Blog Software Breakdown
Even before the whole Movable Type fallout, I had been trying to decide which of the many weblog CMS packages would be best for my needs. (Choice made!) I got tired of flipping back and forth between each of the sites, especially when not all of the answers to my questions were apparent from simply reading the main web page.
This chart displays attributes of different user-installed blog software packages side-by-side for comparison. Only server-installed scripts will be included in this list. (Sorry, no Radio, Blogger, etc.) I created this chart to help figure out what blog tool best suited my needs. Hopefully, it will be useful to the self-hosted blogging community as well.
If you have more complete information about any of these packages, please email that information along with the URL to your blog to "blogware[at]midnightcircus[dot]com". I will integrate your info and add your site to the example site lists at the bottom of the chart.
I have created an Excell spreadsheet to make this easier. You can download it here. Just forward the file to the specified address when you've added your info!
If you have any suggestions for criteria to include in the chart, please include that, too. If your favorite software is not listed here, please mention it and I will attempt to add it. If you are part of a development group for any of the mentioned software, feel free to submit updates regarding upgrades. If I have made a mistake somewhere, please email me with a correction and I will do my best to apply it.
Be sure to stop back as the chart becomes more complete.
Unverified features
I have received a few new submissions since a link to this page appeared on Slashdot. For the sake of getting them online quickly in the interest of these visitors, I added these directly and have not verified the features by hand. I trust that the interested folks who have supplied the data have given me good info, but you should use your own judgement, so I'll list these here until I verify them myself:
- Nucleus
- SPIP
- Blojsom
- BLOG:CMS
If you notice discrepencies between the actual features of any tool listed here and what I have in the chart, feel free to email a correction.
Blog Software Chart
In alphabetical order. Entries with † symbol indicate non-default functionality provided by plugins.
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MovableType | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | SPIP | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current Version | 0.9.0.8 Oslo | 0.7.2 | 3.0 final | 2.15 | 2 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | Current Version | 1.14 | 2.3 | 0.6.5-CVS | 1.7.2 | 0.95 | Gamma 1.18a | 1.2 Mingus |
Home URL | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | Home URL | here | here | here | here | here | here | here |
Trial URL | here | OSCMS | here | here | OSCMS | Trial URL | here | OSCMS | OSCMS | OSCMS | OSCMS | |||||
License | GPL | GPL | GPL | BSD | MIT | Personal/Commercial | Non-Commercial | GPL | License | GPL | Personal/Commercial | BSD | GPL | BSD | BSD | GPL |
Cost (US$) | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | $149/$199 | Free | Free | Cost (US$) | Free | $45/$125 | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
Minimum Server
Requirements |
PHP 4.1
MySQL 3.23 |
PHP 4.1
MySQL |
Java 1.4
Servlet 2.3/JSP 1.2-compliant app server (e.g. Tomcat) |
Perl 4 or 5 | PHP 4.1
PHP XML MySQL 3.23.32 |
Perl 5.004_04
|
PHP 4.1
MySQL 3.23.38 |
Minimum Server
Requirements |
PHP 4.0.6 | PHP 4.06
MySQL 3.23 |
PHP 3
MySQL 3.23 |
Windows 2000 Server
.NET Framework SQL Server |
PHP
MySQL |
|||
Localization | cs-CZ de-DE en-EU en-UK en-US en-CA en-AU es-ES fr-FR fr-CA it-IT ja-JP lt-LT nb-NO nl-NL nl-BE pt-BR sv-SE zh-CN zh-TW | en | cs, de, en, es, fr, zh, ru, ja, ko, nl, it, lv, sk, fi, gl, fa, ta, tl, pt, pt-br | en-US | en | en, ca, zh, nl, fi, fr, de, hu, it, ja, pt, es | en, ca, zh, da, nl, et, fr, de, el, he, hi, hu, is, id, it, ja, ko, la, ms, no, fa, pt, ru, sv, ur, cy | en, es, de, fr, zh, ru, ja, ko, nl, it, cs, lv, sk, fi, gl, fa, ta, tl, pt, pt-br | Localization | chi/ace, cz/cs, de, ee, en, fr, fry, it,kor, lv, nl, ru, se, sk, spa | en, zh, cs, da, nl, fi, fr, de, id, hu, ja, ko, no, it, fa, pt, ru, sk, sl, sp | en,de,fr,cz,da,spa | en, fr, ar, bg, ca, cpf, da, de, eo, es, fa, gl, it, nl, oc, pl, pt, vi, zh | en, de | ar, en-GB, en-CA, es-ES, fr, ja, de-DE, nl-NL, sv-SE, it-IT, hi | |
Multilingual | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | No | Multilingual | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||
Data Storage | Database | Database | Database | Flat Files | Data File | Database | Flat Files | Database | Data Storage | Flat Files | Database | Database | Database | Database | Database | Database |
