Dotclear

Dotclear is an open-source web-publishing and blogging engine written in PHP designed for easy publication and flexible theming. It targets individual bloggers and small to medium multi-user/multiblog sites, offering a user-friendly admin, extensibility via plugins and themes, and support for multiple databases.

Key Features

• Automated installer and browser-based setup wizard for quick deployment
• Multi-blog and multi-user permissions with role management
• Flexible template system and configurable themes, plus plugin architecture
• Media manager with support for common media types and embeds
• Multiple editor syntaxes supported (wiki, Markdown, or WYSIWYG) for content entry
• Built-in anti-spam, comment management and presentation widgets
• Full Unicode and multilingual interface/localization support
• Support for several databases: MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite
• Standards-compliant output with RSS/feed syndication and webmention/pingback support
• Focus on accessibility and basic SEO optimizations

Use Cases

• Personal and professional blogs requiring a lightweight, standards-compliant engine
• Multi-author or multi-blog publishing for small organizations, clubs, or communities
• Sites needing a PHP-based, extensible CMS with control over themes, plugins, and data storage

Limitations and Considerations

• Smaller ecosystem and marketplace for themes/plugins compared to larger CMSs, which may limit available extensions
• Plugin or theme compatibility can require maintenance across major core upgrades; check compatibility before major updates
• Requires a compatible PHP environment (modern Dotclear releases target PHP 8.x); hosting must meet listed PHP module requirements

Dotclear is practical for users who want a focused blogging/publishing tool with control over hosting and data. It emphasizes standards, localization, and a lightweight, extensible core suitable for small-to-medium publishing sites.