People have asked what blog software I prefer to use apart from Google's Blogger. B2evolution, Wordpress, and Moveable Type are all very good but sBLOG I recommend if all you want is nice simple to use and install blog.

sBLOG actually forms the basis for the Lycos free community blog Jubiiblog (currently in beta). You can download it for free from here:

http://www.weycrest.co.uk/sblog-060-beta-20050808.tar.gz

It's very simple to install but you will need mysql enabled hosting with at least PHP4.3 installed on your server.

1. Firstly download the software and then upload it to your hosting space keeping the directory structure intact (if you do not have shell hosting).

2. Setup your MySQL database, password and user. This is beyond the scope of this article, but your web host might be able to help or they might even provide a control panel like Plesk or Cpanel which makes creating a MySQL database and users easy.

3. chmod 777 `upload` and `upload/tn` in the uploaded sBLOG directory tree.

4. Then run the install script `/install/install.php` from the browser from the sBLOG_root (i.e. http://yourdomain/sblog/install/install.php). You will need your MySQL connection details to hand for this step.

5. Follow the installer instructions. When complete you will see an output similar to this. Obviously it will look slightly different as your MySQL connections parameters, domain etc will be slightly different.

$conf_mysql_hostname = 'localhost'; $conf_mysql_username = 'sbloguser'; $conf_mysql_password = ''; $conf_mysql_database = 'sblogdb'; $conf_mysql_prefix = 'sblog_';

$conf_doc_root = '/home/httpd/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/sblog/'; $conf_web_root = 'http://example.com/sblog/';

?>

(this bottom line needs to be all one one line with no word wrapping)

6. You must then cut and paste this code into a file called `config.php` and then upload it to your sBLOG root as the file does not exist. Later versions of sBLOG will try to automatically create this!

7. Importantly and if all is well you will need to remove the install directory for security.

8. You should be able to login at http://example.com/sblog and start blogging!

Although sBlog lacks some of the features of some of the better known blogs its nice and simple to use if you just want to put your thoughts on the web with the minimum of fuss. A lot of the vital publishing tools are there though such as syndication using RSS Feeds, Trackback and trackback ping.

Its also possibly to use sBlog as a basic photo blog by uploading images. Search engine friendly URL's are possible if your web hosting supports mod_rewrite.

A sample sBlog can be seen at http://www.tbwnet.co.uk and the sBlog homepage is at http://www.servous.se

Paul Lee has over six years experience in the web hosting industry and was formerly Senior System Administrator with Simply.Com Limited. He currently lives and works in London and runs his own consultancy and hosting company Weycrest