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Blogging Software


kscearce

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Ok, I'm trying to figure out what sort of BLOG software I should get for a friend's website that I'm getting ready to build. She'll be hosting with TCH ( I told her :) :)) and I want to make sure that I install a BLOG software that is good quality, limited on problems, gives me updated bug fixes to eliminate SPAM assaults and in general provides both of us with good quality, low maintenance, inexpensive BLOG software.

 

Does anyone have suggestions? Is there specific BLOG software that TCH recommends for use on their servers to make my choice easier?? If TCH doesn't have a recommendation, can someone recommend a BLOG software that even a dummy could install and maintain?

 

Thanks!

 

Monica

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I've used Blogger and posted it to my TCH account, migrated to Movable Type and it wasn't bad (version 2.661) but prone to spam attacks. The latest version has been patched to help combat spam attacks I believe. Now I use Wordpress with the Spam Karma plugin and couldn't be happier.

 

But which blogging software you choose is your choice. :)

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I'm happy enough wtih Blogger.com. I created a subdomain with a matching FTP account. That way FTP access was restricted to my blogger subdomain.

 

It works great, and you don't have to install/maintain any extra software. If blogger is sufficient, then this is a really easy way to go.

 

Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

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Guest Serpentine

Thanks for posting this. I completely forgot about my blog and you reminded me to update it. By the way, I agree with Thomas and Bruce about Wordpress. I have tried a couple of them and find it easiest on an old man like me. Ultimately, the couice is yours. Why not download a couple of tham and give it a go playing around with them? Then you can make up your mind.

Edited by Serpentine
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I started with LiveJournal which is junk. Then I switched to Blogger which isn't junk, but it's not very powerful and was often down, making updates difficult. Then I switched to Moveable Type which I found very easy to install, customize and use. Although I wasn't unhappy with MT I switched to WordPress just for kicks, and I definitely like it better. Setup is easier (seriously less than five minutes for the basic install, but customizing can be a lifelong process), lots of good plugins, it's dynamic which means updates and changes are faster (I know MT has a dynamic option, but setup is not as easy), it's all free, and it uses PHP which is a little easier for me to screw with than MT's Perl.

 

If you get into trouble with whatever choice you make, there's a boatload of knowledge available in the forums here.

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  • 5 months later...

I am about to start a blog. Total blog newbie! It will be of local (Santa Barbara, CA) interest, probably mostly political issues that affect the city and area. I have chosen a name (but haven't registered it yet.) And am now thinking about blogging software. This month's MacWorld discussed several and I was about to choose MT until I read the raves here about Word Press. I have several questions:

 

1) I do want there to be comments and discussion - does WP allow this?

 

2) I may have it on several topics --- starting, first, with election issues and then after the election is over in Nov., other issues --- can I have several blogs on my one web site? (MacWorld article said that I'd have to download the software each time,b ut maybe I didn't understand

 

3) I will have photos on the blog and am somewhat familiar with Dreamweaver - is WP good for photos and would I use DW?

 

 

...Initially, I had thought on using MT - and went to their site, saw their reccommended hosting companies, but because I have my pelican site (pelicanlife.org) hosted by TCH --- and TCH was absolutely great about helping me set it up, I definitely will choose TCH for my blog. (I should note, too, that I wrote the help desk this morning re blogs and got an amazingly prompt response back from Abdul Hakeem, pointing me to these forums and saying, yes, TCH did host blogs. ...I would post a hand-clapping icon here but dragging it brought only the code, not the picture.)

 

Any - all guidance most gratefully welcomed!

 

excitedly (about entering the world of blogs) <g>

Betsy

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1) I do want there to be comments and discussion - does WP allow this?
Yes, you can have comments.

 

2) I may have it on several topics --- starting, first, with election issues and then after the election is over in Nov., other issues --- can I have several blogs on my one web site?

You can install multiple copies of WP each in their own subfolder. You can also have categories within the blog itself.

 

3) I will have photos on the blog and am somewhat familiar with Dreamweaver - is WP good for photos and would I use DW?

You can upload photos with WP. There are also plugins that you can install that will work as a gallery with WP. Haven't done that but have uploaded photos to my WP blog.

 

The best thing to do is install it and play with it. If it's not what you want you have only wasted a little bit of time.

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The best thing to do is install it and play with it. If it's not what you want you have only wasted a little bit of time.

 

Sounds good. Thank you! I have registered the name and signed up with TCH for hosting - and am waiting for the site to become active so that I can get the blog going. :cool2:

 

Betsy

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As for using photos on your blog, here is a WordPress blog by a fellow TCH family membor, Trevor Riehl:

 

http://riehl.ca/

 

Look at how he has created a photo blog using WordPress. So, this is a great example of how WordPress allows you to do pictures, if you want.

 

You'll probably have to find a theme that is specifically designed to do a photo blog, like Trevor's, if that is what you want to do, because the basic WordPress theme probably won't do what you want. But just because it isn't in the basic WP theme, doesn't mean you can't do it!

 

If you want to see what other WordPress users are doing out there, you might try googling the phrase (with quotes):

 

"powered by wordpress"

 

Since lots of WordPress users leave this phrase on their blogs, searching for this phrase will direct you to a bunch of WordPress blogs. If you find something that you like on somebody's site, you can always write them for informaiton on how they did it. That's how I got the theme for my blog. I found another of Trevor's blogs online, and I really liked it, so I wrote to Trevor asking what theme he had used, and he sent me the theme files. I modified them slightly, and now I have my theme, which I really like.

 

Anyway, if you want more WordPress help, we have a WordPress theme here on TCH. Ask away! If we can't help you, there is always wordpress.org.

 

Good luck with your WP blog!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

As I understand it, TCH doesn't have control over what cPanel bundles or makes available. As long as we use cPanel, we are pretty much stuck with whatever cPanel provides for automatic installations.

 

Maybe I'm wrong here, or misunderstanding, though... If so, somebody will be along and correct me.

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And, to be honest, WordPress is a VERY EASY install and upgrade. Its not THAT much harder to install it yourself.

 

Try it; its easier than you think its going to be! If you get stuck or have a question, pop over to the WordPress forum (here at TCH) and we'll help out.

 

You can do it. I promise.

 

I think I could even talk my grandmother through installing WordPress. Its that easy. And she doesn't even have an e-mail account. (Ok. Maybe my grandma couldn't do it. (Sorry Grandma.) But if you can subscribe to and post to a TCH forum, then we can get you going on WordPress. No problem ) :)

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