I’m currently preparing for a presentation on learning how to blog and learning from other’s blogs and so that is exactly what I’m doing. I’m surfing around looking at blogs that I’ve only been reading in the past to dive a little deeper into some of the tools/widgets that seem most common. Looking to see if there is a standard length of a post….doesn’t appear so. Looking at the use of colour and fonts. Has the blogger modified the standard template to their own or are they content with the format offered?
Another big thing I’m trying out is to see how different Blogger is from WordPress. To me they seem quite similar in what they offer. Each has it’s merits though and I can see quite easily why someone might choose one over the other. Blogger seems a little more streamline to me and I haven’t yet been dissatisfied with it as a tool. However, I can see how someone that prefers more of a standard webpage feel might like WordPress with its tabs and embedded pages.
I’m curious to know, if anyone would like to share, why they may have changed from one tool to another. If so where you happy with the change? Did you stick with the change or go back? I’m very curious about this last question as I have tried setting up a mirror blog on WordPress and it’s okay, but I think I’m going to stick to my Blogger version.
Kia ora Tracy!
I wrote web pages for years. I built the most complicated web resources imaginable. I was into html, as well as DreamWeaver, PhotoShop/ImageReady, html scripting, Flash, the lot. When I decided to start a blog, I looked around and chose Blogger.
Though there were limitations, I found it robust, with a fair range of templates – which were customisable. I did a bit of tweaking on the template I first chose. I guess you could say I wasn’t innovative enough. But I’m old and conservative, right? So I wasn’t looking for somefing weely wizzy anyway.
I now know a few of the shortcomings of Blogger, and to be honest, I could live with them. This is the year 2009. Blogger isn’t going to be the same for the next 20 years – there’ll be updates and improvements – they’re happening all the time.
If I made a list of all the advantages and disadvantages of Blogger over a range of other blog types I really don’t think there would be much between any of them.
So why should I change? I’ve had a few people try to convince me otherwise. I haven’t been tempted yet.
Catchya later
from Middle-earth
I use both for different blogs. Blogger’s come a long way since I first started using it.
I find customizing templates (adding code, widgets, etc) much easier in Blogger.
WordPress is great for multi-page blogs / sites. On my other blog I have an intro page, a link page and the main blog / content page. I also prefer WordPress’ in-blog search function over Blogger’s.
Tracy – love the blog and enjoying the LMS implementation diary. I feel your pain. 🙂
Thanks to both Ken and Wendy for your comments. I admit I’m a Google girl and like most of their tools and use them frequently. I too am quite happy with Blogger and one of the things I liked over WordPress was the simplicity of it really.
It’s not that I find WordPress any more difficult to navigate around, but I could see someone with a little less computer knowldege fumbling a bit. One thing I really like about Blogger was the customizing. I get bored of the same look all the time and being able to tinker with the background now and then is, well frankly, fun.
Thank you for your input, it’s greatly appreciated.
Hi Tracy,
I assume you’ve seen the resources around blogging from the workliteracy.ning.com course. Some good stuff there. And you can follow the delicious.com/tag/wlning to get to a bunch collected by folks.
On WP vs. Blogger, I generally tell people that if they are concerned with things being easy then Blogger is better. If they want more long term power, better SEO, etc. then a copy of WP is better. Using a wordpress.com blog does not allow scripts to be run, which is a major bummer.
I’ll chime in as a WordPress user who’s had blogs for just over three years.
My knowledge of Blogger is limited; I found it clumsier to work with than WP. At the time, I’d used WP for maybe two months, so I wasn’t doing much in the way of customization or tweaking.
For a newcomer, the real question is: can you get your blog going with platform X? I think the answer’s “yes” in either case, but the newcomer’s the person who has to decide.
Based on the sites I see using exactly the same Blogger theme (layout), I’d say WP offers a wider array if you’re using the hosted sites (Blogger.com, WordPress.com). And if you’re hosting your own, there’s no contest.
(This from a guy who’s kept the same theme for three years.)
Once a person becomes comfortable with the basics (writing a post, writing a static page [like ‘about’], managing comments), WP offers a vast array of plug-ins. These are free, downloadable programs to manage a specific task.
Thanks to plug-ins, I have a “preview comments” button, a blog backup tool, an MP3 player to insert into a post, a way to ban spammers by IP address — all without needing to know any PHP code. (Some plugins do involve a little tinkering with code, though.)
Thanks to the great Head First HTML book, I learned to modify the CSS for my blog. (Keep in mind: I was an English major, not a programmer.) I’ve done the kind of tweaking I like: changing font size for titles, say, or creating a custom paragraph style to display credits for CC photos I use.
One choice I’m glad I made: I host my blog on my own domain. This gives me more freedom of movement than I’d have at a hosted site like Blogger or WordPress.com (though I see WP now has the options to pay a small fee in order to, say, edit your CSS).
I am no expert, Tracy, but if you want to talk about the mechanics of WordPress, let me know.