Conventional blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr are not tailored for cybersecurity professionals. They are burdened with unnecessary features that developers neither need nor desire. Moreover, these popular blogging platforms inherently lack essential functionalities that programmers truly value, including code syntax highlighting, blog theming with standardized templating engines, support for markup languages beyond HTML, and integration with source code repositories, among other critical features.
For those seeking a blogging solution that caters to the programmer’s needs, this article is your guide. The free and open-source blogging platforms I discuss are crafted with developers in mind, not just casual users.
Hexo, a Node.js-based blogging platform, boasts features like native support for GitHub Flavored Markdown (GMF) and templating and extension capabilities with EJS, Swig, and Stylus.
Setting up Hexo is a breeze, taking mere seconds assuming you have npm ready to go. Just type:
$ npm install hexo -g
Fun fact: “npm” does not stand for “Node packaged modules” or “Node Package Manager.” It’s a recursive acronym, like PHP, or more accurately, “It’s a recursive bacronymic abbreviation because it stands for ‘npm is not an acronym’,” as the creator explains.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Jekyll is a static site generator that compiles markup files into web-ready HTML documents, emphasizing improved web performance and the option to forgo databases and server-side scripts. With a thriving ecosystem, Jekyll offers a range of add-ons, such as Octopress for a blogging framework, JekyllBootstrap for GitHub Pages hosting, and Exitwp for WordPress migration.
Install Jekyll with a Ruby Gem:
gem install jekyll
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Anchor CMS is a lightweight solution with a .zip archive of just over 200 KB. It supports Markdown syntax, favored by many developers for its ease and naturalness in blog writing and formatting, and allows for art-directed blogging, enabling unique post designs.
License: Unknown
Docs
Download from GitHub
Wheat, a Node.js-based platform, automatically publishes articles from your GitHub repository to your website, offering a collaborative blogging environment where other developers can contribute improvements through pull requests.
Install Wheat as a Node packaged module:
npm install wheat
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Nikola is a static site generator with a strong focus on blogging but versatile enough for various website types. It boasts a compact codebase and supports multiple markup languages, including reStructuredText and Markdown, as well as HTML.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
toto, a minimalist blogging engine running on Git, allows for version control of posts, akin to code development processes.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Poet, another Node.js-powered platform, allows bloggers to use their preferred markup language and customize routes for their blog posts and pages.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Dropplets is a minimalist Markdown blogging platform designed to maximize writing time by minimizing the need for tinkering.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Pelican is a static site generator written in Python, supporting reStructuredText, Markdown, and AsciiDoc. It includes syntax highlighting and data import from other platforms like WordPress.
License:GNU AGPL
Docs
Download from GitHub
Wardrobe is a minimalist blogging platform with a simple UI and developed in PHP, similar to Anchor CMS.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Bolt is a comprehensive content management system suitable for various uses beyond blogging. It employs Twig for templating, includes a Symphony debug bar for code issue tracing, and offers flexibility in choosing a relational database management system (RDBMS), including SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL. Bolt also supports PHPUnit for unit testing.
License:MIT
Docs
Download from GitHub
Credit goes to the Six Revisions readers who suggested these outstanding open-source blogging platforms in the comments section of another related post.
Top 10 Free Online Blogging Platforms
10 Excellent Online Payment Systems
9 Professional Web Design Tips
Launching a Blog Successfully in 15 Days
Related categories:Tools and Resources
