[rogermugs]

I ask because I've been using blogger for sometime now... and for my light usage it works pretty well... I do however have some javascript things included and hear that wordpress doesn't allow this even in the paid version. Everyone swears by wordpress but they quote the not-free version...

i refuse to pay for something I can get for free (often even if this limits functionality and sometimes to my detriment).
so i ask... and i want a comparison for the free ones...

wordpress or blogger.

and give reasons.

i'm thinking of moving away from a blogspot.com to my own domain and want to know if i should go with wordpress or not...

i use blogrush (i get a lot of my traffic from this), and I also use a twitter roll to update the site... also I like to be able to edit the html on the blog and wordpress doesn't seem to let me do that...

theologer -< blogger
theologer -< wordpress

i migrated over today to see which I liked best... i'm really bothered feeling like wordpress is limited, but maybe i'm just not used to it yet.
lemme know what you think... big move ahead... I normally swear by all that google does... reason to change?

[peeb]

I don't know if anything else would be better, but I'm getting so much ****ing comment spam with Wordpress right now, and no way to block IP ranges or even email addresses that I can figure out. Sorry - just needed to vent.

[BasketofPuppies]

If Blogger is working for you, stick with it. You can use it with your own domain, just like WordPress.

[OwlBoy]

Originally Posted by peeb 

I don't know if anything else would be better, but I'm getting so much ****ing comment spam with Wordpress right now, and no way to block IP ranges or even email addresses that I can figure out. Sorry - just needed to vent.

Did you turn on Akismet yet? Stop Comment Spam and Trackback Spam � Akismet

I get very few spam comments leaking through that system. Lots of spam yes, but 99% is caught for me.

Also, you can block specific ip addresses or emails too, look around in the dashboard some more…

-Owl

[rogermugs]

now the mere fact that yall are getting comment spam means you're getting substantially more traffic than I am. Now I recognize that traffic is foremost related to content and the content of my log is probably interesting to very few. But one review I read said that wordpress blogs get inherently more traffic than blogger because google doesn't index blogger well. I don't know If there is any truth to this or not..... Just thinking.

[peeb]

Originally Posted by OwlBoy 

Did you turn on Akismet yet? Stop Comment Spam and Trackback Spam � Akismet

I get very few spam comments leaking through that system. Lots of spam yes, but 99% is caught for me.

Also, you can block specific ip addresses or emails too, look around in the dashboard some more…

-Owl

I have Akismet turned on - but thanks - I'll take another look around. I get a ton of spam that Akismet stops, but a ton more that it doesn't.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by rogermugs 

now the mere fact that yall are getting comment spam means you're getting substantially more traffic than I am. Now I recognize that traffic is foremost related to content and the content of my log is probably interesting to very few. But one review I read said that wordpress blogs get inherently more traffic than blogger because google doesn't index blogger well. I don't know If there is any truth to this or not..... Just thinking.

That wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense, since Google owns Blogger.

[rogermugs]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

That wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense, since Google owns Blogger.

couldn't agree more. Just what I heard

[Peter]

tumblr

[rogermugs]

Blogger vs. Wordpress � ⅓ Poet. ⅓ Geek. ⅓ Egyptian. -<
this is that link I was talking about... the guy mentions that his blogger blog never showed up in google searches but his wordpress one does...

apart from this... other good reasons?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by peeb 

I don't know if anything else would be better, but I'm getting so much ****ing comment spam with Wordpress right now, and no way to block IP ranges or even email addresses that I can figure out. Sorry - just needed to vent.

SpamKarma2, FTW. Better than Aksimet.

I get absolutely NOTHING leaking through.

-t

[Eug]

My Blogger blog gets reasonable traffic, enough to generate some comments and enough to attract some spam as well unfortunately. It also shows up just fine in Google searches.

For example if you Google search for roxio toast h.264, to my surprise the #1 hit is my blog.

[ironknee]

i am clueless when it comes to blogging software so may i ask

what app is best to have a blog where once can have total control over the look of the site

and how does that work? do i need to sign up only with wordpress to have a hosting account? do i buy the software?

thanks


oh and also can one get a domain name with the blog?

