Serendipity is a PHP-powered weblog application which gives the user an easy way to maintain an online diary, weblog or even a complete homepage.

While the default package is designed for the casual blogger, Serendipity offers a flexible, expandable and easy-to-use framework with the power for professional applications.

Casual users appreciate the way Serendipity's sophisticated plugin architecture allows you to easily modify both the appearance of your blog and its features. You can install more than120 plugins with just one click, instantly enhancing your blog's functionality. No need to edit code!

Likewise, one click installs any of more than 40 official templates, so your blog looks the way you like it. And Serendipity's SPARTACUS plugin automatically checks the central repository for upgrades and new functionality whenever you check the list.

Advanced users value Serendipity's Smarty templates for combining simplicity with well-documented web standards. It makes minor modifications trivial, but provides the power to unleash your creativity and completely customize your site! Serendipity's outstanding support gives you the confidence to be adventurous, too.

Programmers and other technical users commend Serendipity for its fast, stable, clean PHP code. While beginners can learn from Serendipity, advanced programmers can easily make complex modifications.

Serendipity is programmed in PHP, long recognized for its ideal blend of power, simplicity, and speed. Serendipity's BSD licensing ensures that programmers around the world can learn from it and improve it.

Serendipity's basic features include something for everybody, from the personal blogger to the professional corporate web designer:

• WYSIWYG and HTML editing


• Built-in, powerful media database


• Multiple authors, configurable permission/usergroup system


• Threaded comments, nested categories, post to multiple categories


• Multiple languages (internationalization)


• Online plugin and template repository for easy plug-and-play installation


• Cool plugins: category-based sub-blogs, podcasting, RSS planet/aggregator, static pages


• Robust spam blocking


• One-click upgrading from any version


• Can be embedded into your existing web pages


• Standards-compliant templating through Smarty, remote blogging via XML-RPC


• BSD-style licensing


• Multiple Database support (SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MySQLi)


• Shared installations can power multiple blogs from just one codebase


• Native import from earlier blog applications (WordPress, Textpattern, Moveable Type, bblog, ...)

Changes in version 1.3b1:

• The karma rating plugin has been upgraded to support nice, CSS-based rating graphics and an overall rehaul on the its coding.


• Make the Spartacus plugin be able to use FTP upload, a workaround for SafeMode PHP restrictions.


• Also add a remote backend for plugin update checks.


• An importer for phpNuke and lifetype has been added.


• Support for pingbacks has been improved a lot. Trackbacks can now be blocked based on Sender IP checks.


• Add better CSS styling for some internal plugins and the embedding of images. Also made the


• Remote-RSS plugin to be capable of Smarty-Templating.


• Increased Smarty templating features for the {serendipity_fetchPrintEntries} function, to be able to check for entry properties.


• Add support for SQRelay.  

Changes in version 1.3:

The new release is mainly a feature consolidation release, but also contains XSS security fixes:

• The karma rating plugin has been upgraded to support nice, CSS-based rating graphics and an overall rehaul on the its coding.


• Make the Spartacus plugin be able to use FTP upload, a workaround for SafeMode PHP restrictions. Also add a remote backend for plugin update checks.


• An importer for phpNuke and lifetype has been added.


• Support for pingbacks has been improved a lot. Trackbacks can now be blocked based on Sender IP checks.


• Add better CSS styling for some internal plugins and the embedding of images. Also made the Remote-RSS plugin to be capable of Smarty-Templating.


• Increased Smarty templating features for the {serendipity_fetchPrintEntries} function, to be able to check for entry properties.


• Add support for SQRelay.


• Minor CSS and graphic updates to the Bulletproof template.