Korean Job Discussion Forums

Troll_Bait · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:40 pm Post subject: Blogging: Wordpress vs. Blogger?

As far as hosting a free blog goes, does anyone know how Wordpress compares with Blogger?

Examples: ease of use (for those not very computer literate), blocking spam, deleting unsavory comments &/or blocking assclowns, adaptability, etc.

Thanks.

sobriquet · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Location: Nakatomi Plaza

Why get a free one when $20 a year gets you a domain name and hosting?

michaelambling · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Location: Paradise

Wordpress, especially if you're on a Mac.

Uploading photos for a post on Blogger is a pain in the ass--Wordpress's GUI isn't great, but it's better.

I tried hosting a blog on my own site and updating it with iWeb, but it sucks for non-.Mac users. But again, this isn't an issue if you're on a PC.

Sland · Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Location: Suwon

I have used both (Blogger was a while back though).
I think Wordpress is very easy to use and will give you enough control over the comments and such. Though I haven't tried blocking IPs...
The themes are also pretty nice, so you can get the look you want for your blog with very little effort.

FMPJ · Joined: 03 Jun 2008

Wordpress gives you a lot of server space for file hosting. And if you run out, just register a phantom blog for more space.

excitinghead · Joined: 18 Jul 2005

One thing I'd add is that - with apologies for any offense caused to some of my friends in the Korean blogosphere - all Blogger blogs look like complete crap. Blogger has very few themes available, all very similar and invariably of poor quality.

That might not be that big a deal if you're just planning to have a blog for family and friends, but if you have wider aims with your blog then you really need something that you can make look a bit more professional than the one your granny has for her sewing circle.

One negative about Wordpress though, is that it doesn't allow Javascript, which means no dynamic widgets like clocks, nor Google Ads. But unless you're expecting to get 3000+ visitors (note: not hits) a day though, then you'll never make more than $5 or so a month from those anyway.

Other than that, I have blogs through both, so I can echo other commenters' points about Wordpress' greater ease of use also.

Korean Sociology Through Gender, Advertising and Popular Culture:
http://thegrandnarrative.wordpress.com/

Troll_Bait · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:33 pm Post subject:

missty · Joined: 19 Feb 2008

I've had blogs with both, but switched to wordpress a while back. This is mainly because I am a fiend for statistics and wordpress shows exactly how many hits I have a day. (Blogger may have had statistics on how many hits I got, but for the life of me I couldn't find it).

I think if you just want a blog for your family and friends then blogger has a nice format. Its clean and simple and easy to read from. When I first got wordpress I found it quite difficult to navigate, although now I find it ok to use. Saying that, it blocks pretty much all my comments so I have a chance to decide if it is spam or not, which blogger didn't do.

If I were you I'd go for Blogger. It is a lot simpler to use, and if I could be bothered I would switch back. But I really can't be!

excitinghead · Joined: 18 Jul 2005

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

Troll Bait, you should *beep* it out, it'd probably be a good one.

I can't speak on it b/c I've never used WordPress. But with regards to the layout, you can change it up a little and widen it. It gives you like 10 premade templates, but you can also apply your own. For example:
http://www.ourblogtemplates.com/

Even with the premade ones you can create a pretty clean template, and it's really simple to add various gadgets. Some of the wordpress blogs---some---look pretty good, but others look dull if they don't bother to play with the template. With Wordpress is there still an issue with hit counters?

By and large I'm happy with blogger. The "Compose" option---what you see is what you get---makes the page look terrible, so you have to spend some time learning a little basic html, but it's a pretty painless way to blog. I haven't noticed this from excitinghead, but one thing I always found annoying was when K-bloggers complained about their blogging issues. So Troll Bait, please don't devote a quarter of your posts to your new theme, or your hosting issues, or server this and that.

Troll_Bait · Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks to everyone, whether I explicitly name them or not.

I've read that Wordpress is open-source. Blogger too?

Sland · Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Location: Suwon

From what I understand (I'm no programmer, so I might be wrong), wordpress.com is the typical Joe blog hosting site that most people use, while wordpress.org is the open-source blogging software that you can use if you've got your own host. Though I might be off...
I don't know about blogger though.