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What is dasBlog Hosting?

Open-source blog development application dasBlog is designed for use with the Microsoft ASP.net (successor to Active Server Pages) framework. The platform requires no database, and offers a strong set of blog creation and management tools with a focus on accessibility.

As a kind of content management system (CMS), this blogging application supports the creation, editing, and publishing of blog posts, and moderation of the comments they receive from readers. Other functions can include image management and comment moderation. While a number of blog- focused CMS programs exist, many are more complicated than the everyday user might prefer. Unlike more complex applications, dasBlog strives to make blogging accessible to just about everyone.

Why Use dasBlog?

The dasBlog application, although simple, does offer bloggers options for the look and feel of their site. It supports several languages, including English, Italian, Russian, Arabic, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. In addition, users may choose from a selection of skins and themes. Among the available features are Pingbacks, Trackbacks, and Mail Notifications. The cornerstone of dasBlog’s strength comes from both it’s simplicity and it’s use of the BlogML XML storage system. dasBlog can operate without a database connection because it is able to store post data without a database. This means a site can be setup quickly so long as the web server folder structure has adequate permissions.

Features

dasBlog evolved from the BlogX weblog engine, so it has existed almost as long as the word “blog” itself. As the first version of ASP.NET was emerging, this platform came together to allow authoring tools which had never been seen before. During the early period of the .NET framework, dasBlog had features that no other platform on the web had. Here are some of the features of the platform which are still applicable today:

• Functionality of the BlogML XHTML open format
• .NET framework 3.5 support
• Support for Internet Explorer 8 & 9 in themes
• Use of FreeTextBox ASP.NET WYSIWYG Editor
• Developer support for Visual Studio 2010
• Search Engine Optimization capability
• Thread-View index for blog posts
• Google OpenID Support
• DotNetOpenAuth v3.4.5
• Support for IIS 5 through IIS 7
• Automated Installer for new installs
• Trackback, pingback, mail notifications

Setup & Application

You may download dasBlog for free, though be aware that the only updates are currently being made by unofficial open source forked sources. Further, while the application does have a small footprint, its somewhat limited capabilities means it does not offer the array of plugins and features of its larger and more powerful brethren. dasBlog is meant to be quick to install but very basic in functionality.

Several commercial hosts support the use of dasBlog. As long as your plan works with the C# programming language and a Windows operating system (OS), you should have no problem installing and using dasBlog to build and manage your site. If you’re new to dasBlog, or CMS applications in general, be sure to check with your provider for complete information on compatibility and installation.

For most hosts, so long as they can support IIS 5-7 and .NET 3.5, that is the only key requirement for getting setup. Just keep in mind that some hosts might not have strong support for older versions of DotNet. If a host is compatible with the Microsoft Web Gallery, so with the right host you can quickly point, click and install. The best known host for this would be Azure, while third parties like ServerGrid or DiscountASP.net have been providing hosting for over a decade.

Limitations & Strengths

The dasBlog platform is a legacy system, with official support ending in late 2012. As a platform, the last patch was released October 2012. However, versions of the software still exist in open source forks, as the platform is BSD Licensed. Older versions of dasBlog have had challenges with web.config permission errors, which create problems everywhere from incorrect namespaces to missing HTTP handlers. These large problems were addressed  in the final releases, but any additional problems will probably need to be resolved by yourself.

Where dasBlog still shines though, is in how easy it is to configure and deploy. Also, being a legacy Microsoft project, there is strong support for older versions of internet explorer. This might create issues with modern browsers in the future, but for business cases with legacy needs, dasBlog is fast to install and legacy compliant.

Similar Platform Comparisons

WordPress – if you’re looking for  a well supported CMS, this is the monolithic giant. It runs on PHP though, which can be run from IIS, but generally relies on Apache.

Umbraco CMS – a well updated, modern, open source .NET CMS which is widely used, very flexible, and easy to extend.

Orchard CMS – another open source .NET CMS – with a focus on being more customizable at the code level than Umbraco.

.NET CMS – The  CMS platform for the .NET framework which came after dasBlog, it has support for modern responsive sites, and has strongly validated third party tools.