!Nomad64 Posted December 2, 2012 Share #1 Posted December 2, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello everyone, I'm balancing with the idea of having a site of my own, with a blog and a gallery. As I haven't the foggiest idea about coding, html, yadda yadda, etc, I'm oriented to pret-a-porter solutions. So far I nailed down to three alternatives, namely Google Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr. I won't ask you what's best for me. I'll know only after making my own evaluations but in order to do that I need your help. Those amongst you who chose one platform above another would be so kind to explain me what you led you to that choice? Is there any kindred soul who can highlight strengths and weaknesses of the above platforms or suggest further alternatives? Thanks in advance for yr help, Bruno Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 2, 2012 Posted December 2, 2012 Hi !Nomad64, Take a look here What platform for blogging?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
iedei Posted December 3, 2012 Share #2 Posted December 3, 2012 Hello everyone, I'm balancing with the idea of having a site of my own, with a blog and a gallery. As I haven't the foggiest idea about coding, html, yadda yadda, etc, I'm oriented to pret-a-porter solutions. So far I nailed down to three alternatives, namely Google Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr. I won't ask you what's best for me. I'll know only after making my own evaluations but in order to do that I need your help. Those amongst you who chose one platform above another would be so kind to explain me what you led you to that choice? Is there any kindred soul who can highlight strengths and weaknesses of the above platforms or suggest further alternatives? Thanks in advance for yr help, Bruno I use Wordpress (IEDEI Blog) and its really great. you can select templates and customize them OR do your own coding. Use Wordpress.com as Wordpress.org is te more hardcore self hosted version. Pros of Wordpress: -great and easy to use dashboard -customizable if you want to -good search engine performance/SEO -statistics in detail cons: -if you want to customize, you'll have to pay -takes some learning to use Tumblr is also great if you just want to post photos with less text Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 3, 2012 Share #3 Posted December 3, 2012 I think tumblr is a great option these days. There are some really good tumblr blogs combining pictures and text. You just have to find the right theme. It has the added benefit (or hindrance what ever way you look at it ) of a social network which has grown and is continuing to grow in popularity. I think that in itself would be good for anyone keeping a blog. A couple people I know rave about it's simplicity and being able to do things on the fly over mobile is a doddle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted December 3, 2012 Share #4 Posted December 3, 2012 Hi Bruno I went for Wordpress years ago when I decided to develop philipus.com into a photo site. At the time Wordpress.com didn't exist so I installed WP on my own site. Blogger and Livejournal were other options I considered but I am happy I went with WP. It is very easy to install, to skin/theme and to manage plus there are many plugins (incl for galleries and text-based blogs). Plus I've found the WP forum to be very helpful and active. Wordpress.com simplifies the process even further but is slightly restrictive in terms of customisation. Initially WP was very text-centric but over the years it's become very photo friendly. As for galleries, I've tried html5-based galleries, various plugins etc but eventually settled for Slideshow Pro fed from their Director software. Works very well for my purposes and also offers nice mobile themes too. The benefit of WP, imho, is that one can have several installations. So for my current in progress - articles.philipus.com - is just a separate WP installation on a subdomain which of course can be themed and customised separately. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted December 3, 2012 Share #5 Posted December 3, 2012 I blog via blogger (see my link below) It's easy, customisable, free. Apart from being part of Google, there's not much not to like about it really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted December 3, 2012 Share #6 Posted December 3, 2012 There is little to choose between Wordpress and Blogger. Both are very customisable with either canned themes or 3rd party templates and it is mainly a case of personal preference for the back end interface and what you want from your blog. You will be blogging in minutes with either option, but your blog will look like any other other Blogger or Wordpress blog. In their off-the-peg state, both are a bit gauche these days and do not portray a very 'professional' impression, if that is important - a bit like using a Hotmail or Gmail account for emails. Set up an externally-hosted blogsite with a relevant url using 3rd party templates and the blog goes to another level. It is the best route to develop a more 'bespoke' appearance, depending on the amount of time and money you are planning to throw at it. At the very least, it would be preferable to have a unique sub-domain as the primary url and both offer that option. Never used Tumblr or Typepad, but I know people who do and are probably happy with their choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iedei Posted December 3, 2012 Share #7 Posted December 3, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) There is little to choose between Wordpress and Blogger. Both are very customisable with either canned themes or 3rd party templates and it is mainly a case of personal preference for the back end interface and what you want from your blog. You will be blogging in minutes with either option, but your blog will look like any other other Blogger or Wordpress blog. In their off-the-peg state, both are a bit gauche these days and do not portray a very 'professional' impression, if that is important - a bit like using a Hotmail or Gmail account for emails. that's not correct. first of all Wordpress can be recoded using customized CSS and will in that case not look like any other Wordpress site. Secondly....you will surprised at how many big, large companies are basing their sites on Wordpress accounts. There are entire websites built on Wordpress these days...Blogger doesn't really compare in terms of professional use. