The code behind whateverblog used to be my own JSP template that used a POP mailbox as its storage. I would just compose an e-mail and send it to that specific e-mail address and it would show up as a new entry on the blog. It was quick and easy to get it running--easier, at least, than getting my Linux box to accept MovableType--but editing past entries was impossible and runtime JSP support became a requirement.

Now I'm using CityDesk by Fog Creek Software, which is basically a very friendly, very useful HTML template preprocessor. It's a little frustrating to not have a full programming/scripting language at my disposal, as CityDesk's CityScript doesn't even have variables or basic arithmetic operators. However, CityDesk does force separation of content and presentation in a very natural way, and the resulting static HTML files require no runtime support. You also get one-touch deployment, and all of the site source (including all binary files) are contained in one easily transportable file.

If CityScript ends up being too restrictive, I'm going to check out X-Code. Seems like it should hold me for a while though.