Hope me blog
May 23, 2016 9:49 PM Subscribe
I am starting a personal translation project. I plan to translate a few paragraphs a day from Italian into English from a classic work of Italian literature that is mostly unknown to English speaking audiences. It kind of makes sense for me to share this online for kicks and giggles and motivation. What's the best platform for me to use, given the format and subject matter?
Yes. Wordpress doesn't have all the "social media" stuff attached that you'll find on tumblr.
posted by brokkr at 5:43 AM on May 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by brokkr at 5:43 AM on May 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wordpress has a lot more available plug-in tools that you can use to customize your blog and streamline your posts. I've been told it's best just to pick the ones that are most relevant to what you need and ignore other plug-ins because of potential vulnerabilities in neglected plug-ins without patches, so keep that in mind as you customize.
I do like tumblr, but for what you're describing, it might not be the best place for your blog's primary residence. If you wanted to set up Wordpress to automatically cross-post to tumblr as well as Twitter, that might be a good and painless way to spread the word, but it seems like the only blogs I know that are 100% tumblr based tend to be more photo/gif blogs, article shares, or joke text posts.
Blogger, FWIW, is okay as well. Plus, since it's part of the Google suite, it will probably get indexed for search a little faster. I've used both, but I do like Wordpress better. I currently self-host through Dreamhost for my Wordpress.org site, but like winterhill said, that's not necessary if you're just starting out and don't want to pay extra for hosting. You can always migrate your blog to a Wordpress.org site later if you want.
Whatever blogging platform you end up going with, I definitely recommend purchasing a domain name and keeping it active. Dreamhost, Namecheap, and Google Domains are all good services for this. Even though you say this is more of a "kicks and giggles" project, a registered domain really does add that extra layer of polish and allows you to "own" the name of your blog to some extent. Good luck!
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:28 AM on May 24, 2016
I do like tumblr, but for what you're describing, it might not be the best place for your blog's primary residence. If you wanted to set up Wordpress to automatically cross-post to tumblr as well as Twitter, that might be a good and painless way to spread the word, but it seems like the only blogs I know that are 100% tumblr based tend to be more photo/gif blogs, article shares, or joke text posts.
Blogger, FWIW, is okay as well. Plus, since it's part of the Google suite, it will probably get indexed for search a little faster. I've used both, but I do like Wordpress better. I currently self-host through Dreamhost for my Wordpress.org site, but like winterhill said, that's not necessary if you're just starting out and don't want to pay extra for hosting. You can always migrate your blog to a Wordpress.org site later if you want.
Whatever blogging platform you end up going with, I definitely recommend purchasing a domain name and keeping it active. Dreamhost, Namecheap, and Google Domains are all good services for this. Even though you say this is more of a "kicks and giggles" project, a registered domain really does add that extra layer of polish and allows you to "own" the name of your blog to some extent. Good luck!
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:28 AM on May 24, 2016
I am a fan of blogger. If you have a gmail account, you can set up a BlogSpot blog for free and check it out. I find it to be very easy to use. I moved my sites fro Word Press to Blogger so I could spend more time on content production and less on back end crap that was making me crazy, like updates. Google handles almost all of that without hassling me. I get messages periodically if I actually need to look at something or be made aware of a new feature.
If you are logged into your gmail account, you can open another window and pull up blogger and be logged in there and that works really well for me. I find it to be the most accessible way for me get stuff out of my head and onto the web.
If there is a platform you have prior experience with, that might be the best way to go if your focus is just ease of use for you. I mean, there doesn't seem to be any grand plan here to either make money or accomplish a particular thing beyond just sharing this thing you are doing. So, to me, whatever is easiest and most convenient for YOU is the logical answer. What is easy for me may not be easy for you. Ease and convenience makes it dramatically more likely that you will actually keep posting regularly. Since that seems to be your only real goal here, then that should drive your decision.
So, either go with a platform you know or check out a few of the free ones and see which one feels easiest and most intuitive for you personally. For me, that's Blogger. For you, that might be something else entirely. The QWERTY keyboard is still the default keyboard for a reason: Retraining takes time and effort too. If this isn't some grand plan to make big bucks or save the whales or whatever, then, just do what takes the least effort and hassle for you, whatever that is.
posted by Michele in California at 1:56 PM on May 24, 2016
If you are logged into your gmail account, you can open another window and pull up blogger and be logged in there and that works really well for me. I find it to be the most accessible way for me get stuff out of my head and onto the web.
If there is a platform you have prior experience with, that might be the best way to go if your focus is just ease of use for you. I mean, there doesn't seem to be any grand plan here to either make money or accomplish a particular thing beyond just sharing this thing you are doing. So, to me, whatever is easiest and most convenient for YOU is the logical answer. What is easy for me may not be easy for you. Ease and convenience makes it dramatically more likely that you will actually keep posting regularly. Since that seems to be your only real goal here, then that should drive your decision.
So, either go with a platform you know or check out a few of the free ones and see which one feels easiest and most intuitive for you personally. For me, that's Blogger. For you, that might be something else entirely. The QWERTY keyboard is still the default keyboard for a reason: Retraining takes time and effort too. If this isn't some grand plan to make big bucks or save the whales or whatever, then, just do what takes the least effort and hassle for you, whatever that is.
posted by Michele in California at 1:56 PM on May 24, 2016
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posted by bq at 1:32 AM on May 24, 2016