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted December 3, 2012 Share #8 Posted December 3, 2012 The biggest issue with a blog isn't the software you use, it's getting people to read the thing. Other forms of social media are far more popular these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted December 3, 2012 Share #9 Posted December 3, 2012 The biggest issue with a blog isn't the software you use, it's getting people to read the thing. Other forms of social media are far more popular these days. Indeed. Apparently the vast majority of blogs only have one regular reader, the blogger! My blog is currently in limbo, which is the other factor, time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted December 3, 2012 Share #10 Posted December 3, 2012 ......Wordpress can be recoded using customized CSS and will in that case not look like any other Wordpress site. Secondly....you will surprised at how many big, large companies are basing their sites on Wordpress accounts. There are entire websites built on Wordpress these days...Blogger doesn't really compare in terms of professional use. Which is more or less what I said. Recoded is not the same as 'off the peg'. I'm fully aware of the commercial power of Wordpress as a platform for a blogsite. I use it myself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
honcho Posted December 3, 2012 Share #11 Posted December 3, 2012 ......Other forms of social media are far more popular these days. Social media is a very effective marketing asset for many types of business. A blog can be considered as a fast track to search engine visibility whilst FB & Twitter are more akin to a marathon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblitz Posted December 4, 2012 Share #12 Posted December 4, 2012 What about custom sites like square space? Or any of the others that advertise in camera magazines? I have been thinking of putting up a photo site first with perhaps a blog as partnof it so i am interested in what people here are saying. I saw square space at the photo plus show in new york Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted December 4, 2012 Share #13 Posted December 4, 2012 Here's my spontaneous observation fwiw. It is possible to have a good-looking online presence today - for both photos and text - using pretty much any of the myriad of tools out there. Almost all offer the same functionality out of the box and for free and most users will find the functions sufficient. The difference is how much customisation one wants in terms of extra functions and looks beyond the standard templates (and most standard templates are OK, imho). If one goes down the customisation route, then one should consider whether to do it oneself or have it coded by someone else. I did my WP site myself which took a bit of time but which was rewarding for me because it is a bit of a hobby of mine to tweak the site, make it compatible with various browsers etc. But if one doesn't want to spend the time (to learn) to customise one's site, then it's best to hire someone. There are lots of people doing this so making sure one finds a good one is paramount. I have friends who were very disappointed with the work done. Fundamental - and I don't think this can be stressed enough - to both options (that is, whether one customises oneself or hires someone) is to plan the site before embarking on making it/having it made. That makes a big difference and removes lots of headaches later on. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Pedley Posted December 5, 2012 Share #14 Posted December 5, 2012 I have used all the free ones, but always came back to Squarespace: Build a Website - Squarespace 6. It's a hosted solution, but VERY easy to use, modify etc, very stable, no programming required (but you have full customization abilities if you can/want to). They switched to Version 6 a short while ago which is still limited in functionality compared with Version 5. It also has a very "modern", flexible editor platform enabling dragging, resizing etc of "objects" such as galleries, photos, text, widgets etc. Actually, I still use Squarespace 5 (still available here: http://www.five.squarespace.com. I prefer this over the new 6 version, but that is a matter of personal choice. You can trial either versions for 14 days free of charge. Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen.w Posted December 6, 2012 Share #15 Posted December 6, 2012 Steve McCurry on blogging and using Wordpress: Iconic Photographer Steve McCurry Talks Blogging and Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted December 6, 2012 Share #16 Posted December 6, 2012 I also use squarespace, for both my professional site and my magazine. See links in my signature. I'm not blogging per se - but SS does include a blogging page structure that intergrates with the very sophisticated gallery setups. Note - my magazine issues and videos are actually hosted on other sites (ISSUU and VIMEO) with live FLASH links embedded in the squarespace structure. If you have trouble seeing them in a mobile device, that's a FLASH issue (a technical problem I still have to address) - not a squarespace issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelRabern Posted December 21, 2012 Share #17 Posted December 21, 2012 Bruno, I was looking over Tumblr just for a bit. Maybe this is a good start to explore based on you op. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted January 13, 2013 Share #18 Posted January 13, 2013 I think tumblr is a great option these days. There are some really good tumblr blogs combining pictures and text. You just have to find the right theme. It has the added benefit (or hindrance what ever way you look at it ) of a social network which has grown and is continuing to grow in popularity. I think that in itself would be good for anyone keeping a blog. A couple people I know rave about it's simplicity and being able to do things on the fly over mobile is a doddle. I have been playing around with Tumblr and have decided that I would rather stick pins in my eyes than work out how to set the thing up the way that I would want it. It is THE most confusing "thing" I have ever come across on the internet, and that's saying something. I know that others seem to have managed it, but I only have a certain number of years left and I am not sure that I am prepared to devote them to working through this thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert blu Posted January 13, 2013 Share #19 Posted January 13, 2013 I went for wordpress.com for b my small blog and I'm satisfied. Easy to adapt to your needs and with many upgrading available, if you need or desire them. robert PS: I follow a few blogs based on blogger and I do not know why, sometimes I'm unable to post comments there. Than suddenly I can do it...not sure why. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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