What blogging platform do you use?

[icesar]

I'm curious what blog platform people are using, so I thought I would post a quick poll here on the Technology Forum.

I'm thinking of providing blog design service (as opposed to general web design) and I'm wondering what platform to focus on.

Thanks for the help!

[Caveman Joe]

You should really take a look at GeekLog, for reasons I've already said in previous posts (but probably most specifically its wonderful "Remote Authentication" feature). It gets my "other" vote.

[Fusebox]

As im new to blogging I started with blogger.com. Its a cool way to start, but after getting some advice off another member here (Henry@Binary Dollar) Im now starting a new blog on wordpress.

Wordpress so far definitely feels a lot more superior to blogger, also cool thing with it is, you can host use wordpress for free and if you feel you have enough traffic flowing and want to put up some ads, you can export your wordpress to a hosted wordpress... Not bad.

[Cassie]

I'm a newbie blogger and started with Typepad. I'm definitely going to switch to WordPress once I can afford my own hosting. *fingers crossed, which will hopefully be soon, grumble*

[Wulfen]

I use plone, which is not technically a blogging software, more a full-fledged Content Management System. I have blog-like articles but I also can integrate easily other features like newsletter, forums etc within the same framework. It's a little more complex to use and develop than other apps, but IMO it's well worth it.

Besides, it's free/open source software (GPL). And it's written in python, which adds to the coolness factor... so Plone should be among the poll options

Plone homepage: Plone

[Phil Newton]

Another satisfied WordPress user here. It's powerful, but easy to use and extendable thanks to plugins.

[Colin]

Wordpress all the way here too.

But then I'm a programmer so I like to be able to tinker away at things to my heart's content.

The huge array of free plug-ins and themes makes it very customisable too.

[dECLAN]

I am currently using the free Wordpress (dot com) blogging platform which I am very pleased with. Because it is doing so well I am actually thinking of moving it over to the Wordpress (dot org) so I can monetize it.

[jpfieber]

Both of my blogs are using WordPress on a host (not wordpress.com). Can't beat it for flexibility.

[Patricia]

I use WordPress for all my blogs. I have tried a number of different platforms in the past, self-hosted and otherwise, and IMO WordPress is the best.

[Roman Budzowski]

I use wordpress from the beginning of my blogging experience. I'm very happy with it

best,
Roman

[Dating Specialist]

Wordpress user here too

Happy with it so far, especially with the many choices of plug-ins we can use for the other functions.

But there's always the problem of paragrahing for some posts, esp the ones with graphics that I've got to edit it after posting. Still wondering why ...

[maverickstruth]

Chalk up another WordPress user. The vast array of plugins was the tipping point for me...

I also use Drupal for a couple of sites which I maintain -- not so much blogs as full-blown CMSs (one is a community site for a student club, so it has events, newsletters, member rosters, etc.; the other is a multi-user blog, but it also has forums, etc.). For me, Drupal is a "love it AND hate it" relationship. For what it does, it's great. I love that it's open source, and that I can hack away at the code if need be. I love that it's got a great user community with tonnes of modules and add-ons. But it (IMO) just lacks the polish that I've been spoiled with on Wordpress. And while the modules are great, they seem to be hit or miss sometime (and yes, I could develop my own, but it's a matter of priorities). I've been on the lookout for another alternative, but finding something that will migrate everything over from Drupal -- including all my users, posts, and unique data types (like events, etc) -- is proving most difficult. If there are suggestions, I'd be thrilled to hear them!

[fbmfor]

I'm very happy with Wordpress, although to be frank I haven't tried any other blogging platform.
_
sport-gadgets.com

[indestructible]

Just to go against the grain here, I use TypePad.com owned by Six Apart. Six Apart also owns movable type, vox and livejournal. I read a profile about them in the Economist, and some of my favorites on the web are typepad so that is what I chose. It is straightforward to use with enough customization available. I am not bowled over by any of the features, but everything works and their support department is responsive. Their CEO is a 29 year-old woman as well and I like to support young business people.

[Isis Kali]

I'm using Wordpress...although I'm about to throw it out the window. It's foiling me on my second install to a new dbase. They have Wordpress Mu now for multiple blogs, but it looks like Swahili, and there's no way I'm gonna try to install it, much less use it on a day to day basis.

[mcovey]

sphpblog for one site, blosxom for another's news section.

[WanderingOak]

How much knowledge of MySQL should I have for running a blog with WordPress? I have some knowledge of programing and scripting, but most of my formal training is at least 10-15 years out of date.

[maverickstruth]

Originally Posted by WanderingOak

How much knowledge of MySQL should I have for running a blog with WordPress? I have some knowledge of programing and scripting, but most of my formal training is at least 10-15 years out of date.

Unless you want to do a bunch of customizing, you'll be fine with none The only thing you might want to do on occasion -- depending on how much posting and deleting of posts you do -- is optimize or repair the DB if something goes wrong. But I've only had to do that once, and it was my host's fault, and not that of WP.

[Sadhana]

Expression Engine is an excellent blogging tool (actually, it's more of a CMS than a blogging tool). They have a free and a commercial version, but the free version should be enough for most blogging needs.

Wordpress is also a good choice.

I've also played around and/or used Textpattern, Movable Type, Blogger, Typepad, Community Server (.NET CMS), and SubText, and EE and Wordpress kick their butt in pretty much everything.

[joedonnachie]

Hi, Another vote for WordPress here. Using since June '06. Now have two blogs running off the same database. Everything went pretty smoothly until I wanted to put a map I had created at platial.com into my blog. I find I can't put it in a page but have to put it on the sidebar which means it's a bit scrunched up and stunted. If you want to see what that looks like check out www.joedonnachie.com
Apparantly someone is working on being able to put the map in a page which would be great.
Does anybody know of an existing solution?
By the way, what www.platial.com does is to provide an interface to Google Maps so that you can create your own map and populate it with "places". For example, I live in London and one of my passions is aerial circus skills (corde lisse, aerial silks, trapeze etc.,) so I've created a map called London Circus Resources and I'm populating it with places which offer circus skills training, places where you can buy equipment, where you can see circus/visual/physical theatre shows.http://www.platial.com/joedonnachie/...rcus_Resources
Cheers, Joe

[jthayes]

Started on blogger and recently moved to wordpress where I now have two blogs. Very happy with the wordpress engine, provides so many extra plugins.