I feel like an auto mechanic, since my web sites seem to be the last ones to be updated. Finally adding the rest of the functionality to charlesnutting.net that was missed in the first iteration. The Blog is now live, RSS feeds working, and the archives are up and running.
I like to re-use good code, and searched the internet for a good Blog application was like pulling teeth. Well there were quite a few of them out there for one. Second, most of them were in PHP and MySql, and a few ASP.NET applications. Weeding through the web sites of 10 to 15 ads on a page, or a list of links to other site with links to other site... you get the jist of it.
The ones I did find had to many features that I just didn't want or need. I just needed something very simple, easy to use, and portable. If I wanted to move the site over to another provider I didn't want the hassle of migrating it to a new platform.
So I created my own Blog written in C#, and uses an Access 2007 database. You say WHAT! An Access database?
Well I see it this way, I have Access 2007 installed on my desktop system, and use it for a few desktop applications. I also have 3 other databases running other applications on the site now. The Games and Movies databases are both in Access databases, and the Mustang Collection is also in one. So why not add another one to the site. For the amount of traffic I have now it will work just fine. If in the future the site grows beyond it's current load, I will move it over to SQL2008 R2 or whatever is current. If you think about it, it's just a flat file, just like XML or JSON based sites. And as a web developer I need to pick the right platform for the task at hand. I mean you wouldn't use a backhoe to dig a hole for a rose bush... Well it would be fun to try..
Anyway, the deed is done and it's working quite nicely. I still have my "Fast" rating in WooRank, and no one is was hurt in the process. Hope you enjoy the new features, and I will try to keep the articles flowing in.
Enjoy!