Don't Try This At Home

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Curiouser and Curiouser

I have not really blogged since February 2. There are reasons...I was afraid I was becoming addicted (a bummer part of my personality) so I made myself quit for a few days. I'm currently writing a post about the seedy underbelly of blog addiction--should be ready this week. We had dates, birthday parties, playdates, etc. I immersed myself in those and refused to blog. I lasted until Saturday night. And I don't have a problem so BACK OFF. I can quit whenever I want! I am in control. Do you hear me? ME. And I'm choosing to blog not the other way around. This dog's wagging her own tail. Er. You know what I mean.

Um, where was I? Oh yes. I lasted until last night. I spent yesterday evening and a small portion of today trying to figure out Word Press. I have spent the better part of the afternoon today trying to figure out how to use TypePad. Why? Because I'm thinking of making THE SWITCH.

I was having a little trouble logging in this weekend and Shannon has been having all kinds of trouble with her page. She changed to TypePad this weekend and seems to really like it. Make sure you check out her new site and add it to your links.

Anyway, I would like to hear what everyone thinks. To recap:

Blogger is free, but it's not always up.
TypePad seems to be usable with a learning curve, but it costs money to be able to manipulate your code (read: OH NO! I may lose my fantastic, wicked-cool juggling red head!).
Word Press is also free to me and is included in a server package I have for my extended family's web site. However, I keep looking at it and I can't seem to figure it out! The frustration factor is large.

What are you using? How did you choose that service? Would you switch? Why? Please weigh in on this matter. You know how I get. I won't let it go. Seriously. Tell me.

12 Comments:

At 8:36 PM, Heth said...: I'm sticking with the free Blogger, but only until they tick me off really really bad.
At 8:49 PM, Anonymous said...: Disclaimer - I only have about 14 months of blogging under my belt - 11 of them "rolling my own" with Frontpage, and 3 of them using Wordpress.

I have never used Moveable Type, but I'm having a good experience with Wordpress. This may be because I am using a hosting service (Dreamhost) that has automated tools for software installation, version upgrades, and database maintenance. Much of the nasty configuration tasks are kept away from me, as they should be. Depending on your host, your mileage may vary.

If you go with Typepad, you'll have a similar situation as I do, only using MT instead of Wordpress. Some of my friends use MT and love it as much as I love Wordpress.

You don't need to know much about XHTML and CSS it to use Wordpress or MT - there are several excellent templates free for the taking. However, I don't believe the learning curve for CSS is all that steep. Get yourself a good web reference (recommendation: http://www.mandarindesign.com) or a good book (recommendation: HTML for the World Wide Web, 5th Edition by Elizabeth Castro).

Don't be afraid to experiment. As long as you're not trying to use black text on a brown backdrop, people will stick around for the content, no matter how plain your template appears.

You seem to have latched onto enough knowledge to customize Blogger, so it sounds like you're on your way. In addition, your pal Shannon knows what she's doing, and anyone who you trust with your sewing machine can certainly be trusted with your blog.

Good luck, and be sure to leave a forwarding address!
At 7:56 AM, Linsey Farley Jameson said...: My name is Linsey, and I am a blogoholic.

Admitting it is the first step, right??? Love your blog, wherever you decide to be I will be back.
At 9:00 AM, Anonymous said...: We use WordPress. You have to be pretty skilled if you want to do any customizing. Thankfully my hubby enjoys coding.
At 9:18 AM, Chase said...: Perfect timing for this post! We must be on the same cycle. ;)

I am a blogspot user, too, and am in the process of making the switch. I bought my own domain name and everything (only $8.95 a year, why not??).

I paid for ($70) and downloaded Movable Type yesterday because everyone said it was the way to go, but honestly couldn't even figure out how to install it, it was so "tech". No clue. And I'm fairly good at HTML stuffs. I got a refund...but not before spending about 8 hours in frustrated tears and drinking an entire bottle of wine.

I might stick with blogspot now...heh.
At 10:20 AM, Chase said...: I know you don't know me because I'm a fairly new reader, but here I go, double commenting.

I just wanted to tell you that I found an EASY way to do the site if you're willing to spend a LITTLE bit of money. I bought my domain (tastetheworld.org) from godaddy ($8.95). Then I hosted it on Yahoo Small Business Hosting ($9 a month, I think). The Yahoo includes Movable Type for free and it's already installed/set up for you...all you have to do is play around with the information.

I say it's mighty worth it. Especially if you have any blogads or AdSense...it pays for itself. Besides, wouldn't you love to say chilihead.com instead of all that other junk? :)
At 8:51 PM, Isabella said...: No thoughts on switching blog services, but I am a recovering blog-o-holic too and can totally relate!
--Mel
At 9:20 PM, Anonymous said...: Hi Chilihead,
I just wanted to stop by and say Hi quickly while your site was up. If I was going to use blogger I'd pick the name
http://intermittent.blogspot.com
Sorry, I'm a little grumpy when I don't get my fix and blogger has been down a lit much lately. Addicted, not me!
At 9:22 PM, Anonymous said...: One more thing, I can't find any feeds for your site... is it me?
At 8:11 AM, Anonymous said...: I try to limit my blogging to after breakfast and bath and during R's nap. T doesn't take a nap anymore so he just hangs out and harrasses me. It's cool, no prob.

I recently switched to TP after I had my son and the general subject matter of my blog had changed...wanted to try something new, TP has a small charge...but blogger really pisses me off.
Good luck.
At 8:29 AM, Rachelle said...: I use blogger because it is free. And can we start a blogger anonymous? I shoudl be working right now, but instead I am surfing the blogs!
At 10:57 AM, Kathryn Thompson said...: I'm using blogger but thinking of switching to Blogsome. I hear it's great and also free. Heather and Karli recently switched there and are loving it. It has a lot of the features of TypePad and uses wordpress templates. I see it in my future now that I can finally say I'm serious about this blogging thing.