I have a couple of new blog projects and a couple of eventual blog migrations coming up in 2019 and I thought I should investigate what else is out there besides Wordpress. Therefore, I’ve spent way too much time reading the documentation of about 6 - 8 blog and CMS systems to the point where they were all starting to blur together. The devil in in the details on these systems and you kind of have to dig to find answers.
I limited my quest to open source scripts that are available on most c-panel installers.
One of the scripts that caught my eye was Serendipity which is a mature, actively supported blog platform so I decided to install it on a subdomain and try it out.
One click installation from c-panel was fast and easy.
Serendipity admin area has a nice clean look. Like Wordpress, Serendipity has their own repository of plugins and themes so you can install these with ease.
I started poking around trying different plugins. Plugin descriptions are rather minimal so you don’t always know exactly what they do.
One thing I liked is they have some nice spam controls for Trackbacks which are important on a blog that does not do webmentions or Indieweb stuff.
Plugins: While you won’t find as many as Wordpress, there are close to 150 plugins available, some are widgets, some add features. I found a plugin for a forum add on which is a nice option to have. And all the basics are there, most bloggers would be happy.
Like any blog, there are a lot of settings and details to attend to but if you have ever blogged before you can find your way around the Admin Panel fairly easily. Good interface.
I posted a test post. That went well. I then posted a comment to that post. But when I click to read comments I get a Password login box. I’m the author, I’m also the Root Admin with god-like powers but I can’t read my own comment without a separate login even on the public side. What gives? I checked the settings and as far as I can tell anyone should be able to read the post and the comments. Dunno. I did not try and look this up in the documentation because I wanted to simulate real life learning by poking around. It must be a setting but I’m not sure which.
Perhaps if I was more PHP savvy or starting out without wanting to migrate from another blog I would feel different. Maybe if I combed through the documentation I would solve the mysteries, but for me it’s just not right as I’m seeing it. YMMV.
See also my review of B2evolution.
This was also posted to /en/blogging.