Apr 27 2009
Free Blogware
Personal web logging is the Internet’s newest craze. To do it right you’ll want the best tools. Check out my picks for Mac blogging…
The Service
In order to blog, you’ll need to sign up for the service with one of several providers (unless you are on a server that supports scripting, then you can run your own). Blogger, arguably the best of the bunch, actually creates your blog and FTP’s it to your site. As an option, you can host your blog for free with them, but for an off-site blog I might look into Blog-City or tBLOG. They are both free, but won’t likely work with the software below.
The Software
While not required, client-side software can make posting content to your blog site quicker and easier. My favorite posting tool is BlogScript. This is a simple AppleScript that remembers your login information and quickly posts the contents of your clipboard to your blog.
For more features you may want to try BlogWorkz or iBlog. Both are more robust applications that allow easy posting to your blog, but I found them less consistent than the simple script.
Direct RSS
Blogging not your thing? How about creating your own RSS news feed? RSS feeds can be subscribed to by a slew of news readers. Direct RSS allows you to create and maintain your own RSS feed. It even takes care of the uploading (though that part didn’t work so well for me) and saves a local version of your .rss file to your hard drive.
Now that you’re all hooked up with the tools, you can express yourself with easy on the web. Now all you need is something to say. But I’ll leave that up to you.
Brian