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MT | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | SPIP | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | ||
Max. Weblogs | Unlimited | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Max. Weblogs | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 |
Multiple Sites | No | No | No | Up to 3 | No | Multiple Sites | No | Yes† | Yes | No | ||||||
Post Ordering | ascending
descending alphabetical category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
descending
ascending† alphabetical category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
Post Ordering | descending
category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
ascending
descending category |
ascending
descending alphabetical category |
|||||
Categories | Multiple | Multiple | Single
(Multiple†) |
Single | Single
(Multiple†) |
Multiple | Multiple | Single | Categories | Multiple | Single | Multiple | Multipl | Multiple | Multiple | |
Subcategories | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Subcategories | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Keywords | No | No | Yes | Yes† | Yes† | No | Yes | Yes | Keywords | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
Default Post Fields | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Default Post Fields | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3* | ||
Max Post Fields | 3 | 2 | Unlimited | 9 | Unlimited | 4 | Unlimited† | Max Post Fields | 4 | 7 | Unlimited† | Unlimited | 6 | Unlimited | ||
Post Editor | Plugin Based | Plugin Based | Textarea
HTML |
Plugin Based | Plugin Based | Textile | Textarea | Textarea
HTML Plugin based |
Post Editor | Textarea
HTML Textile |
Textarea |
Textarea
|
HTML | Textile | Plugin Based | |
Draft Mode | Yes+ | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes+ | Yes+ | Yes | Yes | Draft Mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes+ | Yes+ | Yes | |
Post API Support | Blogger
b2 |
MetaWeblog | Blogger
MetaWeblog MovableType BLOG:CMS |
Blogger
MetaWeblog Atom |
No | Atom
Blogger MetaWeblog MovableType |
Blogger
MetaWeblog MovableType Nucleus |
Post API Support | No | Blogger | Blogger | No | Blogger
MetaWeblog MovableType |
|||
Post Moderation | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Post Moderation | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Post Pings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes | Post Pings | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
Bookmarklets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bookmarklets | Yes | Yes | No | Yes† | No | Yes | ||
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MT | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | SPIP | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | ||
RSS Output | 0.92, 2.0, RDF | 2.0 | 0.91, 2.0 RDF | 0.92, 2.0, RDF | 0.92 | Yes | 2.0, RDF | 0.92, 2.0, RDF | RSS Output | 2.0 | Yes | 0.92, 1.0, 2.0 | 0.91, 1.0, 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.92 | 0.92, 2.0, RDF |
Atom Output | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Yes | 0.3 | 0.3 | Atom Output | 0.3 | Yes | 0.3 | No | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Comments | Yes | Threaded | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes | Comments | Yes | Yes | Threaded | Threaded | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Comment Spam | login
filtering blacklist |
moderate
delay duplicate shutoff |
moderate
filtering members ipban userban |
ipban
duplicate disable shutoff |
?† | login
filtering captcha duplicate ipban userban |
login
moderate ipban delay |
login
ipban moderate† delay shutoff† blacklist |
Comment Spam | duplicate
ipban blacklist |
login
|
redirection
plugin |
moderate | none | delay |
massedit
|
Comment RSS | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Comment RSS | No |
|
Yes | Yes† | No | No | Yes | |
Template Storage | PHP File | Flat File | Database | Flat File | Flat File | Database | Flat File/
Database |
Database | Template Storage | Data File | Database | PHP File | Flat File | Database | PHP File | |
Template Tagging | PHP functions | Smarty | Proprietary | Underlying engine | Proprietary | PHP functions | Proprietary | Proprietary | Template Tagging | Proprietary | PHP functions | PHP Functions | Proprietary | Proprietary | PHP functions | |
Edit Templates Online | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Edit Templates Online | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
Template Expert | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Template Expert | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
Edit Templates Offline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Edit Templates Offline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Template Conditionals | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes | Template Conditionals | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MT | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | SPIP | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | ||
