Topic: Which blogging Solution is best?

[animecyberrat]

I have more experience with 360 and Wordpress than anything but I am really starting to dislike Myspace and need a better solution. Anyone have an idea of what blogging software is the best for ease of use and customization?

[Shift Key]

Ease of use: Wordpress - you can get your own space for free.

Customisation: Need more information about this. Wordpress supports plugins and themes, but more complicated customisation will require a knowledge of PHP and HTML.

[decoyman]

I use LiveJournal, but that's mostly because I have friends who were already there. And it now sucks a bit more, because they no longer allow "free" accounts - only paid and ad-sponsored.

I'm grandfathered in, so I have my free, ad-free account, and it's great. Don't know how intrusive the ads are or what, but there's definitely a lot of customization you can do with free templates.

[animecyberrat]

Well I have used Word Press before, and Yahoo does support it so it is an option. However, I am picky, I want the blog to match the theme of the site as closely as possible. I spent a three full days customizing the forums to get them to match the site, you should check it out I've come along way since rats collectibles and GJ.


Bottom line, I want a blog that theme is easy to customize to match the look of the site as well as implement the right ads. I know there are widgets for amazon ads and google but none of the themes I have support widgets and I hate looking for themes.



If you check out the link in my sig, to the myspace you can see how closely I got the Myspace blog to match my site's look, that is what I want. If I knew how to modify the css or php I would do that. html is not so bad, I can usually find what I am looking for, but with php especially the wording is just technical sometimes. This will be the fourth blog I have tried to install, if I end up using Word Press I want it to look right, otherwise I will be forced to stick with Myspace for a while. The only draw back to Myspace, and blogger/ Yahoo 360 for that matter, is the inability of implementing my own ads. Also myspace is garbage anyways.

[Shift Key]

Bottom line, I want a blog that theme is easy to customize to match the look of the site as well as implement the right ads. I know there are widgets for amazon ads and google but none of the themes I have support widgets and I hate looking for themes.

You're probably going to have to write the CSS yourself then. If you're getting the hang of HTML then its probably time to look at CSS because CSS itself is, basically, applying style information to HTML pages. You'll save yourself a lot of time once you get the hang of it, because you can put the CSS in its own file and not have to worry about changing the HTML page when you change the style of the page.

As for the custom ads, I can't remember how easy it is to build your own for Wordpress. I did try running a customised Wordpress blog but in the end got fed up with working with PHP, so I started looking at .NET based blogging software.

I can usually find what I am looking for, but with php especially the wording is just technical sometimes.

Curse these programming languages and their techno-babble.

This will be the fourth blog I have tried to install, if I end up using Word Press I want it to look right, otherwise I will be forced to stick with Myspace for a while. The only draw back to Myspace, and blogger/ Yahoo 360 for that matter, is the inability of implementing my own ads. Also myspace is garbage anyways.

I don't think you're going to get that level of customisation without having to do significant additional work, most of it technical.

[animecyberrat]

CSS gave me a massive headache. I read every article you suggested and not one of them made it sound as easy as you do. Wordpress uses CSS, and the easiest way I have found to edit that is manually download the images, recolor them in paint (I don't have anything better but it usually does the trick) and then upload the file without changing the name so that I don't have to change the code.

If I had a template to work with and all I had to do was change the values of the hex colors I would be all set.

so I started looking at .NET based blogging software.

What specifically do you use or would you suggest? I am willing to dig in and do this right but only as long as it doesn't screw up on me. Or as long as it works with my host.

[Shift Key]

CSS gave me a massive headache. I read every article you suggested and not one of them made it sound as easy as you do. Wordpress uses CSS, and the easiest way I have found to edit that is manually download the images, recolor them in paint (I don't have anything better but it usually does the trick) and then upload the file without changing the name so that I don't have to change the code.

I think something got  lost in the translation. CSS doesn't have anything to do with images. Have a read of this and see if things are still unclear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

so I started looking at .NET based blogging software.

What specifically do you use or would you suggest? I am willing to dig in and do this right but only as long as it doesn't screw up on me. Or as long as it works with my host.

The issues you are facing are independent of any the actual software:
1. Customisation is important. You are looking to modify the theme and add in your own components. You're not going to be able to get that sort of functionality in a WYSIWYG blog tool - you're going to have to do it yourself.
2. If you are going down that path of "building components yourself" you will need to get the hang of a programming language. Whether it is as simple as Javascript (most advertising widgets support can be as good as "drop this code on the page") or actually having to get into a full programming language like PHP or .NET.
3. Your host will need to support the blog software (PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/IIS are the most common choices I've seen).

Having said all that, a couple of .NET based blog software I've come across are:

dasBlog: http://www.dasblog.info/
BlogEngine.NET: http://www.dotnetblogengine.net/
Presstopia (haven't used this one): http://presstopia.com/dnn/default.aspx
Others: http://csharp-source.net/open-source/bloggers

I've enjoyed working with the .NET stuff more because its been easier (for me) to integrate new stuff into the code base. I also hosted the site myself, so I could run whatever I wanted - I just had to support it. Your mileage may vary.

[Bloodworth]

I've been happy with xanga.com for years. I think myspace is the worst, but it's where the most people are so you're most likely to find your friends there. But you're talking about a professional level with ads and all that so I don't know what would be best for you.

[animecyberrat]

I think something got  lost in the translation.

No, I know all that, what I am talking about is changing the background images. I figured out how to do that and how to find the hex color codes and change those manually. The problem is I don't always know what I am changing so it is all trial and error.


What I was talking about was how I edited the theme for the forums. The forums are also in php and I figured those out, but it was a pain in the neck. With Word Press it is different, I can't just change the values in the fields because all the information is contained in a style sheet, and I haven't learned how to read those.


With phpbb all I had to do was go through each table, row and column one at a time and change the colors until I got the right patterns. For the areas that used small .gif images, I just downloaded those, and edited them to match the theme myself. That was the easiest part.

Your host will need to support the blog software (PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/IIS are the most common choices I've seen).

PHP/MySQL are supported, I haven't read anything at all about .NET.

Currently I have enough experience with Word Press I think I can achieve what I want with that, I was just hoping there would be an easier way to do it, but apparently there is not, so I am going to have to continue learning php or something. I do greatly appreciate all your help though and I do take your suggestions seriously. What I might end up doing is just download a theme that supports widgets and then edit the theme myself. It will be a nightmare but I can get through it.

[Shift Key]

With phpbb all I had to do was go through each table, row and column one at a time and change the colors until I got the right patterns.

I just cried. That's the entire point of the stylesheets - to avoid having to go in and modify the emitted HTML line-by-line.

If you're going for Wordpress, have a look at how their themes work (i think they had some tutorials on their site), and perhaps find one that is close to what you want before you modify it. Good luck!

[DAaaMan64]

LOL CSS, the HTML way

[animecyberrat]

I didnt' edit the html, phpbb has a built in theme editor, that was what I meant.

[animecyberrat]

I decided to stick with Myspace for now. I wanted to go with Word Press because I have experience with it, but I have been burned too many times by that **** that I am just skeptical about it.

[ThePerm]

rat seems less weird on video

[animecyberrat]

I am now worried about what video you are talking about.