Setting up a blog

[compserv]

I'm going to set up a blog, but not sure of the best way to do it. Bear in mind that I want to be able to cusomise the layout on whichever route I take.

As I see it I can either use a hosted solution or build one into my website. Assuming the first option, should I go with Blogger, Wordpress or something else. If I go with the second option, any suggestions on an ASP.NET solution, preferably free. Reason for ASP.NET is I have a Windows Shared hosting, and have never worked on anything built in PHP.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Roger

[flesso]

I'd suggest Wordpress for your needs. It's used by so many websites it's more or less flawless. It should work fine with Windows web hosting, and there are so many plugins available you'll probably never need to alter it yourself.

[Ben Stones]

Wordpress is probably the best option - I've only ever used Wordpress. It has a wide variety of free open source themes that you can Google for, and most are easy to modify (colours, graphics, etc).

[bytemaster]

Wordpress is also very easy to set up, the self-hosted version takes around 5 minutes to install.

Also lots of great themes available.

[compserv]

Thank you flesso and Ben. Can I assume you're referring to a hosted option at wordpress.com rather than integrating the system avalable at wordpress.org into my own website.

[compserv]

Wordpress is also very easy to set up, the self-hosted version takes around 5 minutes to install.

Also lots of great themes available.

So I download Wordpress from wordpress.org and install it into my web site. Does that 5 minutes include reading enough of the documentation so I don't completely balls up my site?

Think I might just set it up in my server here before I make it public. I never feel happy setting systems up until I've had a go in Safe Mode.

Thanks for your vote of confidence.

[flesso]

So I download Wordpress from wordpress.org and install it into my web site. Does that 5 minutes include reading enough of the documentation so I don't completely balls up my site?

Think I might just set it up in my server here before I make it public. I never feel happy setting systems up until I've had a go in Safe Mode.

Thanks for your vote of confidence.

It's just a case of uploading the files, creating a database and database user then loading the location that you've installed Wordpress on as you set it all up through your web browser.

[Emmielyn]

I appreciate this information, as well. I have been considering setting up a blog page and am still looking around trying to learn everything I need to know, before getting started.

[cranzi]

Does your host run cpanel? Most times Wordpress can be installed within minutes. Pick where you want it installed and go from there, not really that hard to mess up. And yes Wordpress is by far the best choice (my personal opinion though).

[compserv]

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement. Not quite 5 minutes (more like half an hour) but I'm sure I could get close to the 5 minutes second time around.

You gotta love the support you get on this forum.

[bytemaster]

What I forgot to say was that it would be a 5 minute install after all the files had been uploaded, so if you have a slow connection that it would take a lot longer, sorry for that.

[compserv]

What I forgot to say was that it would be a 5 minute install after all the files had been uploaded, so if you have a slow connection that it would take a lot longer, sorry for that.

No apology needed. The upload is going to be slow anyway (488k is about the best you'll get with any ADSL connection). It was much more that I have a web site on an IIS6 host, written in ASP.NET, and here I am loading an application written in PHP and using MySQL. I also wanted the blog to be accessed on blog.mydomain, so I was doing everything carefully and noting every step so I could roll back if anything got screwed up. I'll feel a lot happier if I have to do it again.