Express Yourself. Blog Yourself.

Don’t get me wrong. Free isn’t bad. There’s plenty of Free web log applications. Remember, these are just bare bones content management systems; the “desktop publishing” of the Internet world. Even the free publishing tools offered by your Internet Service Provider are good. Some are capable. Some are worthy of mention.

This is the best one available.

Expression Engine by pMachine. Of course, for those in the know, pMachine’s been around for a few years with a great web log application. pMachine’s installed base isn’t as great as the popular Moveable Type, but pMachine Pro showed great promise beyond the geekiness of MT. Ease of use. Dependable. Flexible. Extensible (sorta). Modest price tag (sorta).

Then, pMachine’s Rick Ellis and crew launched Expression Engine. Everything’s changed. Everything you could ask for is in EE (nearly).

First, EE is database driven. That means once you set up EE and get your blogging web site content management system running, you can manage your updates and changes remotely; all you need is a web browser. Safari works great.

Oh, did I mention that EE will run on your Mac with OS X? Very well, thank you. More on that a bit later.

What’s EE do that’s so special. Back to that database. Everything—content, categories, HTML Templates, preferences, everything—is contained in a MySQL database (yes, that’ll run on your Mac, too) using the popular PHP scripting language and PHP engine (surprise! that’s on your Mac, too).

While EE runs fine on your Mac at home or in the office, it’ll also shine at your web site. Most ISP sites are configure to run PHP and MySQL. You’ll need to copy the EE files to your web site and run a simple install page (some database info may need to be obtained from your ISP) and you’re ready to run what is arguably the best web log tool ever developed.

Best? Strong words.

The beauty of anything great is usually found in the complex ways it can perform and how elegantly and simple it performs them.

Such is the case with EE. Simple. Elegant. Powerful. And it delivers complexity without breaking a sweat. In fact, let me call EE the blogging tool of the century and the best bargain you’ll ever find in Content Management Systems (CMS applications range from $25,000 to $1,000,000 and more; they’re highly complex and require three men and a boy just to get running).

EE rivals many expensive CMS systems.

What do you get? Check the pMachine site.

• Instant Themes. 12 to choose from.

• Google-friendly URLs. Search engines like what EE does to URLs.

• Mutliple and nested Categories. Trust me. This is good.

• Member Groups. Yes, Virginia, you can have your own membership system. Friends. employees.

• Mailing List. Email to everyone in your membership.

• Upload Images • Setup a Workflow for Content (business)

• Templates, templates, and more templates. Sub-templates, even.

EE is not your father’s web log tool. Elegant. Simple. Did I mention that it’ll run on your Mac with OSX?

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