Bucky in Butterflies
Another day with the computer here … As you know, shortly I will be setting up blogs for a couple of friends. So I have to know what I am doing and what the choices are. Toady I set a blog up at WordPress – they are hosting it. The address is dianeclancy.wordpress.com and the other new one is dianeclancy.blogspot.com (yesterday’s work.)
Bucky in Butterflies, Digital © Diane Clancy
It has actually been quite fun seeing the differences among the 3 choices. On this WordPress blog, that I host on my site, I can make lots of adaptations very easily because I can get right in to the guts of the code and tweak things to my heart’s content.
But on the Blogger blog, there are drop and drag templates that are quite simple to use. They have a lot of flexibility and you don’t need to know html to use this site. – (You don’t need to know html to host WordPress on your own site either – I want to make that clear.) – But I was frustrated at various times when I tried to make things happen that just weren’t going to happen. And I had to learn exactly how to work within its quirks – and when to give up.
The blog that is hosted on the WordPress site is interesting. They give you a dynamite set of templates right there. (So does Blogger) It is widget based so you can tweak the sidebar to your full delight. But I couldn’t figure out to add the little symbol for being on the Esty Sellers Ring. I don’t think I can do that there … I will have to make a widget (if I can) to make that happen.
So, it has been quite a journey going into the 3 cultures of these blogs. Thank you for traveling with me. Thank you to those who commented on the other blogs!
~ Diane Clancy
Technorati Tags: WordPress, Blogger, html
Have you tried TypePad? They don’t have a free plan, but their lowest cost plan is only $4.95/month and I have heard good things. I have my doubts that it could be better than WordPress, but you never know!
I haven’t tried TypePad. I know when I first went looking into blogs, it was recommended to use either TypePade or WordPress. I started at Alyson’s site and read everything everyone had written about choosing how to blog.
Given that WordPress is free and TypePad starts at $4.95/month, I can use the $60/year on art supplies or programs. Thank you, though, for the suggestion.
This area, where I get most of my clients is rich in artists and activists and low in cash. So I know people are going to want to not spend the extra money – especially because blogging at all feels like a leap.
I agree with you, Chris, how could TypePad be better!
~ Diane Clancy
The other thing that I meant to say about different types of blogs – even though Blogger wasn’t one of the types of blogs that was recommended by people, clearly many, many artists choose to use Blogger. So I think it is important to offer that as a choice to people (especially artists) that I am helping.
And when someone like Neda suggests that I should share hints on how to set up blogs, then I want to know Blogger more completely to be more helpful!
~ Diane Clancy
I’ve written wordpress.com (the hosted version) and blogger blogs also – wordpress.org (I host it myself) is by far the my favorite option. (and I too have never checked out typepad – why pay for what I can get for free).
Wordpess (both versions) has akismet for spam – which totally rocks. Typepad and blogger blogs use word verification to get around this problem – which is annoying to the end user. For that reason alone I would recommend wordpress.
Diane, you are so prolific I can’t keep up!! Do you have a double 🙂 ??? Couple of notes, Couldn’t link from this page to your other blogs (first para in this post). Maybe it’s my computer…
Hi Lisa,
I agree I like WordPress the best. I much prefer the host myself kind though. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is possible on the one hosted vy them. It is fine, but it is so much more flexible to host WordPress yourself! So glad I chose it to begin with. Lisa, I often look at your site for ideas on how to set things up – because I like your site so much.
I agree, why pay for what you can get for free. I too get annoyed by those captcha verification things … but some of my favorite sites have them. WordPress!
~ Diane Clancy
Hi Neda,
Thanks for catching that! There were extra “http://” before each of the addresses in the links. So it is now fixed and safe to try.
Thank you! And for going over to check out the others …
~ Diane Clancy