simple blog software for easy integration

[MWpro]

I have a design for a client's site built already, and now they have decided that they want a blog included in this site.

My problem is: all the good blog software out there comes in an all-inclusive package and is basically a website in itself. To change the look of these pages, you would have to create your own template and go through many hours of change CSS values and finding where to change the HTML.

My question is: Is there a simple PHP solution that will allow me the easiest integration of a blog into my already existing site?

[eelixduppy]

Either way you are going to be doing some coding. It depends on whether or not you want to change the template for an already existing project, or incorporate it into your existing site and create the blog part of it from scratch (for the most part). I would just make the blog part of it myself if you have to php knowledge to do so, but that is just me. The first solution would be easier but maybe more tedious depending on how you want your template.

[Marcia]

snews and modx are both open source and free (one of them has pretty URLs just as you want them off the shelf, don't remember which one) but you have to know PHP and MySQL to adapt to your own site template.

[MWpro]

I know some PHP and would be able to make a simple input to the database of Title, Date, and Content for the actual blog posts, and I could call them up on the site sorted by date...

but how would I make it so visitors could comment on the blog posts?

[Marcia]

There's one HTML page template that's easily modified to use your own site template. You insert the tags into your own design (or however else you choose to modify it). There's one php page that contains all the scripting. Then there are four tables in the MysQL database:

1) Articles
2) Categories
3) Comments
4) Settings

There's also an .htaccess file that rewrites the URLs. That's it.

[edited by: Marcia at 12:50 am (utc) on Dec. 19, 2007]