Feedback: what do you think about your blog platform?

I currently use MovableType 2.65 (the last totally free version) for my blog.  I like it a lot, but it is prone to comment and trackback spam.  I would have upgraded to MovableType 3, but the cost is to great for two users.  Best features: Free, easy to use, multiple users, multiple blogs.  Biggest Problems: Old, outdated, no satisfactory way of controlling spam.

I also have a photo gallery that runs in MovableType 3 (with only 1 user under their free license) and using Stop Designs wonderful photo gallery templates for MT3 (available here:http://stopdesign.com/templates/photos/).  I really like this setup, since it works with iPhoto on my Mac and looks really clean and nice.  Best features: Integrates with my photo organization tool, easy to use, looks amazing. Biggest Problems: Hard to setup, sometimes slow to upload photos, not free with more than one blog or more than one user.

I also adminstor a third blog for a small business using WordPress.  I think WordPress is a amazing blog tool and especially for the price (free).  I have been thinking about moving my main blog to WordPress, but haven't found the time to investigate it further.  The only pain is instalation, but my host makes that pretty easy with their one-click install (Dreamhost.com).  Best features: No need to rebuild site to see changes, free (and open-source), easy for end users, lots of nice templates.  Biggest Problems: Not easy to install.

Also, all of these blog systems need to be hosted by the user, so while they are more full featured than systems like Blogger or Typepad, they are generally more expensive to run and harder to setup.

Wordpress is easy to install, I just installed it for one of my clients. It's a matter of downloading, unzipping, and change the database settings (database name, username, password). Then you need to create the database at the server, upload the package and run the install file. The whole process took me less than 10 minutes.
The only thing that would make it easier is an integrated database creation in the setup process.

Gary wrote:

The only thing that would make it easier is an integrated database creation in the setup process.

Gary hits the nail on the head.  I believe that MovableType has integrated database creation and that is what makes it a bit easier to setup.   Overall Wordpress is a great peice of software, and I would reccomend it to anyone.

I think writing a small piece of php code to make that happen won't be a big problem. Maybe it's even out there already

Have you ever heard about Lifetype?
I find it interesting, but too "technie" for a large public maybe. I am using it for my blog. A good point is that a picture album is included.

Do you know Dotclear ( a french open source software) maybe?
That one is very good too... but most of the documentation is in french

I definitely need to have a look to WP multiblog platform. I heard it's a very good program...

Why do we need to sleep? I haven't got time to do 30% of what I want that's awful!

Actually Wordpress is the first and only blogging software I encountered. Since I'm not blogging myself - what should I write and when? - I never really investigated the available packages. It was really a coincidence that I had to set up a blog for a client, last week. I found that Wordpress is widely spread and it seems to be a nice package. Since my client wants a custom template I choose WP - really easy to customize the templates.

There are a few more blog platforms ... I heard about 2evolution and nucleus

Have you ever tried these platforms?

Which platform or software are you using for your blog?

DotClear

Are you happy with it?

Totally ! You can customize it very easily, the admin interface is friendly and full of possibilities...

Are you hosting your pictures on a separate system (such as flickr)?

Nope, my hosting allow me a lot of space (dedicated server)

What about multimedia files, such as audio and video?

It's ok, but, personnaly, I don't use this possibility.

Which are the most interesting features, and the problems of your system?

Mmmh... almost everything is good on dotclear, from a lot of plugins to many themes. The only problem I had are :
1) a lot of spams lately. I know there is a plugin (SpamPlemousse) for that, but it never worked for me...
2) I tried to import my data base to a new blog (almost ready), but it didn't work too... I'm gonna lost all the comments/trackbacks when moving to the new blog

Julien wrote:

Which platform or software are you using for your blog?

Dotclear.

Julien wrote:

Are you happy with it?

Yes, for the moment.

Julien wrote:

Are you hosting your pictures on a separate system (such as flickr)? What about multimedia files, such as audio and video?

I'm hosting my files at ovh.

Julien wrote:

Which are the most interesting features, and the problems of your system?

It's a bit difficult at the beginning when you're not a specialist in dotclear...

manu wrote:

1) a lot of spams lately. I know there is a plugin (SpamPlemousse) for that, but it never worked for me...

Have you installed the last version? Addes new specific words?
It works perfectly for me...

I agree dotclear is a good program. But it doesn't support multi-blogs at the moment. I've been waiting for dotclear 2 for too much time now (it was supposed to be realeased in April I think)...

There are a few more blog platforms ... I heard about 2evolution and nucleus

Have you ever tried these platforms?

I use b2evolution. I first started using it because my hosting company had an automatic installation for it (I had tried installing wordpress myself and couldn't figure out how to do it.) There are a lot of features that I really like about it - I had come from Blogger, which is the only other blogging platform I've used. It combines more than one blog within a particular domain in such an easy way. The ease of adding new links (by using their 'linkblog') is also a huge plus. One downside is that it doesn't have a WYSIWYG editor for posts. But overall, I'm quite happy with b2evolution. However, I suspect it's not quite as user friendly as Wordpress. But the forum in b2evolution is probably one of the most useful forums that I've ever come accross for any software that I've used. Every problem I've had I've been able to find a solution for in the forums.

Just the other day I started up a second blog, and I wasn't sure which blogging platform I wanted to use (I didn't combine it with my other blog because it's on a completely different domain.) I was debating on trying to install Wordpress, just to give it a try. But in the end, I stuck with b2evolution, simply because I'm used to it, and overall, quite happy with it! This time, I decided to try and install it myself, because I knew my hosting company would charge me if I used their automatic installation. (And they didn't have the most recent version anyways.) It took a bit of fiddling, but eventually I was able to install it myself. And I'm certainly no expert in these things! So if I can do it, it can't be that hard!

Anyways, if you have any questions about b2evolution, feel free to ask!

Olivi€R wrote:

Have you installed the last version? Addes new specific words?
It works perfectly for me...

Nope, even the installation didn't work...
But I'm building a new blog, which is going to be the "fusion" between FMRMV and RestoBlog (we keep "RestoBlog" as the name of this new blog).
I just need some time to configure it, and more time to copy-paste all the posts (I can't import it from the actual blogs, for many reasons, like 1 blog is configured in UTF-8, and the other one in ISO-...., some of the categories are the same (ex. : "general"), and I don't have time and/or patience to "play" with the text files from my DBs (copy-paste all the posts and comments... more than 250 posts and almost 400 comments)
But that's ok, we are going to make a fresh start.

I'm using blogger.com and well, it's perfect and improving!

I'm on blogger, though I also have some private work on wordspace....blogger...meh, it's OK, I have the photos with picasa, another google product which I do REALLY like....blogger sometimes creeps right out and does weird and very irritiating things, plus their help system sucks large dirty rocks.

Worpress....I don't like how the dashboard is set up...but other than that, no problems...that said I am not as active over there.....