Blogging advice?

[Zad]

Hi guys

I am working on a personal project at the moment that I think will be of interest to quite a wide range of people who are into electronics. It has RF, digital, PCB design, embedded software and PC software involved in it, but I think it might also be of interest for people to see how a design project evolves. It won't be on video, or have a sexy forum like the EEV blog, I think a general blog format should work fine. The thing is though, which blog site to use? From what I can see, they tend to be split into two types, the blogger.com type used by political commentators and teenagers, and the more advanced ones like this which require a Linux command prompt, SQL, PHP and all the rest! I kinda need something inbetween the two, smart and professional, yet not costing much (or anything - I am a Yorkshireman with a reputation to keep!)

Any recommendations?

Mike

[GeoffS]

Most of the cheap hosting sites will provide access to Wordpress.
Depending on what you want to do, it's pretty easy software to use.

Access to the webhost is (usually) via CPanel so Linux knowledge is not required.

[EEVblog]

I know nothing about Linux, command scripts, SQL, PHP etc, but I set up my Wordpress site and Forum with a couple of mouse clicks (no, I'm not exaggerating).

As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's trivial to set up your own web site with blog, forum, shopping cart, whatever you want.

Just chose any web host that provides single click install for all the tools like Wordpress, Forums etc. Usually ones that use cPanel will have something like this.
I used to use Hostmonster.com that offers SimpleScripts. But I now use sitecloud.com that offers Softaculous.
There is no difference, they all allow you to install a blog and forum etc with a single mouse click, no knowledge required.

If you get your own web site, don't use anything but Wordpress, it's the #1 blogging tool.

So maybe $5/month for a web host, and $5/year for a domain name is all it takes. Easy and cheap.

If you want it for free, then just set up a free blog on Blogger.com

Dave.

[MrPlacid]

I don't blog and I set up a website last month and quickly took it down within a month , but the hosting company is very good. It's called pacifichost. They had the 24/7 online tech support which I tested at 3am  on the weekends. Yeah, they also had cPanel and many other stuffs.

[migsantiago]

Don't limit yourself into using a blog, there are more options such as: CMS (content management system such as Joomla), a forum (such as SMF or myBB) a plain website (if you're into manual HTML), or a blog.

I prefered Joomla because it helps you organize your articles and it uses PHP, mySQL and all that stuff without the need to worry about them. My main website uses Joomla (click).

If you just want to publish but not to spend any money, blogger.com is the answer. But if you're planning to hire your own hosting, I'd better check out more options. My blog is working on Blogger (click).

If you want to install Wordpress or Joomla or whatever else that needs PHP and databases you'd better be sure that your hosting service has cPanel installed. It's way easier to install them with a cPanel.

[wd5gnr]

I use this with one of my sites: http://www.dreamhostapps.com/ -- no interest in them other than as a customer. Works well but you need your own domain or they will do it for you or you can (I think) use some freebie extension of theirs. My son has paid them for a domain but I run my own and this is a great free solution.

Word press, Drupal, whatever you want.

[Simon]

I second Joomla! (the "!" is actually part of the name)

I use it for all my websites

[migsantiago]

I second Joomla! (the "!" is actually part of the name)

LOL 

[Simon]

I second Joomla! (the "!" is actually part of the name)

LOL 

Yea really silly, if you spell it properly people can think you are being funny

[migsantiago]

Yeah, just like Yahoo! 

[Simon]

how true, never thought of that

[Zad]

Thanks for all the comments guys! Unfortunately the financial situation here is a bit iffy, so I don't really want to commit to paying anything out each month for a blog covering a 1-off project. I already have a web host for my main site, but the buggers only support static pages unfortunately.

Dreamhostapps looks interesting, phpBB and WordPress hosting for free though? I wonder where the catch is. I will definitely give it a good think, and see what their general reputation is. For now though, I think I will jump onto Blogger.com. I really don't need a full custom Joomla site and don't have the time to learn how to drive it. Blogger It seems to be more customisable than I thought (.css editing ability notwithstanding) and it should be more easily picked up by the search engines.

Cheers!

[Simon]

try googling "meet people aged 18-30" or "make friends" or "clubs in Rushden" and see how fast you find www.rotaract1070.org.uk in the results, the site is run on Joomla!, I got the extension that allowed me to put text in the title bar and added a few relevant keywords and voila' one of the easiest to find of the Rotaract websites.

[migsantiago]

try googling "meet people aged 18-30" or "make friends" or "clubs in Rushden" and see how fast you find www.rotaract1070.org.uk in the results, the site is run on Joomla!, I got the extension that allowed me to put text in the title bar and added a few relevant keywords and voila' one of the easiest to find of the Rotaract websites.

Hey, could you please share the name of that extension? Thanks.