[Oisín]

If we’re talking Wordpress, you download the software (it’s free), and then you install it on your own server. That means, of course, that you need to have an already existing web site. If you sign up for a Wordpress hosting account, you can choose between some ridiculous amount of themes, but there are limits to the control you have over what the site looks like.

Of course, if you install it on your own server and want to actually use the full control you then have over the look of the site, you need to be fairly competent at XHTML, CSS, and PHP to tweak it to your liking.

[rogermugs]

i decided to stick with blogger, for these reasons.

1. blogger's free service is MUCH more full featured. There are a lot of simple things that i miss from wordpress (like their dashboard and well written code for community) BUT.. in blogger I can mess with CSS, upload my own templates and use javascript... wordpress none of this is free unless you have your own domain.

2. I bought my own domain. Through blogger this was a $10/year for the domain and the hosting. This is dirt cheap. the next cheapest at wordpress suggested is 6.75/month....

3. finally I do have some blind faith in google that what isn't perfect about blogger will be changed. so i moved from 7zeros.blogspot.com to theologer.com

[starman]

My biggest problem with Blogger was the lack of a backup feature. It was great for posting comments on other Bloggers' sites, but in the end, backup was the #1 reason I dumped Blogger and went to Wordpress. Love it.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by rogermugs 

i decided to stick with blogger, for these reasons.

1. blogger's free service is MUCH more full featured. There are a lot of simple things that i miss from wordpress (like their dashboard and well written code for community) BUT.. in blogger I can mess with CSS, upload my own templates and use javascript... wordpress none of this is free unless you have your own domain.

2. I bought my own domain. Through blogger this was a $10/year for the domain and the hosting. This is dirt cheap. the next cheapest at wordpress suggested is 6.75/month....

3. finally I do have some blind faith in google that what isn't perfect about blogger will be changed. so i moved from 7zeros.blogspot.com to theologer.com

If you have bought your own domain, I'd suggest using the self-hosted version of WP. Version 2.5 was released around two weeks ago and it's one of the best OpenSource blogging applications out there currently. You have a lot more freedom going that route than using a hosted application.

[starman]

I use the free version of Wordpress that I host on my site and I can do a TON of things with it that I can't do with Blogger.

[Oisín]

1. blogger's free service is MUCH more full featured. There are a lot of simple things that i miss from wordpress (like their dashboard and well written code for community) BUT.. in blogger I can mess with CSS, upload my own templates and use javascript... wordpress none of this is free unless you have your own domain.

2. I bought my own domain. Through blogger this was a $10/year for the domain and the hosting. This is dirt cheap. the next cheapest at wordpress suggested is 6.75/month....

These two seem a bit self-contradictory to me.

$10 a year for a domain and hosting is quite cheap. I don’t know how Blogger hosting works, though—is it actually your site where you have full FTP/shell access and all that, or just a Blogger blog with its own URL that doesn’t end in .blogspot.com or whatever it is? And if the first, how much space do you have?

If you use the ‘full’ version of WordPress, you don’t have to use their servers or hosting plans. In fact, after you download the .zip file with the WordPress files in it, you never again have to have anything to do with wordpress.org or wordpress.com ever again, if you don’t want to.

If you buy a regular domain from a regular host (like GoDaddy or Dreamhost), you can get domain and hosting for $10 a year as well, and probably even cheaper, too. It’s not so much the price that determines whether you’ve got a good deal as it is the level of control you have over your new domain.

[rogermugs]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

If you buy a regular domain from a regular host (like GoDaddy or Dreamhost), you can get domain and hosting for $10 a year as well,

If i would have known that i would probably have gone with GoDaddy or dreamhost... as it is I bought the domain through blogger and they move all my stuff over for me. I'm actually not sure if I have any control over the site via ftp or whatever, i've looked into it briefly and then given up.

If i could have found hosting for as cheap as blogger was offering the domain and hosting I would totally have done it with wordpress... but as it is. and for me. I'm pleased with how my site turned out, and at this point i'm more interested in the writing than I am in the features... but that said... i would have done it differently if i'd have known that.
-r

[rogermugs]

p.s. looking at those sites I still dont see one for as cheap as I paid... i see domains for $10/year but that doesn't include hosting that I see...

