Blogging Programs Compared

Choosing the right blogging program to suit you and your class’ needs can be difficult. With so many choices out there where do you start? Well, depending on your computer knowledge, and your wallet size you have many different options.

To help you make your decision we’ve compared some of the most popular blogging programs – both hosted and self hosted. We look at 8 basic features that you might find useful in a personal or class blog:

  1. Categories – Categories are subject groupings for your posts. They make it easy to organize and search your blog. I personally use them to give each student their own section on our class blog while keeping my messages separate.
  2. Multiple Authors – More then one user account. With most programs you can even establish certain rights to different authors (ie. Administrator, Editor, Contributer) each with a different level of access.
  3. Multiple Blogs - Have the ability to manage more than one blog from a single user account.
  4. Expandable – add downloadable plugins and widgets to add functionality to your blog.
  5. Blogroll/Link Manager – Once a rare feature, this is now found on most blogging software. Easily add links to your site without having to know complex HTML code!
  6. Tags – Add keywords to make searching your blog easier. Some sites also use these tags to help link related content to your blog based on these keywords.
  7. Thumbnail Generation – While all these programs offer ways to upload files and photos, only some will create thumbnails (smaller versions of your pictures) that link to the larger files.
  8. Cost – While most blogging programs are free, some charge for the service and support.

Hosted

A hosted service is when the blogging company provides the webspace. This is a fantastic option for people who don’t have a lot of experience with webservers and web based databases. While you won’t have to worry about extensive setups with these services (all you need to do is pick a username and password) you lose the ability to fully customize your blog and don’t get a lot of webspace for files (like your MP3 podcasts). But if you don’t need to upload a lot of files, and want to keep things as easy as possible hosted services are what you’re looking for.

  Categories Multiple Authors Mulitple
Blogs		 Expandable Blogroll/Link Manager Tags Thumbnail Generation Cost
Blogger   Check Check   Check Check   Free
TypePad Basic Check     Check Check Check Check $5/Month
$50/Year
TypePad Plus Check   3 Check Check Check Check $9/Month
$90/Year
TypePad Pro Check Check Check Check Check Check Check $15/Month
$150/Year
LiveJournal Basic         Check Check Check Free
LiveJournal Plus         Check Check Check Ad Supported
LiveJournal Paid         Check Check Check $2/month
JRoller Check Check Check   Check     Free
WordPress Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Free

Self Hosted

Self hosted blogs are not for the faint of heart. They require a working knowledge of webservers, and an webhost that allows access to backend technologies (usually MySQL databases). The exception to this rule is Blogger. Blogger creates regular HTML files which it then uploads to your server. Self Hosted blogs allow for greater customization, and more webspace for files like pictures, PDFs, and MP3s.

  Categories Multiple Authors Mulitple
Blogs		 Expandable Blogroll/Link Manager Tags Thumbnail Generation Cost
Blogger   Check Check   Check Check   Free
Movable Type Personal Check     Check Check Check Check Free or
$50 w/1yr Support
Movable Type
5 User		 Check 5 Check Check Check Check Check $150
w/ 1yr Support
Movable Type
10 User		 Check 10 Check Check Check Check Check $280
w/ 1yr
Support
Roller Project Check Check Check   Check     Free
WordPress Check Check   Check Check Check Check Free
WordPress MU Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Free

Overall I highly recommend all flavours of WordPress. In my experience it the easiest to set up, run, and has the most options. It also has a large user following – hundreds of people willing to help you with your questions. All that and it’s free! How can you go wrong?

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2 Responses to “Blogging Programs Compared”

  1. Danny MaasNo Gravatar says:
    February 11, 2007 at 12:42 am

    Hey Mr. G.,

    How challenging is it to set up your own WordPress blog? I’m toying with the idea but really know nothing about MySQL or the database stuff. If I had my own web space, what would I need to do to make this happen? Hey maybe you could do a screen recording of this in action for a TILT episode!

    Thanks in advance for your advice!
    Danny

  2. Mr. GNo Gravatar says:
    March 13, 2007 at 10:51 am

    Setting up a WordPress blog is EASY! But depending on your host setting up a MySQL database can be tricky. Most hosting services try to make it as easy as possible though, and will even walk you through the process. Just create the Database, upload the files, and open the ulr – WordPress will walk you through the rest.
    Hmmm… record an episode for TILT? I’d love to! I could be a field reporter eh? I’ll work on that over spring break for ya! Thanks Danny!

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