Open Registration | Toggle | No | Toggle | Toggle | Toggle | No | Toggle | Open Registration | No | Toggle | No | Toggle | No | Toggle | ||
User Security | permission groups | single user | user/group permissions | user permissions | permission groups | user permissions | permission groups | User Security | permission groups | numeric levels | permission groups | user permissions | permission groups | numeric levels | ||
Trackback | Yes | Threaded | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Trackback | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | No | Yes | |
Pingback | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes† | No | No | Yes† | Pingback | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
RSS Aggregator | No | feed | aggregator | No | feed† | No | feed | RSS Aggregator | feed | feed | Yes† | aggregator? | No | Yes† | ||
Forum | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Forum | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | |
File Editor | Yes | No | No | No | Yes† | No | No | No | File Editor | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ||
CSS Editor | Simple | No | No | Simple | No | Simple | Simple | No | CSS Editor | Simple | Simple | No | Simple | Fancy | Simple | |
Plugins/ Extensions | Drop-in | Push-button | Push-button | Config | Drop-In | Push-button | Drop-in | Push-button | Plugins/ Extensions | Hack | Drop-in | Push-button | Config | Push-button | Push-button | |
Plugin Directory | here | here | here | here | here | Plugin Directory | here | here | here | |||||||
Visitor Logs | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes† | Visitor Logs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | |||
Referrer Logs | Yes* | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes† | Referrer Logs | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | |
Imports From | b2
Movable Type Manywhere Miniblog Geeklog |
none | Movable Type
b2 Blogger Nucleus |
Movable Type
Roller |
pMachine
Movable Type TypePad Greymatter* Livejournal* |
Greymatter
NewsPro Blogger |
Blogger
Greymatter LiveJournal pMachine b2 Movable Type |
Imports From | Movable Type
Blogger Greymatter Nucleus |
Movable Type
Greymatter Livejournal* |
RSS Feeds | None | Blogger*
Movable Type* |
b2
Movable Type Greymatter Blogger Textpattern LiveJournal RSS |
||
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MT | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | SPIP | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | ||
User Profiles | Custom | No | Custom | Simple | No | Custom | Simple | Simple
Custom† |
User Profiles | Custom | Simple | Simple | Simple | No | Simple | |
SEF URLs | path_info | path_info | mod_rewrite
filesmatch |
URLRewrite
mod_rewrite |
mod_rewrite
path_info |
filenames | mod_rewrite
filesmatch |
SEF URLs | mod_rewrite
filesmatch |
mod_rewrite
path_info |
mod_rewrite | mod_rewrite | mod_rewrite
path_info |
|||
Thumbnails | No | No | Yes | No | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Thumbnails | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Category Images | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | No | Yes | Category Images | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Skin Switch | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes† | No | No | Yes† | Skin Switch | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | |
Cross-Post | Yes | No | No | No | Yes† | No | No | No | Cross-Post | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
Linkroll | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | No | Yes† | Linkroll | Yes | Yes | Yes† | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Password Posts | Yes | No | No | Yes† | No |
No |
Password Posts | No | No | No | Yes | |||||
Blog By Email | No | No | Yes† | Yes† | No | Yes† | Blog By Email | No | Yes† | No | Yes | |||||
b2Evolution | bBlog | BLOG:CMS | Blojsom | Blosxom | Expression Engine | MT | Nucleus | Pivot | pMachine Pro | Serendipity | .Text | TextPattern | WordPress | |||
User Community | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | User Community | here | here | here | here | here | here
here here |
|
Documentation | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | here | Documentation | here | here | here | here | here | ||
Sample Sites | Samples linked here | Samples lnked here | Samples linked here
and here |
http://www.gamewhore.org/ (v2.661)
http://www.icyshard.com (v2.661) |
Samples linked here | Sample Sites | Samples linked here
Webring of Pivot sites |
Samples linked here | Samples linked here | Samples linked here
Photomatt |
Criteria Descriptions
The criteria in the above chart are described here.
