The social software experts from Telligent released a new CMS officially yesterday, Graffiti CMS version 1.0. As a Telligent Partner, we’re pleased to be among the first hosts to announce support for Graffiti Hosting. All of our shared hosting plans are compatible with Graffiti CMS and provide all the features you should need to get up and running with a new Graffiti CMS based website.
Not Just Another Blog Engine!
The image above is that of a test blog I was working on to make sure Windows Live Writer was fully supported (and it is) and to see just how easy it is to setup a new graffiti based site.
Getting Started with Graffiti at AppliedI.net
If you’re ready to take the plunge into Graffiti and test it out for your own website or blog here’s what you’ll need to make sure you have enabled on your site:
1. Support for ASP.NET 2.0 or later (remember, if your current website runs in ASP.NET 1.1, you’ll need to create a new website to run ASP.NET 2.0 you can only run one or the other on a particular site).
2. Virtual Directory Settings – If you plan to run Graffiti on a subfolder (perhaps for a blog) then you’ll want to set the folder it’s running in as an application using the virtual directory tool in the control panel. If you get stuck just email support and they’ll help you out.
That’s it! Graffiti doesn’t need any more than that to get up and running immediately, but as always if you get stuck, email our support team and they’re familiar with the application already and should be able to help you out of a jam pretty quickly.
Great Features in Graffiti
1. Optional support for MS SQL2005 or MySQL – By default Graffiti uses the VistaDB engine which a lightweight alternative to SQL server 2005 that you can just upload and run. If you prefer to use MSSQL or MySQL though it’s fully supported and you can easily update your web.config to support either.
2. Search Engine URLS built-in – If you’re going to build a website today or write a blog you have to have search engine ready URLs. Graffiti makes it easy to enable this right from the start.
3. Ability to support 3rd party templates & plug-ins – Today applications need to be extendable, Graffiti is! There’s already a Graffiti Marketplace and it won’t be long before we start seeing more 3rd party plugins. I can’t wait to see some of my favorite wordpress themes migrated over (like Cutline, nudge, nudge)
4. Support for Windows Live Writer – Yes I love WLW, it’s the best blog editor I’ve used to date and it’s supported in Graffiti
5. Support for BlogML – All the top blog engines today are supporting BlogML either built-in or through 3rd party plugins. BlogML provides an XML markup for Blogs. This allows you to easily backup and restore your blog but even better it allows you an easy way to export and import your blog between different blog engines! Looking to switch from WordPress to Graffiti? No Problem, use BlogML. Looking to go from BlogEngine.Net to Graffiti, Not a problem, BlogML!
6. It’s made by Telligent – These guys are simply awesome. Community server (their flagship product) powers some of the most popular and busy sites on the Internet, MySpace, Xbox.com, asp.net to name a few. They understand social media, ASP.NET and Web 2.0 and know how to code for it.
7. There’s a free version! – Everyone wants to test the waters so Telligent is providing an Express version of Graffiti CMS for you to experiment with or run on your personal site. If you run a commercial site then they ask you to license it and licenses start at just $399 and comes with support from Telligent.
8. Block spam with Akismet – Today comment spam runs rampant on the Internet and all the best engines support Akismet. On our own blog it’s blocked over 20,000 spam messages since we launched the blog just a few months ago.
9. It’s not just for blogs. With the proper templates it can be used for any type of site and there’s rumors of some e-commerce support? Very exciting stuff.
10. It can be hosted at AppliedI.net – Not only do we support it but to celebrate the launch, we’re offer 25% off your initial term with any shared hosting account. Just use the coupon code: graffiti and get 25% off your initial hosting term (sign up for a month get 25% off that first month, signup for a year get 25% off that first year!). I’d recommend starting with the VS1 Shared Hosting Plan but the ValuePlus Shared Hosting Plan works just as well when you’re just getting started.
Where to go next?
Sound good? Ready to kick the tires? Head over to http://graffiticms.codeplex.com/ and download the express version of Graffiti. All of our plans support multiple websites so you can create a new site for it and publish it there or you can publish it to a subweb of your existing site. If you’re hosted somewhere else or want to start a new account, use the coupon code: graffiti and signup for new hosting here at www.appliedi.net. As I mentioned, if you get stuck getting started with Graffiti, just email support and we’ll help you get it running.
Oh, and we’d love to hear your feedback on this application.