So You Wanna Start a Blog…

You know you’ve got options, but you don’t know what they are. Well, I’m going to try to make things a little easier for you and provide a breakdown of two of the big guns in town.

1. WordPress.com
a. free hosting available, or the option to host offsite
b. a decent selection of pre-designed templates that are somewhat customizable (via CSS)
c. the ability to edit CSS (NOT the HTML) at a cost of $15 per year

2. Blogger.com
a. free hosting available, or the option to host offsite
b. a decent selection of pre-designed templates that are very customizable
c. the ability to edit anything and everything! There isn’t one piece of your web site that isn’t configurable or customizable.

I spent several days struggling with WordPress, trying to customize a blog so it would have the features that I was looking for, but WordPress really makes this tough. Everything was a challenge. Aside from the limitations, there are quirks made of bad design that just make things overly difficult. Want to have a picture in the sidebar? In WordPress you actually need to begin a blog post, upload the picture, copy the URL it created – and only then can you can add it to the sidebar. To get it from this half-created post, you go back to your Design area, select Widgets, and add a TEXT widget (linking to the URL you just copied). Yes, to add any images to the sidebar, you have to step through several hoops that aren’t logical. Why isn’t there a Media Gallery?

After realizing it was important to me to have the ability to add some javascript widgets from MyBlogLog, I gave up on WordPress entirely. They don’t allow ANY use of Javascript on your site (if you are hosting on their servers). If you host WordPress yourself, you are then able to edit the HTML as well as the CSS, and have a larger selection of templates from which to choose. So I do want to throw that out there (WordPress may actually be useful for some), but, I don’t think the actual interface is any different and that is a big drawback. Their interface could use an entire redesign to make the blogging experience more useful, as well as enjoyable.

Blogger removes a lot of the limitations WordPress imposes, even if you go with hosting on their site. What took about two days in WordPress took me about an hour in Blogger, to reach a point where I was happy and ready to write. The design is user-friendly and logical. Everything works just as it should, and, you can do just about anything. You can even upload other Blogger templates (WordPress does not allow you to upload any other templates than what they provide). Want it your way? Go to Blogger…

4 Responses

  1. I can’t speak for Blogger, but I think where WordPress really shines, when you are hosting it yourself, is in the user created plug-ins. They are really easy to drop in, and, with an established user base, the variety and support on the plug-ins is plentiful.

    My impression of WordPress has been that they are light on features and slow on support, but that this is fortunately trumped by the power of the plug-ins.

  2. When I was trying to pick the service for my new blog, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out WordPress. It’s such a hit with many of my online friends, but to customize it to the extent I wanted, I pretty much would have had to become a developer.

    I ended up going with TypePad because it offers easy customization and a crisp look. I’ve got about four years of experience on Blogger, but I’m just not happy with the ability to finetune the look and feel.

    There is a big downside to TypePad, though. To get I want out of it, including hosting, I have to pay about $15 a month. Luckily, it’s reimbursed by my company. If it weren’t, I doubt the benefits would outweigh the cost.

  3. I have been curious about WordPress since it seems to be the platform of choice for so many bloggers, but I went with TypePad in 2006 and while I do pay for it, they have recently made a lot of upgrades that make it well worth it. Their support is actually pretty good, too.

    I had not heard about the bugginess of WP and after 2 years with TypePad and who knows how many posts, I’m too lazy to change now.