This blog site is now updated! This is a rather big change in direction. I decided to go with an open source project instead of trying to maintain my own blog engine/site. So, this site is now running on BlogEngine.Net. There were several features I wanted to include and the internet entrepeneurs are always adding new things to the web. There is so much going on this summer and I have really very little time. Besides, there is a great community around BlogEngine.Net project and I may even be able to contribute to it.
It took me one afternoon to download the code and alter the settings enough to be happy with something to deploy. That suits my main requirement. It has all the ASP.Net providers that I like and I'm pretty comfortable with the ORM model (Object Relational Model). It is written with ASP.NET 2.0 and C#. They need more LINQ in the code. But it is a mature enough architecture that I can use familiar tools to enhance and maintain the site. It looks like there are more than 25 open source projects which enhance BlogEngine.Net.
Now, the next step is to convert some of the Silverlight 2 work I did on my last site into a Silverlight 3 implementation that sits on top of BlogEngine.Net features. As many .NET developers know, Silverlight 3 will be out next week!! After Silverlight 3 goes live and after I spend a little time on it, users with newer computers and who install the new plugin will be able to see a much nicer Silverlight UI theme. Users with older CPUs should be able to see the HTML version of the site. I expect the possibility of reaching a much wider set of platforms with this tool (mobile phones, Mac, Linux, and more types of browsers). SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will just work and all the base features of a blog are covered.
My Silverlight 2 site was fun to build. I always knew it would take some work to get the feature set I now have and to write a down-level experience for computers that couldn't run the Silverlight plugin. With BlogEngine.Net I can now focus on the UX (User Experience) and build on top of it. Oh, and writing blog entries too.
Cheers and Happy 4th of July! 