Current Version
This indicates the current version number of the software in production as of June 13, 2004.
Home URL
This is the URL of the home page for the CMS software.
Trial URL
This is a URL at which the software is installed for demonstration/trial purposes. Thanks to OpenSourceCMS (OSCMS) for hosting the many open source weblogs that are available.
License
This indicates the license requirements for the installation of the software. This is a general overview - please see the software sites for actual licensing requirements.
- GPL
- GNU Public License
- Personal
- The software is available for personal use on one site. Usually requires a button/link to the software site and cannot be used to generate income.
- Commercial
- The software is available to commercial use on one site. Restrictions of the personal version are usually not applicable to the commercial version, but there is also usually a higher price.
Concerning the Movable Type 3.0 license
The free version of the software includes 3 "weblogs" in the license. However, the definition of a "weblog" in MT terms is relevant to the discussion of how it applies to my chart. This quotation (from here) explains MT's position on "weblog" in their license:
In our licenses, we now address this with this language: "Weblog" means a single Web site viewable at a single URL (Uniform Resource Locator), consisting of one or more weblogs as generated by the Software via the "Create New Weblog" function of the Software.
I think there is a lot of confusion around this issue, which is what has MT users in an uproar. Much of this seems to stem fromwhat a "weblog" is, whether it is a section of a site or an entire site itself. I think this terminology is clarified (not entirely, but well enough) in the quotation above.
I should also note here that the commercial license terms are really not that different from those applied to MT version 2.661. If you are using the free version of MT 2.661 for commercial gain, you may be violating the license terms.
Cost (US$)
This is the cost of the system in United States Dollars.
Different prices may be listed depending on the licensing available. Some packages cost different amounts based on the number of output streams and/or users that can post.
Minimum Server Requirements
This indicates the minimum requirements of the server on which the software is to be installed. This usually is not indicated in the power/speed of the server, but in the installed software on which the blog software is dependent. This software may have additional license requirements and costs that are not indicated here.
Localization
This indicates the languages supported by the administration interface of the system. It does not indicate an ability to translate your content into another language. This does not necessarily include localized template samples in all of the specified languages. See this reference for two-letter codes.
Multilingual
This indicates whether the system's administrative interface is localized based on individual user settings.
Data Storage
This indicates the primary source of drawn data for the transmission of site pages. This information is useful for determining the processing speed of the site and the method required for backup of post data.
- Flat File
- When the site is served to requesting browsers, the full page is pulled from a flat file and is not built on-the-fly by the blog software.
- Data File
- When the site is served to requesting browsers, the data for the page is pulled from a flat file and inserted into a template for delivery.
- Database
- When the site is served to requesting browsers, the data for the page is pulled from a database and inserted into a template for delivery.
Max. Weblogs
This number indicates the maximum number of weblogs (channel of postings) that the system can manage through a single installed administrative interface. This number is not the number of sites for which the single administrative interface will manage content (see: Multiple Sites).
Mutiple Sites
This indicates whether the system can manage weblogs across multiple sites. To qualify, all user information and data input must be managed from a single point of entry, although user permission may allow a specific user access to only one of the available sites.