[Faust]

site5.com and hostgatgor.com have plans that are below $5/month. I doubt you'll get hosting for $10 annually. I may be wrong though as I haven't checked hosting prices in years and pay well over $100/month for my hosting. But then again, I run more than one site.

[ironknee]

i want a blog where i can upload a picture/text a day and have feedback of it. and also the usual archiving and stuff...and i want to do this easily

i want my own domain.

i want to design the look of the site with my own design.

i want to bee able to use a good/cheep hosting company.

where do i start?

thanks

[rogermugs]

have you looked into tumblr.com?
-r

[Faust]

Originally Posted by ironknee 

i want a blog where i can upload a picture/text a day and have feedback of it. and also the usual archiving and stuff...and i want to do this easily

i want my own domain.

i want to design the look of the site with my own design.

i want to bee able to use a good/cheep hosting company.

where do i start?

thanks

Basic ingredients:

Firstly you will need to buy your desired domain. For that you can go to godaddy.com, namecheap.com or any other domain registrar.

Once you have done that, you should look for a good webhost (some webhosts have been mentioned in this thread) and make sure you don't choose a hosting plan without PHP/MySQL capabilities (most have that these days).

And lastly if you have good CSS/HTML skills, find a good CMS or blogging application such as WordPress, ExpressionEngine or TextPattern. All of them are good tools but you do need to know a bit about design in order to be productive with either of these.

[maxintosh]

I like Wordpress better so far. My blog is still pretty young though.

[ironknee]

Originally Posted by Faust 

Basic ingredients:

Firstly you will need to buy your desired domain. For that you can go to godaddy.com, namecheap.com or any other domain registrar.

got it.

Originally Posted by Faust 

Once you have done that, you should look for a good webhost (some webhosts have been mentioned in this thread) and make sure you don't choose a hosting plan without PHP/MySQL capabilities (most have that these days).

godaddy.com sounds good. and has php/mysql

Originally Posted by Faust 

And lastly if you have good CSS/HTML skills, find a good CMS or blogging application such as WordPress, ExpressionEngine or TextPattern. All of them are good tools but you do need to know a bit about design in order to be productive with either of these.

i do know html/css .... so can i import an existing site into say wordpress and start from there building the blog or is wordpress et al like an html editor itself?

and then what? press a button and wordpress uploads everything?

i guess i should take a look lol

thanks

[Faust]

Originally Posted by ironknee 

got it.



godaddy.com sounds good. and has php/mysql



i do know html/css .... so can i import an existing site into say wordpress and start from there building the blog or is wordpress et al like an html editor itself?

and then what? press a button and wordpress uploads everything?

i guess i should take a look lol

thanks

Well, you can't import it exactly ...

When you have your webhost set up and pointing to your domain, install WordPress on it. That part is pretty straight forward and WordPress makes it easy to install the system. All you need for that is have one database ready which you can use for your WordPress installation.

To get your design up, there are various methods of doing so. You can use FTP or ssh or whatever to upload files onto your server.
WordPress works with design themes. Two themes come with the install of WordPress by default. A classic theme and a Kubrick (default) theme. Alternatively, you could do a theme from scratch and utilize neither of the themes above. For starters it is better you begin with a pre-made theme such as the standard Kubrick theme. You make a duplicate of that theme on your server, name it to whatever you want and then get your hands dirty because you'll need to edit around five or six files.

First replace the default style.css file with your own. Next you open all files below:

header.php
index.php
single.php
page.php
archive.php
archives.php (yes, archive and archives)
search.php
comments.php
404.php

You will find lots of php inside your template files, so you will not get around to learning the basic template tags WordPress uses and it is also good to know just the very basics of PHP (though not required if you use the WordPress codex).
In those files, start replacing the html tags with your own and edit/delete whatever you don't need.

This is a very basic way of doing it. There are more advanced ways of going about it but it should get you started. Always have the WordPress codex handy as you'll be needing it.

Best of luck!

