For the past couple of years I have used Blogger for all of my blogging and online websites. About 18 months ago I began migrating to fully hosted domains, starting with my bookstore, Zephyrus Books.
When I started my newer website, Old Book Art, I needed to find a hosting company that allowed for lots of disc space for many large image files, lots of bandwidth, etc. I ended up using Dream Host (www.DreamHost.com - these links have me listed as the referral source) which, along with many other reliable hosting companies, offers huge amounts of both. They are always running good deals (I got my first year of hosting plus a domain name registered for about $10 - a discount of $100 or so). I’ll pay full rate starting in my second year, but the rates are still very good, $5-10 per month if you sign up for a few years in advance.
So, with the space available, and the ability to host unlimited domain names, all that remained was to build new blogs. I already owned the domain names, which I had been redirecting to blogger. So, I am finally getting around to doing it.
Blogger is great, and I found it easy to use. I like having a real domain name, though, not a domain.blooger address. Using a better program like WordPress also allows for a better look and more flexibility. I would design my own blog if I had the skill, but I never will.
Dreamhost offers what it calls One Click Installs, which is exactly what it sounds like. There are even different levels of this. For example, WordPress (which I am using here) is available in simple or advanced mode. Both are equally easy to use, but advanced mod allows for a bit more flexibility once the program is installed. I am using advnaced mode, as the Theme I am using here (Cutline, by Chris Pearson) is not one of the many offered in simple mode. You can not add themes in simple mode, but they offer plenty of great varieties. Simple Mode will also be updated for you when new WordPress versions are released. I believe you need to do your own updating for the advanced option.
The other blog I moved there also used a theme not available in simple mode (xMark, by Lisa Sabin-Wilson). I have used the simple (Easy) version of WordPress for other sites, though, along with the other Easy installations the offer for ZenPhoto, phpBB, and MediaWiki.
I chose Cutline mainly because of the 3 column layout and the ability to rotate image through the header. Otherwise, a lot of WordPress themes are available and very easy to use.
Tags: applications, blogs, platforms, themes
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