Post Ordering
This indicates the available methods for ordering the display of posts on the site.
- descending
- Posts can be ordered in descending chronological order, with the newest at the top. This is the default setting for many weblogs.
- ascending
- Posts can be ordered in ascending chronological order, with the oldest at the top.
- alphabetical
- Posts can be ordered alphabetically by post topic.
- category
- Posts can be ordered by the category in which they appear.
Categories
This indicates whether the system allows posts to be classified by categories.
- No
- There is no category mechanism.
- Single
- A post can be assigned to only one category.
- Multiple
- A post can be assigned to any number of categories.
Subcategories
This indicates whether a system allows subcategories to be created in a hierarchy.
Keywords
This indicates whether the system allows keywords (these do not count as entry fields, below) to be associated by a post author to each post, and also allows the system to return posts that are related by these keywords via a keyword search.
Default Post Fields
This number represents the number of entry fields available per post in a default installation. This includes such basics as the Title field, an Excerpt, and the post Body. This includes fields that are available in an advanced posting mode, but not those that must be added via an administrative interface.
WordPress has entry fields for GPS information in addition to the basic text entry.
Max Post Fields
This number indicates the maximum number of entry fields that may become available per post after modifying the post fields via an administrative interface.
Post Editor
This indicates the type of editor used to edit the primary post field. Some more sophisticated methods of entry may be available by means of a plugin or API.
- Textarea
- The system accepts post data directly from a plain HTML <textarea> tag with little or no modification. The data can include HTML markup, and there may be scripted controls that automatically insert these markup tags, but the system does not process the tags.
- Texturize
- The system accepts post data from a <textarea> and processes it through Texurize.
- Textile
- The system accepts post data from a <textarea> and processes it through Textile. There may be scripted controls that automatically apply Textile markup.
- HTML
- The system uses a browser-integrated WYSIWYG solution to allow users to enter post data.
- Java
- The system uses a WYSIWYG Java applet to allow users to enter post data.
- Plugin Based
- b2Evolution lets you choose your editor using plugins (included: Textile, Auto-P, Greymatter, BB Code, Texturize, graphic smilies)
bBlog lets you choose your editor using plugins (included: Textile, bbcode, plain)
Serendipity let you choose your editor using plugins (included: Textile, wiki, BB Code)
Draft Mode
This indicates whether the system supports submitting unpublished drafts of posts.
Yes+ indicates that there are additional post statuses beyond published and draft.
Post API Support
This indicates which blogging APIs the system supports.
Some systems, such as Pivot and Expression Engine, are waiting for completion of the Atom API before implementing that for a post API.
Post Moderation
This indicates whether it is possible to require editor- or administrative-level approval of a post before it is published to the site.
Post Pings
This indicates whether the system will "ping" any number of pre-designated URLs using XMLRPC to indicate that a new post has been published to the site.
Bookmarklets
This indicates if posting features are available from a browser bookmarklet.
RSS Output
This indicates what versions of RSS the system will produce for syndication, if any.
Atom Output
This indicates whether the system will produce Atom output for syndication.
Comments
This indicates whether the system supports per-post comments. bBlog supports Threaded comments in which replies that are made to existing comments are displayed so that this is evident, rather than a typical "flat" stream of replies.
Comment Spam
This indicates the methods available to prevent comment spam. These options are not necessarily requirements and might need to be configured or activated in the system by the administrator.
- login
- Users must login to leave comments.
- filtering
- Comments are searched for spam suspect words and eliminated if found to match.
- captcha
- Users leaving comments must replicate the text that appears in a generated image.
- duplicate
- The system does not allow duplicate comments.
- ipban
- The system can ban commenters by IP. Pivot IP bans are checked against both the user's IP and their referrer.
- userban
- The system can ban comments by username.
- moderate
- The system can require that comments are reviewed by editors/administrators before publication.
