new to blogging - should my setup be hosted TypePad, Blogger or WordPress.com v's DIY wordpress or moveable type (& is php needed?)
1 year, 6 months ago.
29 comments so far
It depends how serious you are about it, and what kind of setup you want. As you're new to blogging, you could go with one of those hosted blogger or Wordpress.com, and then if you're willing to go with self-hosted WP or MT, then you go and spend the money on a domain and hosting, and yes, you could need PHP for those.
@edythemighty@willknott@mneylon thanks for the advice guys. my coding experience was in basic cobol and c - and that was 20 years ago.... so maybe hosted till i work out how serious this is... i've a few decisions to make. cheers
I self hosted MT for about 3 years and just switched to Wordpress in the past year, I have to say I love wordpress although I loved the template I had created on MT and could not manage to transfer that across, but at least with WP you have a lot of hackable templates to play around with.
I've been with TypePad for a number of years now and never had a bother. My blog has rarely been offline, they make it very easy to add widgets, blogrolls, etc., and don't stop you doing more complicated stuff if you want to.
@debbiemet: Definitely having your own domain gives a certain feeling of freedom. I'm in the process of moving off Vox to http://alex.leonard.ie - I already feel more in control.
Of course the downside to running your own site is that you are responsible for hosting costs and domain registration. However if you want to move domain name or hosts at a later point you can always have control of things to redirect visitors to the new place.
@donncha: You would say that ;) but I couldn't agree more, it's a nice option to test things out. I know that WordPress offers an import from movable type or typepad, and I can only assume it's the other way around, so at least you're given the choice on converting if you don't like one or the other.
I wonder how many people in this thread have been with the same platform for more than half the time they have been blogging. I'm just finishing five years on Typepad.
I think once you select one, you're probably going to stick with it out of familiarity (and the hassle of converting).
I used Vox for personal blogging since it came out of beta a few years ago, but for work purposes I was drawn to WordPress and love the customisability.
I run my music persona website on WordPress - www.ebauche.net and now I'm moving my personal blog over there as well.
I use blogger because I'm completely ignorant about how to go about setting up the other ones. Now I own the domain, own the hosting package with blacknight etc but I'm afraid of losing my few readers, the posts and especially the comments as there seems to be no easy way of exporting them.
I've always said I'll move when I get serious about blogging, though that time seems to be now.
For someone without a blog I'm surprisingly experienced in wordpress configuration. I've setup about 4 different false starts at a personal blog using WP. Installing the wordpress code has been the easy bit. (Only hitch I've met is redirects using .htaccess files)
Actually writing content is where I've come unstuck.
Used various Userland products (Frontier, RadioUserland and Manila) since 1997, switched to WP a bit over three years ago and been holding steady. Can't imagine moving from it unless it goes to heck.
@mneylon: I'm not sure about this. I had a look at the full Atom feed from my Vox site and it does the standard most recent 10 posts - full content within that, but certainly not the way to get 200+ posts out of there.
after slowly wading thru all the comments and advice i got re: blog setup and hosting I'm a little closer to a decision. But i have a few more questions.
@donncha would you mind if i emailed you a list of 8 (mostly yes or no) questions in relation to wordpress.com - is that cool?
Guys can you confirm if any of the following questions have a NO answer?
(and advanced apologies if these are total newb questions) but ... if i setup a new blog on wordpress.com
1. can i use my own domain name?
and does it have
2. rss feeds
3. moderated comments
4. feeds for comments
5. tag cloud
6. ability to export (including comments)
7. is it viewable to all browsers ( IE FF safari)
8. what about viewable to mobile browsers ( i.e. opera mini )
Sorry for being a complete pain. cheers eske
@eske, here you are! I can't answer all those questions but I think it's yes... @alexleonard Sorry I missed your comment. I have bought debbiemet.com (too stingey for .ie!) and think I will move across (I already have two domains). And yes, content is my problem too - I'm stuck! Good luck with it, eske.
29 comments so far
It depends how serious you are about it, and what kind of setup you want. As you're new to blogging, you could go with one of those hosted blogger or Wordpress.com, and then if you're willing to go with self-hosted WP or MT, then you go and spend the money on a domain and hosting, and yes, you could need PHP for those.
1 year, 6 months ago by edythemighty
If fairness you don't need that much PHP. If you have any coding experience you should be able to do simple things, like modify your layout
1 year, 6 months ago by WillKnott
@WillKnott: There's a difference between needing PHP, and needing a working knowledge of PHP :D
1 year, 6 months ago by edythemighty
If you're just testing the waters vox.com is a nice platform
1 year, 6 months ago by mneylon
@edythemighty @willknott @mneylon thanks for the advice guys. my coding experience was in basic cobol and c - and that was 20 years ago.... so maybe hosted till i work out how serious this is... i've a few decisions to make. cheers
1 year, 5 months ago by eske
Vox is nice, but be warned, there is no export function! If you want to move somewhere else later you could have trouble transferring your data.
I really dislike blogger, find their whole system counter intuitive.
I'm a wordpress user so that will be my preference, but I have no experience with movable type or typepad.
Just make sure that you're aware of export options if you're going hosted. I'm now faced with manually copying over 200 posts..
