Suggest Blogging Software

I never made a blog, and need to implement one into our website asap.

A quick google search brings up a lot, so thought I'd ask some advice on here.

Dont know zit about blogging, but the requirements basically are suport for unicode (chinese characters), different blogging categories....what else? User comments are always there i guess?

Any advice would be nice. Just keep in mind I need something quick to implement and customize, as I also have to build a CMS system, which I also know zit about. Sucks being the only developer sometimes

I've been using WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) for .... jeezzes... over 4 years now I guess.... I've been pretty happy with it. Large community, open source, stable, and used on many high visible blogs.

When you say CMS, do you mean a Content Management System, or Customer Management System?

For a content system, there's Joomla (http://www.joomla.com), Xoops (http://www.xoops.org), phpNuke, pmachine, and many others. If I had to suggest something, I'd say, go with Joomla for the CMS, WordPress for the blogging, and get the WordPress bridge extension for Joomla to link the whiole thing together.

-tg

WordPress is very popular. If you go with a poipular software there will be importer utilities to import from one format to another but if you use an obscure software then you are basically stuck with it if you ever change your mind.

i would also suggest WordPress, i have used it with many of my sites, and there are good add-ins for it.

Or you could get vBulletin ($160) as it has an additional addon ($50) for Blogging.

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Originally Posted by RobDog888

Or you could get vBulletin ($160) as it has an additional addon ($50) for Blogging.

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sounds like a waste to me if he is just going to use the blog

Yes, but I dont know his needs or plans so its just a possible suggestion so he knows its available.

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Originally Posted by RobDog888

Yes, but I dont know his needs or plans so its just a possible suggestion so he knows its available.

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true


another alternative is just write your own. Make it more personalized. And you can make a pretty simple blog in under an hour.

Yes, but then if you change it you will loose your history data unless you were to spend the time writting an export/import utility.

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Originally Posted by RobDog888

Yes, but then if you change it you will loose your history data unless you were to spend the time writting an export/import utility.

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One would hope that if you create your own blogging utility, it will adhere to one of the API's such as BloggerAPI or Movable Type. History won't be an issue then because all that can be grabbed using the API.

With all of you vouching for wordpress i think I'll go with that (hope it's better than wordpress.org looks like...someone lost a stylesheet?)

with cms i meant Customer Management System. Another thing I know nothing about and sounds we already decided on MS Dynamic. Just downloaded the trial, will install and check it out tomorrow (It will be used for managing students going abroad)

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but WordPress might be a good option.

No... that's the look of the site (not the software)... they're going for a minimalistic approach.... but as for the capabilities of the software itself, the possibilities are limitless. Some of the templates I've seen people come up with is incredible....

-tg

Yes, you can apply your own style to your blog. There are thousands of styles out there and some are actually good looking :D

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Originally Posted by RobDog888

Yes, but then if you change it you will loose your history data unless you were to spend the time writting an export/import utility.

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Actually, I disagree. If you store the data in MySQL or [insert your favorite DB here] you can easily manipulate the date to your whim. Either that, pay someone 1$/hour to copy and paste it for you to the new blog.

I really think that its best to create your own blog from scratch, its an experience. There was one blog software I had my eye on and the author used some custom layout as the demo and it looked awsome. So I download it, and guess what, just some bland layout came with it. I asked the author to include the theme in it, and he never did.

Is it just because I'm inside the chinese firewall, or is this slow elsewhere too?
http://www.niconel.com (click blog on menu)

I installed it on my own site i'm rebuilding, which is hosted on a shared linux server in the UK. So I dont expect much, but this thing hardly load (the css nearly always does not load)....Didnt change anything.

Full speed my end.

hmmm....going to be a problem.
g
ot a real fast server on a great host here in beijing...but as soon boss goes home (europe) or partners look at it it's going to be slow I bet

feel like building my own one....it's not that big a deal....few tables, couple of
pages...that way I can integrate it with my own user's table, use my own header, footer,etc include files.....thinking....

Seems fine, about 3 seconds.

Trust me..... building one's own from scratch is not easy.... there's security to worry about... making sure the data is inserted correctly (to prevent sql injections). Then there's the management itself.... if you doubt that, download wordpress, take a look at its back end..... there's over 5 years worth of experience in the development of that system, lessons learned over the years.... plus, they are very good at keeping up with security releases and upgrades.... something you would have to do on your own.

Trust me. It IS a big deal.

-tg

It loaded 2.78 seconds here (According to FasterFox)..... seems acceptable to me.

-tg

Do people read blogs anymore? I mean it was a big trend before but how about now? Does it have the staying power?

Sorry to ask questions.

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Originally Posted by StrangerInBeijing

Is it just because I'm inside the chinese firewall, or is this slow elsewhere too?
http://www.niconel.com (click blog on menu)

I installed it on my own site i'm rebuilding, which is hosted on a shared linux server in the UK. So I dont expect much, but this thing hardly load (the css nearly always does not load)....Didnt change anything.

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My first attempt it loaded fast without CSS. Next it took about a minute to load without css.

@visual - you live in the uk.

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Originally Posted by dclamp

@visual - you live in the uk.

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Thanks, I never knew that. :rolleyes:

The only interesting blog out there is mine. That's because I post in it so rarely that when I do it is hailed a miracle.

I doesn't load at all now - because it doesn't exist. What is the Chinese Govts' approach to censoring; I thought it was anything which looked suspicious. Maybe they are using a white list approach.

Another good (free) blogging software is b2evolution.

The one you guys have been looking at is hosted in the UK, and that webhost is defo not bad.
If you want, you can let me know how the Beijing hosted one load

Well, I don't read blogs. But this one is for the company's website. Do what the boss say you gotta do right?

I don't care free or paid for. Thats not my worries. I just need to get blogging software that will actually work! And no use to suggest sth, company pays, then I still have this problems huh?

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Originally Posted by RobDog888

Do people read blogs anymore? I mean it was a big trend before but how about now? Does it have the staying power?

Sorry to ask questions.

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It depends.... most don't.... most of those are what I call "cheese sandwich" blogs. They are very easy to recognize: "I got up this morning, it was a miracle, really. Had a cheese sandwich, it was yum." ... But there are some that I think are worth the read weekly or semi regularly.... Joel on software comes mind as one. As does Rocky Lhotka's ... but it depends on what you are looking for.

-tg

Back on topic....

There is also a AddOn for vBulletin to import WordPress into its blogging feature. :D

Why would someone buy VBulletin and then an addon just to include a blogging feature - given all the free alternatives and given and that they probably don't need a forum. :confused:

Sure, if you want a forum with an integrated blogging tool - fine. But I see no point other wise.

Yes especially when WordPress is free but ws just mentioning options as we dont know all the info that applies here.