So, as I mentioned in the last entry, I've decided to write my own blog engine/cms from scratch as a result of getting curious while digging into the subtle nuances of DasBlog and other blogging engines. I'm telling myself it's simply curiosity and wanting to learn more about how these blog engines work, but I'd guess at least a part of it is attributable to a bit of egoism (otherwise known as the "Not Invented Here" Syndrome, although Joe Spolsky defends it (in a way)).
I would say that I'm guilty of NIH syndrome from time to time, but most of the time it's because I want to learn how things work, rather than just plugging in a black box and hoping I don't run into any problems. In any case, I've been learning a lot about blogs and other assorted things in the process, and that's a good thing as it makes me a better developer and moves me a bit outside of my comfort zone.
First and foremost, a good friend of mine recommended I add an RSS feed to my blog. Now, although I've been navigating the intarwebs for a long time and I've been a developer for almost as long, I never really got the concept of RSS. I knew it was just some XML, and I'd written parsers for RSS to display news or other assorted information, but I never used an RSS client or saw a need to use one. In the process of writing the RSS feed generator for my site, I learned about the PubDate item in the RSS format and realized that when one subscribed to an RSS feed, one could automatically see when new content was added to the feed.
The way I was checking for new content was the same way I've been doing it for the last decade. I would just check my favorite sites and blogs once every week or two to see if the author had added new content. Not only is this needlessly using up bandwidth, but it's inefficient time wise as well. It's a small epiphany, but still I feel that I've added a valuable tool to my collection.
Second, I realized that packages like DasBlog do a lot more than I initially thought. I started adding comments and other assorted features to this blog and I see how much of a hassle it can be with comment spam and URL rewriting and the like. I suppose it's all for the best though, as I can post as I learn and share it.