- blacklist
- The system uses a list of URLs or IPs that indicate spam comments. Pivot blacklists are checked against both the user and the referrer. b2Evolution blacklists are centralized on a remote server and are contributed by the b2Evolution community.
- delay
- The system requires that a reasonable amount of time passes between adding comments.
- shutoff
- The system will turn off commenting for a post automatically after a preset amount of time. This is different from manually disabling comments.
- redirection
- The system will replace commenting users URLs with local URLs that redirect to the specified site. This prevents the link from garnering PageRanking. (See this.)
- linkcount
- The system will reject or hold for moderation all comments containing a minimum number of links.
- massedit
- The system will allow the deletion of a batch of comments simultaneously.
Comment RSS
This indicates whether the system offers comments for a post as an RSS feed.
Template Storage
This indicates how the templates for a page are stored and retrieved.
Descriptions of the possible values:
- Flat File
- The templates are stored in a flat file. The system reads the flat file and inserts post data into the template for display.
- PHP File
- The templates are stored as PHP files and are executed. The code built into the template files inserts post data for display.
- Database
- The templates are stored in a database. The system reads the database entry and inserts post data into the template for display.
Template Tagging
This indicates what means the system uses to recognize the insertion points for post data or other functions of the system.
- PHP functions
- The template contains actual PHP functions that execute to insert post data at that point.
- Proprietary
- The template contains proprietary HTML tags that are replaced by the system with post data.
- Smarty
- The template uses the Smarty library to insert post data.
- Underlying Engine
- The template uses the underlying sever-side scripting engine to insert content. This varies based on the engine on which the system is installed.
Edit Templates Online
This indicates whether the system allows editing of templates via an online interface.
Template Expert
This indicates whether the system provides some development environment for editing templates beyond a blank <textarea>. This might include (at least) a button that inserts code into the editor at the cursor to display a designated post field.
Edit Templates Offline
This indicates whether the system allows offline editing and downloading/uploading of templates, such as via FTP.
Template Conditionals
This indicates whether the system can alter the presentation of a template based on a conidition, such as the category or author of a post.
Open Registration
This indicates whether users can create their own logins for posting on the site via the system.
- No
- Users cannot register their own logins.
- Toggle
- The option is available or not based on an administrative setting.
- Yes
- This option is always on, or must be disabled by hacking or removing sections of the system code.
User Security
This indicates the method used to differentiate the permissions of different users.
- numeric levels
- Users are assigned a level by number. Users at one end of the range have all permissions, users at the other have few or none, the range between allows different permissions. Individual permissions are generally not assigned directly to users.
- permission groups
- Users are assigned to a group and inherit their permissions from that group. There can be any number of groups with different permissions as defined by an administrator.
- single user
- There is only one user account that can log in to the software control panel.
- user permissions
- Users are assigned all permissions individually.
Trackback
This indicates the ability of the system to initiate a trackback ping to another weblog when a new post is added. bBlog supports Threaded Trackbacks in which pings that are made to existing Trackbacks are displayed so that this is evident, rather than a typical "flat" stream of replies.
Pingback
This indicates the ability of the system to initiate a pingback to a site when a new post is added.
RSS Aggregator
This indicates the extent to which the system can consume RSS from other sites.
- no
- The system cannot consume RSS feeds.
- aggregator
- The system includes a full-featured RSS aggregator that can display feeds from other sites. The aggregator may provide its own interface, separate from the templating of the weblog proper.
- feed
- The system can read the RSS data from a site and integrate that information in some way with the standard posting methods available in the system.
Forum
This indicates whether the system includes an integrated bulletin board-style forum, or the blogging software can be configured to behave as such. To be used as a forum, the blog software must allow users to create new entries with an attached user profile and must also still be able to operate a separate weblog area with private content.
File Editor
This indicates whether the system includes an online editor for files that reside on the web site.
CSS Editor
This indicates whether the system includes an online editor for Cascading Style Sheets.
- No
- This system does not include an editor for CSS of any kind.
