Just before Christmas, we released the first theme pack for BlogEngine.NET 1.4 and 1.4.5. You can download it at CodePlex.The themes will also work with the new BlogEngine.NET 1.5 that will be released soon.

The theme pack contain themes designed and created by the community, and compiled into a downloadable theme pack by Janko. The team would like to thank anyone involved in creating the themes and a special thanks to Janko for his hard work with putting the themes together, cleaning them and getting permission from the creators.

Go check out the themes, they look and work great. Download the theme pack now.

I just saw that the Web Deployment Tool for IIS 7 was demoed using BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5. There is a great video of it right here http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/ES15/.

The Web Deployment Tool is something that we will make sure to support. It will make installing much easier - especially for shared hosting environments.

In October, Al Nyveldt and Mads Kristensen met in New York City to talk about the future of BlogEngine.NET. It was also the first time that they have met face-to-face in the physical world and it was after 1½ years of collaboration on the project.

In the near future we will plan the roadmap for BlogEngine.NET 1.5 and get working on it.

Earlier today, Daniel Frost posted a way to do multiblogging with BlogEngine.NET using the IIS 7 API. It looks really simple and easy to use and it all happens within your blog installation - no fiddling with the server each time a new blog should be created. The best part is that it looks so easy and require almost no code and no changes to BlogEngine.NET is required.

I know this is a feature that a lot of people want in BlogEngine.NET, but for now I would recommend you take a look at Daniel's solution.

Hi folks. It’s about time we put out a theme pack for BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5. By now we do have a few themes, but we would love to have many more. So, if you have been designing any themes and want to have them included in the theme pack, please send them or a link to them here.

The themes must be using the widget framework and be XHTML compliant and work on the 1.4.5 release. Remember to add your credentials to the bottom of the theme to get some link traffic.

In the next couple of weeks, we will be compiling all the themes and then release the theme pack. If more come in later on, we can make another theme pack.

Thanks.

Hi folks. It’s about time we put out a theme pack for BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5. By now we do have a few themes, but we would love to have many more. So, if you have been designing any themes and want to have them included in the theme pack, please send them or a link to them here.

The themes must be using the widget framework and be XHTML compliant and work on the 1.4.5 release. Remember to add your credentials to the bottom of the theme to get some link traffic.

In the next couple of weeks, we will be compiling all the themes and then release the theme pack. If more come in later on, we can make another theme pack.

Thanks.

The line of web hosting providers that offer BlogEngine.NET as part of their product to their customers is growing. We just received this email from ASPHostCentral:

[...] I am pleased to inform you that my company, ASPHostCentral.com, has included your excellent blog product into our hosting environment. The product specification can be found on: http://www.asphostcentral.com/BlogEngineHosting.aspx [...]

That’s very cool and will hopefully make it possible for BlogEngine.NET to reach a new audience. Thanks.

Only a month after 1.4 was released, we are making an update.  Today, we have published BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5 which has a bunch of fixes, improvements, and new features.

If the fixes and performance improvements aren’t enough to get you to upgrade maybe some of these features we’ll encourage you.

Filter by APML - You can now filter the posts of a blog by your own APML file. An APML file is a prioritized list of your own interests represented in XML. All BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5 users have such a file auto generated and it’s called apml.axd. You only have to enter your blog URL and BlogEngine.NET will then find your APML using auto-discovery like the browser does for RSS feeds.

Enhanced Metaweblog API – In this release, we added the ability for administrator users to publish blog post for any of the users of the blog though Live Writer.  In addition, we added support for SSL connections with Metaweblog API.  If you have it, you can now force it.

Database support out of the box – While 1.4 made it possible to use most any database as a backend for your blog, we didn’t include more than SQL Server script in the download.  This time around, we’re doing our best to make it easier than ever to get started with a database backend.  In the setup folder, we have instructions and scripts to get started with SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, and VistaDB Express.

File Upload improvements – Files and images uploaded will now be placed in new folders that are named by the year and month. This could be /files/2008/07/example.doc.

HTML Editor defaults – Some people don’t like the TinyMCE editor or any other editor and prefer to enter their own HTML. Now there is a switch that remembers your preferences and allows you to write your own HTML.

We encourage you to check the latest and greatest ever of BlogEngine.NET.  You can download it here.

Happy writing,

The BlogEngine.NET Team

It came to our attention a couple of hours ago that BlogEngine.NET 1.4 have a security issue in how it handles comments. The issue have been delt with and an easy-to-install patch have been released at CodePlex. 

It is not a serious security issue that can bring your blog to its knees or exposes your passwords, but it is highly recommended that you download the patch and apply it to your installation. It is as simple as uploading a single file. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Download the patch

It's been a while since the last release, but now the wait is over. We present to you the 5th and best version of BlogEngine.NET. Go download it.

New features in BlogEngine.NET 1.4

New database provider
BlogEngine.NET now works with most commercial and open source databases such as MySQL, SQL Server, VistaDB and many others. This allow you to use practically any database supported by your hosting provider. You can still use XML files if you don't want to use a database.

Drag 'n drop widgets
Widgets are the pieces of content most often located at the sidebar. It could be a list of recent posts, latest tweets from Twitter or anything else. You can drag and drop the widgets around in your sidebar and modify the content of them directly on the front-page. The widget works independently of the theme you are using as long as it is implemented in the theme. In BlogEngine.NET it is implemented in the Standard and Indigo themes and many more themes with widgets will be available for download very soon at the BlogEngine.NET website.

Extension settings
The new settings model for extensions have been upgraded to give you a much better experience using third-party extensions. For extension developers, it has never been easier to store your settings and let the user change them from the admin section. The same settings model is used by the widgets as well.

Web 3.0 improvements
BlogEngine.NET 1.4 makes full use of many semantic formats and technologies such as FOAF, SIOC and APML. It means that the content stored in your BlogEngine.NET installation will be fully portable and auto-discoverable. It is possible to filter the RSS feeds based on the visitor's interest defined in her APML file or do a site search with it as well. Read more the APML filtering in BlogEngine.NET.

Author profiles
By utilizing the ASP.NET profile provider it is now possible to let all authors maintain their own profile. This is used in the FOAF document and widget/extension developers can take full advantage of the profiles to provide new exciting visualizations and functionality.

Other new features
We've listened to what you - the user - wanted in BlogEngine.NET 1.4 and here is a list of some of those features that made it.

• Tag selector when adding new posts
• Subcategories
• Password encryption
• Improved live comment preview
• Hierarchical pages in the control panel
• Smarter comment spam protection
• Link collection widget
• Various performance improvements
• and much more...

Good luck and happy writing.

The BlogEngine.NET team