[ironknee]

thank you faust

does that mean i need to learn php?

thanks again

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by ironknee 

thank you faust

does that mean i need to learn php?

thanks again

“Learn” is a strong word. I ‘learned’ PHP through WordPress, initially. I guessed my way around what the various blobs of gibberish did and mucked about with them for a while. This was in WordPress 1.2, back when things were a lot simpler and easier to guess/access than they are now, but it should still be possible.

Knowing some basic PHP should generally be a good thing all around, though, so I’d suggest learning some basics, at least.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by ironknee 

thank you faust

does that mean i need to learn php?

thanks again

Well, not really. It is sufficient that you get comfortable with the very very basics of PHP. You don't need to buy a book (unless, of course, you want to). The template tags are PHP tags so you will automatically get to know the basics of PHP by understanding how these template tags work. You need not be afraid of PHP though or have the fact that WordPress uses PHP in their templates hold you back from trying it out.

If you have experimented with it and absolutely dislike it, I can recommend ExpressionEngine (my favourite CMS). It does not use PHP but therefore a templating language, and the learning curve here is higher as WordPress is pretty much the simplest CMS/Blogging platform in relation to what it can do that I know of. ExpressionEngine is a lot more sophisticated and more flexible but you'll need more time to grasp the underlying concept. Be aware that you can only use the core version of EE if you plan on not paying as the standard EE is a commercial application. The core version has some limitations (though hardly any that are of significance if you intend to use EE as a simple blog).

Another good platform that I use occasionally is TextPattern. Also a very good CMS that is somewhere between WordPress and ExpressionEngine. The code is very slimline, very light but you also have fewer plugins (WordPress beats them all if you plan on using a plethora of plugins to extend functionality). TextPattern uses a templating system as well. It is not as intuitive the first time you try it (it may be my experience though). When you get more accustomed to it, however, it can be as flexible as WordPress though, except for the fact that it has far fewer plugins than WordPress.

All in all, if you want something quick and painless, WordPress may be your best option as it is the simplest of the lot. If you like something more sophisticated, go with ExpressionEngine. If you like a bit of both worlds, TextPattern is a good alternative, though not as enhanced and flexible as EE and with far less plugins to choose from than WordPress.

[Oisín]

… and if you want a bloated piece of crap that’s unbelievably unintuitive and backwards and doesn’t even work, do what the geniuses who created our dorm intranet did and choose eLine Studio Site Composer Essentials.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

… and if you want a bloated piece of crap that’s unbelievably unintuitive and backwards and doesn’t even work, do what the geniuses who created our dorm intranet did and choose eLine Studio Site Composer Essentials.

Never heard of it. But then again, I know basically nothing about ASP or applications run by that programming language.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Faust 

Never heard of it. But then again, I know basically nothing about ASP or applications run by that programming language.

Let’s just say that, every time I have to update anything on the intranet, I have to go borrow one of my neighbours’ computer. This bloatware will only work in Internet Explorer 6.0. Nothing else. I have an old crappy Windows laptop that has IE7; I installed a standalone version of IE6 beside it, and even that wouldn’t work. And when I say “wouldn’t work”, I mean the entire admin page consists of a header with a log-out link, and then nothing but white nothing for the rest of the page.

It’s truly an awful CMS.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Let’s just say that, every time I have to update anything on the intranet, I have to go borrow one of my neighbours’ computer. This bloatware will only work in Internet Explorer 6.0. Nothing else. I have an old crappy Windows laptop that has IE7; I installed a standalone version of IE6 beside it, and even that wouldn’t work. And when I say “wouldn’t work”, I mean the entire admin page consists of a header with a log-out link, and then nothing but white nothing for the rest of the page.

It’s truly an awful CMS.

Wow. That does sound like lots of fun. It's crappy enough that people still use IE6 out of free will. Being stuck with it must be a horror of sorts. I consider myself happy to not be in your shoes.

[Oisín]

The good thing is that (once I get myself together and starting actually doing things), we’re moving to external hosting, and I’ll be setting up a completely brand-spanking new intranet, based on something simple and usable. Like WordPress.