Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Blogger, WordPress and Blog Hell (Part 3)
Let me try and wrap this epic blog with a WordPress review. Previously, I had been using Google's Blogger as mentioned earlier. The drag-and-drop feature is awesome. Setting up a new domain and working with WordPress took a little getting used to.
The Good News: If you use GoDaddy for your domain and web hosting (yes, you need to get both of these if you wish to host your blog on your own domain name), GoDaddy has a simple installation tool for WordPress. WordPress requires the Linux plan, not the Windows hosting plan. Once you have this going, you can go to GoDaddy's Metropolis Application center. You can easily add WordPress to your account from Metropolis.
The Mistake: The mistake I made when I loaded WordPress, I used the default URL they suggest which is www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com/wordpress. This is NOT what you probably want. You want WordPress to run straight from www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com. When doing the install, get rid of the /wordpress suffix and install directly to your domain root address (if that is what you intend).
Uninstall Problem: Uninstalling WordPress in theory should be easy from your GoDaddy console. I was unsuccessful in uninstalling WordPress with the Metropolis utility, so I had to drop the database and delete the files. Not ideal.
Finally Installed Correct: So after this hassle, I reinstalled and was able to begin my WordPress adventures.
Plug-In-O-Rama: For better or for worse, you need to download a TON of plug-ins for just about anything for WordPress. Some of the ones you probably want include:
- Feedburner/Feedsmith: Allows you to feedburn your blog.
- Google Analytics Plug-In: Need this to track your site traffic w/ Google Analytics.
- SideBar Widget: This is pretty much a must-have. Allows you to display and manipulate widgets in the sidebar.
- Chicklet Creator: To display a feedburner image.
- Text Control: Good luck in dropping Javascripts into WordPress without a plug-in like this one. I wasted a LOT of time before discovering this plug-in.
I installed the MyBlogLog plugin, but something is not working right with that one. Apparantly MyBlogLog and WordPress don't play well together.
Issues:
- Manipulating images with WordPress is not intuitive.
- You need a ton of plug-ins to get some basic functionality for your Blog.
- If you wish to change your blog's presentation, you will need to have some knowledge of CSS.
That being said, the dust is settling, and WordPress is now working acceptably. You can create a powerful blog with WordPress, although not with some annoying quirks and extra trouble. I am wondering if TypePad would have been a better choice, but I am sure that TypePad has its own issues.
I am still using Google Blogger for this blog, but I am debating migrating to either WordPress or TypePad. For the time being, I am taking a break from my Blog Hell and continuing with Blogger. ¶ 9:59 PM
Let me try and wrap this epic blog with a WordPress review. Previously, I had been using Google's Blogger as mentioned earlier. The drag-and-drop feature is awesome. Setting up a new domain and working with WordPress took a little getting used to.
The Good News: If you use GoDaddy for your domain and web hosting (yes, you need to get both of these if you wish to host your blog on your own domain name), GoDaddy has a simple installation tool for WordPress. WordPress requires the Linux plan, not the Windows hosting plan. Once you have this going, you can go to GoDaddy's Metropolis Application center. You can easily add WordPress to your account from Metropolis.
The Mistake: The mistake I made when I loaded WordPress, I used the default URL they suggest which is www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com/wordpress. This is NOT what you probably want. You want WordPress to run straight from www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com. When doing the install, get rid of the /wordpress suffix and install directly to your domain root address (if that is what you intend).
Uninstall Problem: Uninstalling WordPress in theory should be easy from your GoDaddy console. I was unsuccessful in uninstalling WordPress with the Metropolis utility, so I had to drop the database and delete the files. Not ideal.
Finally Installed Correct: So after this hassle, I reinstalled and was able to begin my WordPress adventures.
Plug-In-O-Rama: For better or for worse, you need to download a TON of plug-ins for just about anything for WordPress. Some of the ones you probably want include:
- Feedburner/Feedsmith: Allows you to feedburn your blog.
- Google Analytics Plug-In: Need this to track your site traffic w/ Google Analytics.
- SideBar Widget: This is pretty much a must-have. Allows you to display and manipulate widgets in the sidebar.
- Chicklet Creator: To display a feedburner image.
- Text Control: Good luck in dropping Javascripts into WordPress without a plug-in like this one. I wasted a LOT of time before discovering this plug-in.
I installed the MyBlogLog plugin, but something is not working right with that one. Apparantly MyBlogLog and WordPress don't play well together.
Issues:
- Manipulating images with WordPress is not intuitive.
- You need a ton of plug-ins to get some basic functionality for your Blog.
- If you wish to change your blog's presentation, you will need to have some knowledge of CSS.
That being said, the dust is settling, and WordPress is now working acceptably. You can create a powerful blog with WordPress, although not with some annoying quirks and extra trouble. I am wondering if TypePad would have been a better choice, but I am sure that TypePad has its own issues.
I am still using Google Blogger for this blog, but I am debating migrating to either WordPress or TypePad. For the time being, I am taking a break from my Blog Hell and continuing with Blogger. ¶ 9:59 PM
