I just noticed that maintaining what amounts to a web log — but without the benefit of web log software — is a silly thing to do.

I went ahead and investigated both blogger and greymatter. I admire these two pieces of software. They’re both well-designed and probably satisfy a significant segment of web-log-desiring users.

However, both have their security failings. Blogger requires the web server to also provide FTP service. Big security no-no. Greymatter requires the web server to run perl scripts. I don’t know anyone with the chops to read foreign perl code and honestly declare it security-hole-free.

So… I wrote my own software this evening. It isn’t complex, but it is kinda neat. “WebJou” lets me describe any number of template files and their relationship to one another. To write a new journal entry, I simply run a script that takes the top-level (presentation) template, finds all non-static sub-templates, and asks me to fill them out. When I’m done, the script directly replaces my journal html file. No CGI scripts, no nothing. Works like a charm.