Blogs.... How to?

[Paul139]

I fancy having a go at writing a blog but there's one problem. I don't know how to set one up. I've had a look around but don't really understand things like domains and what different providers offer. Should I pay or use a free one? Wordpress seems to crop up as a provider quite a lot.
Any advice and recommendations? Please keep it simple.
Thanks.

 

[r04DiE]

Have you got a Google account?

 

[Paul139]

Have you got a Google account?

Yes I have.

 

[tyred]

I use Wordpress, no particular reasom beyond the fact many seemed to rate it highly when I was trying to look into this a few years ago.

It does work well for me though and I find it easy and intuitive to use.

 

[r04DiE]

Yes I have.

Try this.

 

[Spinney]

I've used both wordpress and the free google thingy - both relatively easy to use.
The link in my sig line is the wordpress one, if you want to see some of the (basic!) things you can do. You would probably only need to use the blog page. I pay a small amount for the wordpress one, but that is only to get the domain name - it is free if you don't mind having 'wordpress' as part of the address.

 

[mjr]

it is free if you don't mind having 'wordpress' as part of the address.

...and never being able to change supplier, pretty much. (You can but it's much harder.) Blogspot/blogger is even worse for that and seems very difficult to set up not to discriminate against disabled people.

 

[r04DiE]

discriminate against disabled people.

How does it do that?

 

[mjr]

How does it do that?

reCaptcha

 

[r04DiE]

reCaptcha

Ah, thanks - and did you find a way to get around it?

 

[Spinney]

reCaptcha

Some sites I have been on recently (I cannot recall which ones), just have a tick box next to the statement 'I am a human'. Presume that kind of thing would be OK?
(I don't recall having to use a captcha thingy when setting up the wordpress one - if I did, it was only once - I certainly don't need to use one to edit the site).

 

[r04DiE]

I certainly don't need to use one to edit the site

Its not for you, its for people leaving comments on your blog.

 

[mark st1]

@Mice writes a very good one. Maybe she could offer some advice... Although she doesn't seem to have been on cc for a while ?

http://the5milecyclist.com/

 

[marknotgeorge]

...and never being able to change supplier, pretty much. (You can but it's much harder.) Blogspot/blogger is even worse for that and seems very difficult to set up not to discriminate against disabled people.

I managed to pull my blog posts from a Blogger account into an Orchard-based site on Azure easily enough, as as I recall.

If you don't want to use a free blog, lots of hosting packages have installers for blog engines (including WordPress).

 

[mjr]

Ah, thanks - and did you find a way to get around it?

Not really. Google implies I'm subhuman although if I retry lots and lots and lots I sometimes manage to fluke my way past an eyetest eventually. As you can appreciate, that means I usually give up, unsubscribe from the blog of the person who hates people like me and go elsewhere.

Some sites I have been on recently (I cannot recall which ones), just have a tick box next to the statement 'I am a human'. Presume that kind of thing would be OK?

Yes, as long as that's really what it is. Google's evil software often shows what look likes that but when you try to click, it becomes a spinner and then reveals one of the hated eyetests. It's like a surprise present but when you unwrap it, it's a cowpat.