Blogs?

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Duke of Plaza-Toro
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Blogs?

Post by Duke of Plaza-Toro » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:01 am

Salutations!

I am tentatively considering starting a Blog.

Now I realise this announcement isn’t exactly going to light up the gaming world into a frenzy of fevered expectancy :D but I am a complete novice when it comes to these things and I was wondering if the regular bloggers out there have any advice for me?

I’m especially interested to know if anyone has any thoughts on the possible pros and cons of Blogger or Wordpress? (The free versions). Or are they both much of a muchness?

Adieu
DPT
In enterprise of martial kind, When there was any fighting, He led his regiment from behind -
He found it less exciting.

http://worldcrisisinminiature.wordpress.com/
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Cameronian
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Re: Blogs?

Post by Cameronian » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:52 am

I use Blogger but it can be an absolute pain to get pages to format properly and sizing pictures is a bit fraught; currently it won't change font colours for me. I started creating the pages in Windows 'Livewriter' and importing them into Blogger, easier to use and has a greater success rate for me.

I'd be interested in the experiences of others too!

Good Luck

George
"You might well think that; I couldn't possibly comment"

http://cameronian-onlyagame.blogspot.com/
http://camcpproj.blogspot.co.uk/
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18th Century Guy
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Re: Blogs?

Post by 18th Century Guy » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:37 pm

I use blogspot.com and have found it fairly simple but more than adequate to meet my needs.
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Re: Blogs?

Post by roma912 » Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:49 pm

I also use blogspot and have had no major problems with it.
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yar68
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Re: Blogs?

Post by yar68 » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:11 am

I also use blogspot, over the last month I've had nothing but trouble. It's really getting on my nerves :evil: If it wasn't such a pain in the ar$e, I'd switch to Wordpress, that I here (maybe wrongly) is relatively idiot proof and NOT prone to all the problems I keep having!!

http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/
Ray

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Coyote
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Re: Blogs?

Post by Coyote » Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:59 am

I recommend wordpress as well. I used a hosted variety which is free aside from the hosting and a custom theme.

However, the theme I'm using it just a slightly modified version of the basic theme and it is wonderful.

Take a look at the Projects section of my website, that's custom theme work you can't do, but notice what happens when you click on the Changing Gears - Infinity article, you suddenly want to start playing Infinity. I'm an awesome writer. Haha, just kidding, I mean the top banner changes to the image I set as the "featured image" which is a behaviour built into the theme.

Adding images, captions, sizing is all quick and easy.

I think my blog is in my signature, but just in case:
http://tyler.provick.ca
Tyler "Coyote" Provick
http://tyler.provick.ca
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Duke of Plaza-Toro
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Re: Blogs?

Post by Duke of Plaza-Toro » Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:05 pm

Thank you for the responses gentlemen - keep 'em coming please. Your views are most welcome.

My (admittedly superficial) impression so far is that Blogger is flexible but sometimes a little bug prone, while Wordpress is more dependable but gives a little less in the way of options? (Probably a hopeless generalisation on my part…)

Not being very techie minded the ease with which I can re-size and upload pictures to get the final ‘look’ I want is of particular interest to me - as of course it’s the pictures that tend to define the overall visual impact of most gaming and model soldier Blogs. So the level and ease of control there seems important. One point of interest that caught my eye in the layout department was the nice big header image on Ross’ Brushes and Bases Blog. The Wordpress themes don’t seem to offer anything quite so generous in their ‘custom headers’.

I don’t suppose I’m looking for anything very sophisticated (although Tyler’s hosted site is very impressive). My requirements will be much the same as the rest of the wargamer / model soldier blogging community – plenty of picture; some words; links to other sites. The usual gubbins.
In enterprise of martial kind, When there was any fighting, He led his regiment from behind -
He found it less exciting.

http://worldcrisisinminiature.wordpress.com/
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quindia
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Re: Blogs?

Post by quindia » Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:32 pm

I use blogger. I haven't had many issues, but I often do my posts with html rather than the default design tool (you can switch back and forth between the two). I keep it pretty simple on the blog anyway. I am working on redoing my other website (sadly neglected over the last year or two) and tying the two sites together more closely. The blog will basically be my 'what's new' page with the the galleries and articles still collected at www.quindia.com.

with everything I have going on, I may have this finished sometime in 2014...

Anyway, I like blogger...
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