Overview

Web logs are a popular new way to communicate on the Internet. People set up online journals (or diaries) called web logs, and then write entries into these "blogs." Other users can browse through the various journals in a particular system and then comment on them, creating conversations around particular blog entries. Through these systems, entire online communities spring up where people with similar interests and hobbies can "converse." The act of browsing through blogs and creating entries and comments is often referring to as blogging.

For the second sample, we implement a reasonably straightforward blogging system, called SimpleBlog. It will be a multiuser system with facilities to create and manage multiple user accounts and have them simultaneously logged in and browsing the system. Users can write new journal entries, browse entries in their own and other users' journals, and comment on entries they see. More advanced features, such as friends, protected entries, and threaded conversations are left as an exercise for you.

Users start at the home page for the site, where they can see a list of all users in the system and browse through these users' journals (see Figure 32-1). As they read journals, they can choose to reply to individual entries (see Figure 32-2) or be inspired to write their own. At all times, the application verifies that they are correctly logged in (or not) and offers them the opportunity to create new accounts as necessary.

Figure 32-1. The SimpleBlog home page.

Figure 32-2. Responding to an entry.