Many of us started on Blogger, used it for years, and then moved up to Wordpress. Wordpress does a great job of importing Blogger blogs -- so you can do this without loosing your old posts.
Blogger's great because it's so easy. It's also completely free when you use blogspot to store the site. There are a lot of templates (both at Blogger and on the web), and each templates is one page of code, so if you know something about css + xhtml, you can customize it like crazy by changing that code. I think that's a great way to learn what's going on with css + xhtml. It's also fairly easy to understand what's going on with blogger after you've spent a lot of time with it. Wordpress (downloaded at wordpress.org) is good because it has categories and other more sophisticated features (you can make a calendar, you can control commenting to a greater degree, you can control what other people who are posting to the blog can + can't do to a greater degree... lots of features, and even more if you install plug-ins.) It's also free, but you install the wordpress software onto your own server space -- so that requires some money and a much deeper understanding of how the web works (what's a server, what's ftp, how do you open and modify a config file, how to you run an installation across the web... all cool stuff to learn, and you learn by doing it.) You can upload and specify a new template -- and there are also many free ones out on the internet. If you want to modify the template you've chosen, then it gets much much harder -- this requires a lot more knowledge, of php, and of being able to sort through dozens of files to find which one has the specs you want to change. In general, Wordpress is more powerful, but it requires a lot more in the way of skills and commitment to the set-up process. Wordpress.com is new, free, and just getting started. It's Wordpress' answer to the easy of use of Blogger. And a way that many more people will use all-free, easy-to-understand tools. But right now it's by invitation only, and you can only use their eight pre-selected templates. There's no way you can switch out the template (yet). You can change some colors on your template, and play around with a couple specs, but that's not much. As a web-designer who likes to see people make their own thing, this limitation keeps me from recommending it (for now -- this will change. But for now, it stinks! We are about to get _really_ tired of seeing those eight templates -- and most are fairly ugly.) I use Wordpress for my blogs, and I use both wordpress and blogger when installing blogs into other people's sites (depending on whether or not they need the extra features and whether or not they are paying me enough to justify the extra time it takes to redesign a wordpress template.) I recommend Blogger to anyone who is just getting started and hasn't already mastered xhtml, css and php, and to anyone who doesn't have their own server space. jen On Oct 4, 2005, at 9:42 AM, Pete Prodoehl wrote: > LeanBackVids.com wrote: >> Comparing the standard Blogger sytem to WordPress is a little unfair. >> With Blogger, you're limited to what the service provides. With >> WordPress, you can customize the app to your liking and WP has tons of >> plugins that extend its capabilities. >> >> I highly recommend WordPress, but it requires you to have your web >> host. For free solutions, Blogger is useful. > > Unless you are talking about WordPress.com, which is a hosted service > just like Blogger, but um, using WordPress... > > (Right now WordPress.com is invitation only though, so you can't just > go > and sign up.) > > Pete > > -- > http://tinkernet.org/ > videoblog for the future... ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/T8sf5C/tzNLAA/TtwFAA/lBLqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
