or 4 months were made using Blog, which rapidly went from version 3 to version 5, gaining more and more functionality and a more dependable database structure. Eventually I wanted a server-side blog solution, so I left Blog, but I have fond memories :-)

Update 7 jan 2003: fixed URLs as mentioned in the comments below. Also note that Farook is working on a client for server-based blogs, called BlogMan, which supports the MetaBlog API. Sort of like w.bloggar then.

Comments and Trackbacks

  1. I work on my weblog almost every day. I expect, dear reader, that the same is true for you.

    I work hard. I spend a lot of time. Time is money.

    If weblog software like (say) Tinderbox can help me do a better job, or if it saves my time, it's WELL worth $95 (Tinderbox) or $395 (CityDesk
    MultiUser) or even more.

    Posted by Mark Bernstein on July 28, 2002 @ 03:38

  2. Of course. If you simply want to use a particular program or _need_ certain functionality, why not pay for it? After much searching I finally found the perfect e-mail client and I paid the shareware fee for that too.

    I've only been using MovableType for a couple of months now and I will pay the "donation fee" for that too because I think I will stick with it. I feel it will be well worth my money, especially when Ben and Mena implement the use of custom fields in MovableType.

    Anyway, that was not really the point of this post. The point was that Hiler had a little gap in his typology, a missing species so to say, and I had actually spotted it in the wild. Besides, not everybody is so serious about blogging that they want the absolute best solution for them and are willing to pay for it. It's nice to have a free alternative around (so people can get hooked on blogging!)

    Posted by Frank on July 28, 2002 @ 11:12

  3. It's time to re-visit BLOG 7.0 by Fahim. It's great for a client side BLOG application.
    Also he is adding new software to help manage server-side blogs - It is in first release so give it a look and let him know what you think.
    www.farook.ORG - the new application is called BLOGMAN 1.0 beta.

    Posted by -Duane- on November 26, 2002 @ 20:22

  4. Thanks for telling me about Blog. I've been looking for Software that does just that until I manage to get a DSL-based server up and running.

    Just a point: the developers address has changed to farook.com. Version 7 isn't carried on the Tripod link you carried.

    Thanks for the info!

    Tom xxx

    Posted by Tom Barton on January 02, 2003 @ 15:01

  5. Thanks for all the feedback. I suggest using the .ORG domain though, because the .com gives me server errors. Here's the link:

    http://www.farook.org/

    Posted by Frank on January 07, 2003 @ 10:56

  6. hi

    Posted by Anonymous on January 31, 2003 @ 18:26

  7. There's another clientside blogging tool that nobody much seems to know about. It's called .Planarchy and can be found at http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk. (new version out today)

    I use it for my blogging and generally find that it servers my purpose very well. I don't write enough or well enough to worry that anyone except my regular visitors might see it :)

    Posted by kyte on February 27, 2003 @ 23:22

  8. I have used Fahim Farook's Blog program since September of 2002, and really like it, it's a great little program.

    Posted by Rapunzel on April 04, 2003 @ 00:23

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