- Simple
- The system allows editing of CSS via direct editing of site files.
- Fancy
- The system parses CSS and displays its properties in a special interface.
Plugins/Extensions
This indiates the method most acceptable by the developers by which additional functionality can be added to the base system.
- Drop-in
- To activate this plugin, the administrator installs the plugin files to a specific directory. The system automatically integrates these files with no configuration changes. To remove the plugin, it must be removed from the filesystem.
- Push-button
- To activate this plugin, the administrator installs the plugin files to the system, then activates the plugin from an administration console. The plugin can also be deactivated through the console without requiring removal of its files.
- Config
- To activate this plugin, the administrator installs the plug files to the system, then alters a configuration file to inform the system that the plugin is available. The plugin is deactivated by removing the changes form this config file.
- Hack
- To activate this plugin, the administrator must replace or patch an existing system file. To remove the plugin, the original file must be restored.
Plugin Directory
This URL indicates a directory at which plugins or extensions can be obtained for the system.
Visitor Logs
This indicates whether a system can display a log of the recent visitors to the site, including such information as pages visited, user agent, IP address, IP nationality, etc.
Referrer Logs
This indicates whether a system can display a log of the sites that referred visitors to the system site.
B2Evolution includes a collaborative spam feature that helps eliminates spam from the referrer logs.
Imports From
This indicates from what other systems this system can import post data. This does not imply that all data (posts and comments) is transfered, but that some bridge exists to ease the transition from one system to the other. This import feature includes the native functionality any freely available extension (marked with *).
Importing from "RSS Feeds" indicates that the system can import from an existing RSS feed, rather than importing the data natively. This allows importing from any system that suports RSS output, but may not import things such as user accounts, comments, and other unpublished data.
User Profiles
This indicates the detail allowed in user profiles for the system.
- No
- The system does not support user profiles.
- Simple
- The system includes some amount of pre-defined user profile information that can be edited by the user.
- Custom
- The system provides a feature that can customize the fields available for users to edit in their user profiles.
SEF URLs
This indicates the method by which, if used, a system produces Search Engine Friendly URLs. Rather than http://example.com/index.php?id=4
, a URL might appear like http://example.com/archives/my-first-entry
.
- No
- The system does not support the creation of SEF URLs.
- mod_rewrite
- The system uses the Apache extension mod_rewrite to create SEF URLs and provides some means by which the settings for mod_rewrite can be automatically determined. This method does not work natively under Windows IIS.
- path_info
- The system uses the path_info environment variable to parse the use of SEF URLs.
- filesmatch
- The system uses the Apache <filesmatch> directive to match regular expressions in URLs, similar to mod_rewrite. This method does not work under Windows IIS.
- filenames
- The system writes flat files with names that are search engine friendly by default.
Thumbnails
This indicates whether the system can automatically create thumbnail images from images that are uploaded to the site.
Category Images
This indicates whether the system supports the specification of a distinct image for each category.
Skin Switch
This indicates whether the system incorporates a method by which users can change between styles of display of the site. This may be by CSS or by template selection.
Cross-post
This indicates whether the system allows a user to apply a single post to more than one weblog simultaneously.
Linkroll
This indicates whether the system can maintain a list of links to external sites.
Password Posts
This indicates whether the system allows users to password-protect individual posts so that only those visitors that know the correct password may read them.
Blog By Email
This indicates whether the users can add new posts to the system by sending email.
User Community
This URL references a community site that discuses issues surrounding the blog software. It is important that these sites are active and responsive to indicate whether support will be available for the selected CMS.
Documentation
This URL references the online documentation for the system.
Sample Sites
This is a list of sites that use the specified engine to display content. They reveal what is actually capable of the system in use.
http://www.asymptomatic.net/blogbreakdown.htm
Feel free to link to this chart from wherever you like, but do not copy it - there are quite a few hours of my own hard work behind this effort. If you would like to republish the chart, please email me at the contact address given. I will eventually move this chart