Help! I Need a Blog of My Own!

July 27, 2005 7:16 AM

Please Help Me. I need a blog. I am so busy and scattered, though. I post stuff all over the place, and I try to connect with folks with snippets. I think a blog would work for me, even in it got few hits. But since I am so busy, I don't have much time to learn detailed shortcuts, software, etc. I would like to find a place on the web where it is easy to post stuff in a cool layout, including of course links, pix, etc. Maybe with sidebars, contact info, etc. It would also be nice if it were within a community of bloggers. And maybe "Blog" is the wrong term, as it might be simply a personal web page. But a blog seems more interactive, and I want that. My interests are eclectic, but they include radical social, and personal, change. Will you please help me with ideas? Thanks!

I am going through a personal rennaissance and am an alleged rennaisance man although in fact I am just juggling a myriad of personal interests. Metafilter has been perfect for me for years.

posted by swlabr to computers & internet (17 comments total)

You want to start a hosted BlogSpot blog, at Blogger. They're owned by Google. It's free.
posted by Marquis at 7:21 AM on July 27, 2005

Here's a recent AskMe question on weblog services.
posted by peacay at 7:29 AM on July 27, 2005

There is also LiveJournal if Blogger doesn't float your boat.

And it's "renaissance." :)
posted by jtron at 7:30 AM on July 27, 2005

Blogger is the best. Add on a few essential blogger tools too. For more help and support there is a Blogger Forum too.
posted by webmeta at 7:32 AM on July 27, 2005

Will these let me store the "html file" or whatever it is I create, so I can move it or repost it somewhere else? Or will I be "forever beholden" to whatever place I start?
posted by swlabr at 7:51 AM on July 27, 2005

If you mean "can I move the blog entries," then yes, you can. I used to haved a hosted Blogger account and I found some help online on how to move it to WordPress when I bought my own domain. As for the fancy layout (if any), probably not.
posted by danb at 7:54 AM on July 27, 2005

You can ftp your account if you do not want it hosted on Blogger and want more control.
posted by webmeta at 8:04 AM on July 27, 2005

My company is close to launching a blog site that sounds perfect (free, cool layouts, create your own templates), but honestly, I don't want to spam the response threads with a link. I'll come back later today to see if anyone would object to said link, and if so, I'll keep it to myself.

The site isn't "live" yet (doesn't have the final design for the home page) but the blog area is fully functional. It's not the first online community we've run, either; our current community (it's a very vertical technology site) has over 15,000 registered users.
posted by Merdryn at 8:09 AM on July 27, 2005

Make sure you actually want a blog. Don't ignore the fact that it's "web log" not "web page". A page is not a blog, and vice versa.

If what you want is a "static" collection of sporadically or rarely updated items, if you want full control of your front page, and you're not really interested in the linear time-based journal/diary method of a blog, if you're mixing and matching data types (text? audio? photos? video?) that you want static and easily accessible - plain old HTML is much more portable, easier to update, and easier to manage.

Otherwise without tweaking and kludges that just kind of look bad, you end up with "old posts" being buried, or at best out of context on the front page, you end up having to wrestle more with the CSS if you want to make even larger layout changes from page to page, and more.

Yeah, people make hybridized blogs and websites that work for them, but in my experiences it's not for the novice. It ends up being way too much work for it to be worth it unless you're willing to become more adept, and your posting frequency and style actually suits itself to blogs.

Merdryn: The self-linking rule is pretty much for Front Page Posts in the blue. In-context references that are asked for or implied to be asked for are usually smiled upon, unless they're just blatant link-pimping. If you're still concerned, email it to swlabr.
posted by loquacious at 8:29 AM on July 27, 2005

Well, given Loquacious' description of proper AMF etiquette, what the hell, I'll link.

Again, my designer hasn't even started the "front page" design for this blog community, but the sign up and blogs themselves work just fine. Anyone who joins from this post, drop me a line and I'll upgrade your account to a "paid" account, no strings. No link-pimping here. :)

http://www.bitemy.com/

Until the site is officially launched, don't expect support. Once it's launched, there will be a helpdesk for support issues.
posted by Merdryn at 8:34 AM on July 27, 2005

You didn't try googling "blog?"
posted by agregoli at 8:43 AM on July 27, 2005

Have you recently tried googling "blog"?

You might as well google for viagra.
posted by loquacious at 9:02 AM on July 27, 2005

There's got to be a ton of answers on previous questions here if you look for them.

Blogger is the easiest, and probably a good start, unless you're a teen girl, then live journal rulz. If you end up staying with your site, you'll move on from blogger, since it's not actually "the best", simply the easiest..
posted by justgary at 9:09 AM on July 27, 2005

Have you recently tried googling "blog"?

You might as well google for viagra.

Uh, sorry, not true. Did you try it? Lots of links to good, free blogs.
posted by agregoli at 9:24 AM on July 27, 2005

From the sound of things, what you really, really need is BackPack, a bloggy personal information organizer. Give that a try.
posted by dbarefoot at 9:46 AM on July 27, 2005

Forbes.com recently ranked the best Blog Tools -- that might be of some help.
posted by JPowers at 1:28 PM on July 27, 2005

OK. Say I want a web page, maybe with blog aspects :-), is there a service for the dumby where I don't have to write code and can do easy uploads of pix and links, even story music, and all that? I know there must be tons of them, but I am not adept or knowledgable to sort them out without spending a whole lot of time digging and frustration too. And I don't want to start out at the wrong place. Maybe, I gather, I could make it on my home computer and upload the thing in toto? If so, maybe you would say get this web page program and upload it here or there. But I do want community with it too.


Thanks for your patience.
posted by swlabr at 4:33 AM on July 28, 2005