Note: I no longer use Chronicler myself and will not be updating the code any more. You may want to look at more advanced and flexible tools such as Movable Type and Blogger.
With Chronicler it's simple to create, update and maintain your own archive of web pages such as a personal diary or journal, or even a daily magazine. All entries, articles or stories are entered using a web-based form and existing entries can be modified or deleted online - no hassles with uploading pages and manually updating links to new material! All material is stored on your own site, so there's no need to entrust your carefully-crafted words to the safekeeping of a dot.com's servers. Using simple templates the layout of your pages is fully customisable and changes can be made to the entire site at the press of a button.
To use Chronicler you must be able to run Perl CGI scripts on your site (if you have a 'cgi-bin' directory you're probably all set), but no knowledge of programming is necessary. You may need to know how to change the permissions of files on your server in order to run the script. Basic knowledge of HTML is useful, especially if you want to customise your page layouts.
Chronicler allows you to create a new article or entry every day, with each stored at its own URL (eg http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2001/03/18/). Each entry is stored within its directory as an XML file (entry.xml) which is used to generate its HTML page based on a simple template. An alternative template can also be used to automatically create printable versions of the same entries (printable.html). Index pages will be generated listing links to all your entries using a third template and the front page of your site can contain the most recent entry, the most recent index or something else entirely. I use Chronicler for this section of my site.
Read the installation, usage, customisation and upgrade instructions, and the version history.
Download the Zip archive.
The Chronicler Annoucement mailing list is the best way to keep in touch with new versions and other important news. If you use Chronicler you definitely should subscribe. If you're merely interested, then feel free to join too. Only the moderator may post messages, and these will be rare. The list is hosted at Yahoo! Groups. Subscribe using this form: