Blogger Vs WordPress for making your website [Archive]

View Full Version : Blogger Vs WordPress for making your website

anotherquizshow

Nov 24th, 2005, 08:08 AM

Art a GoGo

Nov 26th, 2005, 01:07 PM

You can with Wordpress, but I'm not sure about Blogger. What are other people using beyond Wordpress and Blogger? Maybe it's me, but Wordpress isn't very user friendly.

I would like to find a Blogging program that is easy to modify on the fly (i.e. make HTML changes) without having to mess around with the core files in Wordpress.

Any suggestions?

Doug

anotherquizshow

Nov 26th, 2005, 01:52 PM

Jeff from thisandthatpodcast.com uses Blogger for their website. In the settings there's a way to publish your files to your hosted site, and I think alot of people do this.

I think Blogger has more options than Wordpress, and it seems easier to use.

I'm still tinkering with both, but I would like to hear what others are doing.

Thanks.
Michael

X Pat Radio

Nov 26th, 2005, 01:57 PM

Art a GoGo

Nov 26th, 2005, 02:34 PM

Agree, Wordpress is really simple to install. Is there an easy way (maybe a plug-in) to modify the sidebar in Wordpress to add HTML (image link w/HTML) on the fly?

WildeGeek

Nov 27th, 2005, 12:43 AM

Even easier IMHO than Wordpress is Blosxom (http://www.blosxom.com/). That's what I'm using on my site (http://www.wildebeat.net/).

Blosxom (pronounced blossom) is a very simple and zen-like perl script. It only does the most basic stuff out of the box, but there's a major collection of plug-ins (http://www.blosxom.com/plugins/) that allow you to customize it to do a whole range of radically different things.

With Blosxom, you deal directly with text files containing your posts and templates. There's no getting lost in a web based gui to lay out your pages. You have tremendous control over the look of your pages. You can have it automatically generate not only your RSS and HTML, but if you can think of some other new or special flavor, you can have it generate that as well. For example, I have a special flavor of my RSS that is served ONLY to Feedburner.

You do need command-line access to your server OS to install it and configure it, but that's no different than Wordpress. One thing that's terribly convenient about Blosxom is that it doesn't require an SQL database like Wordpress does. Another thing that's cool about it is that you can run it in static mode, which allows it to scale to very large numbers of hits, something that wordpress starts to choke on.

I can dream of a day when I might be forced to switch to something more powerful and robust, but unless my little wilderness news beat enterprise takes off faster than I can imagine, Blosxom will do what I need it to do for the forseeable future.

thebes

Nov 28th, 2005, 10:06 PM

Agree, Wordpress is really simple to install. Is there an easy way (maybe a plug-in) to modify the sidebar in Wordpress to add HTML (image link w/HTML) on the fly?

This is easy to do if you just modify the sidebar template within the theme editter. I know that the css layout combined with the php looks daunting, BUT you can just drop a normal html link in there and it works fine (in the themes I've editted). Not the friendliest GUI, but its quick and pretty painless. Be sure that the file is writable, you can set that with most ftp programs.

I've used Wordpress now for a number of different projects, and highly recommend it.

dbwilldo

Dec 2nd, 2005, 12:48 PM

Agree, Wordpress is really simple to install. Is there an easy way (maybe a plug-in) to modify the sidebar in Wordpress to add HTML (image link w/HTML) on the fly?

Been using Wordpress since v.9 and it works great for my sites. You can include an image link within the wordpress GUI by specifying the location of the image file to use. Oh yea, don't forget that Wordpress automatically includes the enclosure tag for you in your RSS! It's not iTunes compatible (but there is a plug-in for that I believe), but feedburner reads it fine.

If you find the whole template/theme system daunting, there are a whole bunch of themes ready to download and implement. Just a matter of finding the right one.

Oh yea, since I've been using Wordpress, I've had way less post that were eaten/disappear/don't show up than I did on blogger.

Corrosion

Dec 2nd, 2005, 02:41 PM

Agree, Wordpress is really simple to install. Is there an easy way (maybe a plug-in) to modify the sidebar in Wordpress to add HTML (image link w/HTML) on the fly?

This is probably more than you need, but the way http://www.terminal-labs.com works is based on a wordpress as the backbend.

The links that load content into the centered div actually toss content to a hidden iframe. Since you can load html (but not external pages) into a div the contents of that iframe are tossed to a javascript that outputs to the div. Because I ended up using feedburner anyway (because I'm lazy) I'm actually pulling the feed as HTML from there and then tossing the contents back at myself.

Wordpress backend, easy to update, doesn't look like WP at first glance. The script that does the pulling and such is actually freeware. Pretty nice stuff after I tweaked it a little for what I wanted.

While the site is functionally sound at the moment, it needs a major redesign graphically. Still, you might see if it does what you want. Offers a lot more flexibility to design if you want the simplicity of WordPress without the obvious appearance of WordPress. I like WP a lot better than Blogger personally. Partially because of how simple it is to tear off feeds by topic tag and feed that info seperately.

seek3r

Feb 3rd, 2006, 10:46 AM

For those interested in using WordPress, checkout my plugin, which makes it much easier to configure WordPress for Podcasting

http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress

ElNacho

Feb 3rd, 2006, 05:46 PM

i have to say, i like wordpress sites much better than blogger ones

Craig

Feb 3rd, 2006, 05:58 PM

You do need command-line access to your server OS to install it and configure it, but that's no different than Wordpress.
FWIW, this isn't true...you install WordPress via FTP after editing a single text file on your local computer.

Also, I'm currently evaluating WordPress as a possible move for godcast.org from Radio Userland so I'm interested in other alternatives. I did a search on Blosxom and WordPress to look for comparisons and while it turned up a ton of results for people migrating from Blosxom to WordPress there was only one in the other direction. :(

Craig

WildeGeek

Feb 3rd, 2006, 06:17 PM

You do need command-line access to your server OS to install it and configure it, but that's no different than Wordpress.
FWIW, this isn't true...you install WordPress via FTP after editing a single text file on your local computer.
I suppose it depends on who's running your server.

The one installation anybody I know has done (around Sept. '05) took them more than a man-day (on a recent RedHat version) messing with SQL database setup, getting the right versions of various PHP modules and other dependencies installed, and then there's the deep surgery you have to do in the PHP code to make the website look anything like your original vision (rather than than using the non-distinct templates that come with it).

Compared to all of that... With Blosxom you just upload a PERL script, make it executable, and start throwing text and HTML files into directories. Far less complicated in my experience.

kickasspodcast

Feb 3rd, 2006, 06:53 PM

Wordpress is uber versatile and has an equally good rep as blogger among the blogging community (from all i've read, yes this is just my interpretation), it also has a "Famous Five Minute Install" as Craig illuded to earlier....it is pretty easy if you have root access. I haven't heard of anyone having to work with it for hours to get it to work, but who knows...I would say that I see alot more podcast sites using wordpress than blogger.

I'd look at the OPML issues surrounding blogger and wordpress, alot of cool things are going on in that community, I don't always understand them though.....

Blogger or Wordpress? What no Moveable Type (http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/)?

Matthew Mullenweg (http://photomatt.net/about/) is the founding developer of wordpress, his blog is a great portal to learn more about it.

FWIW I'll be switching to wordpress soon so I may be biased. I know Blogger is hugely popular too so I don't think you'll be in bad shape either way.

Jack

enlightenedspartan

Feb 3rd, 2006, 07:11 PM

I've been "blogging" since 2001 about Michigan State Football (trust me, with our record, there is plenty to blog about).

Why bother using all these pre-fab concotions when you can use the ever-versatile Dreamweaver/Fireworks... let creativity take over!

Too much package in WordPress and Blogger; makes blog pages looks like funky-colored McDonalds across the world -- different colors, but same sandwich.

kickasspodcast

Feb 3rd, 2006, 10:53 PM

How does the feed generation work with that combo? Any planned support for OPML? I'm always interesting in learning something new... I went to your website and the only means of syndication i notice is the XML button for your podcast.

Jack

seek3r

Feb 4th, 2006, 02:12 AM

Mobasoft

Apr 21st, 2006, 02:20 PM

If you host your own domain, you can use Blogger or WordPress to make your own website....and easily too.

I like both, but what are the advantages of each?

Which would you choose for your podcasting/blogging website?

Thanks.
Michael

No matter which one you choose, you can get audio comments from your visitors if you sign-up for and plug in the MyChingo Voice Comment System

http://www.mychingo.com

Your audio messages are recorded in MP3 file format using a java applet and your membership control panel lets you review, download, delete, make public, make private, all of your messages.

From sign-up to implementation should only take 10-minutes max.
PayPal account required for sign-up - 3-day FREE trial period.

Michael