Saturday, January 10, 2009

Choosing a Blogging Platform

In my experience as a blogger, choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the most important decisions that you can make. The right platform can make blogging a breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a burden. Because the program that you use to blog with is such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is well worth putting in the time to find a platform that provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly interface and a flexible framework that allows you to make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right platform isn't always easy, but with a little bit of contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use versus customization. Most highly customizable blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more difficult to use than very automated platforms like Wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to create a custom background design or to integrate a unique font into your template in order to find a program that will be easy for you to use. On the other hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge of html or javascript, you will probably find the limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is objectively the best platform, because every blogger has unique needs. The blogging movement is very much about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that there would be many different platforms available that are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will almost certainly be able to find a program that suits your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same thing from a blogging platform can make your search for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading reviews of different platforms, try to keep your priorities in mind and do your best to take into account the position that the reviewer is coming from. For example, a negative review written by an accomplished software designer who complains that a popular platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so instead of looking for the "best" platform, look for the best platform for your specific criteria.

So far. I have used three blogging platforms - blogger or blogspot, Wordpress and blogengine. For a live demo of the different platforms visit these sites:

1) This site, aspacio.net is an example of a blog that uses blogger/blogspot as a platform on a custom domain. The hosting is free because the blogging platform provides that.

2) Rapid-DebtReduction.com is an example of a blog that uses Wordpress as a platform and it is not free hosted.

3) TotalDetox.net is an example of a blog that uses blogengine as a platform. It's not free hosted, too. My say on this platform is that in terms of the widgets, this is very limited.

Jeff

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't understand the concluding part of your article, could you please explain it more?

Anonymous said...

You have tested it and writing form your personal experience or you find some information online?