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
I self hosted MT for about 3 years and just switched to Wordpress in the past year, I have to say I love wordpress although I loved the template I had created on MT and could not manage to transfer that across, but at least with WP you have a lot of hackable templates to play around with.
1 year, 5 months ago by McAWilliams
BTW I have no knowledge at all of PHP only html and have managed to hack my latest template no problems
1 year, 5 months ago by McAWilliams
I've been with TypePad for a number of years now and never had a bother. My blog has rarely been offline, they make it very easy to add widgets, blogrolls, etc., and don't stop you doing more complicated stuff if you want to.
1 year, 5 months ago by EirePreneur
I suppose it's a bad idea to move once you've started with somebody? Not that I've many readers yet, but I've put the address all over the place.
1 year, 5 months ago by debbiemet
@debbiemet I thought you were giving relationship advice there for a minute :) Having your own domain makes moving around easier, if you feel the need
1 year, 5 months ago by ciotog
Open a WordPress.com blog (yes, I would say that wouldn't I? :), and then if you find that too constricting export your blog and "self host" it.
1 year, 5 months ago by donncha
@debbiemet: Definitely having your own domain gives a certain feeling of freedom. I'm in the process of moving off Vox to http://alex.leonard.ie - I already feel more in control.
Of course the downside to running your own site is that you are responsible for hosting costs and domain registration. However if you want to move domain name or hosts at a later point you can always have control of things to redirect visitors to the new place.
@donncha: You would say that ;) but I couldn't agree more, it's a nice option to test things out. I know that WordPress offers an import from movable type or typepad, and I can only assume it's the other way around, so at least you're given the choice on converting if you don't like one or the other.
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
I wonder how many people in this thread have been with the same platform for more than half the time they have been blogging. I'm just finishing five years on Typepad.
1 year, 5 months ago by topgold
Not me - I'm less about the content and more about playing with the platforms :) Currently on MTOS
1 year, 5 months ago by ciotog
I think once you select one, you're probably going to stick with it out of familiarity (and the hassle of converting).
I used Vox for personal blogging since it came out of beta a few years ago, but for work purposes I was drawn to WordPress and love the customisability.
I run my music persona website on WordPress - www.ebauche.net and now I'm moving my personal blog over there as well.
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
@ciotog: Heh. Yeah, sometimes I think I spend more time fiddling with settings and customising things then I do actually writing anything!
That's one of the advantages of the hosted solutions - less customisation options - might focus you more on writing.
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
I use blogger because I'm completely ignorant about how to go about setting up the other ones. Now I own the domain, own the hosting package with blacknight etc but I'm afraid of losing my few readers, the posts and especially the comments as there seems to be no easy way of exporting them.
I've always said I'll move when I get serious about blogging, though that time seems to be now.
1 year, 5 months ago by darraghd
For someone without a blog I'm surprisingly experienced in wordpress configuration. I've setup about 4 different false starts at a personal blog using WP. Installing the wordpress code has been the easy bit. (Only hitch I've met is redirects using .htaccess files)
Actually writing content is where I've come unstuck.
1 year, 5 months ago by dbannon
lol .. WP setup is extremely straightforward - the blog content part is hard
1 year, 5 months ago by ciotog
Thanks guys for all the advice / opinions - you've given my plenty to consider and I see a fair bit of research on the horizon. cheers
1 year, 5 months ago by eske
Used various Userland products (Frontier, RadioUserland and Manila) since 1997, switched to WP a bit over three years ago and been holding steady. Can't imagine moving from it unless it goes to heck.
1 year, 5 months ago by keoladonaghy
I checked with 6apart and you can access all of your Vox content via Atom or AtomPub
1 year, 5 months ago by mneylon
@mneylon - that sounds good - does that mean I can download all my posts?
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
@mneylon: I'm not sure about this. I had a look at the full Atom feed from my Vox site and it does the standard most recent 10 posts - full content within that, but certainly not the way to get 200+ posts out of there.
1 year, 5 months ago by alexleonard
after slowly wading thru all the comments and advice i got re: blog setup and hosting I'm a little closer to a decision. But i have a few more questions. @donncha would you mind if i emailed you a list of 8 (mostly yes or no) questions in relation to wordpress.com - is that cool?
1 year, 5 months ago by eske
Guys can you confirm if any of the following questions have a NO answer? (and advanced apologies if these are total newb questions) but ... if i setup a new blog on wordpress.com 1. can i use my own domain name? and does it have 2. rss feeds 3. moderated comments 4. feeds for comments 5. tag cloud 6. ability to export (including comments) 7. is it viewable to all browsers ( IE FF safari) 8. what about viewable to mobile browsers ( i.e. opera mini ) Sorry for being a complete pain. cheers eske
1 year, 5 months ago by eske
anyone ... anyone... Bueller .... Bueller ..... :)
1 year, 5 months ago by eske
@eske, here you are! I can't answer all those questions but I think it's yes... @alexleonard Sorry I missed your comment. I have bought debbiemet.com (too stingey for .ie!) and think I will move across (I already have two domains). And yes, content is my problem too - I'm stuck! Good luck with it, eske.
1 year, 5 months ago by debbiemet