Blog software = WordPress. This assessment is of free WordPress.com, where “they” host. (If we host, we use downloadable software from WordPress.org, it’s $49.50/year, and we can make changes to CSS in templates and possibly elect other flexible options). Here are the answers to the questions if we choose NOT to download WordPress software:
Interface—end use Acceptable; can make custom image header, 750 x 140 pixels
RSS If publicly accessible
Preview post Yes (can’t preview comments, but can edit them)
Categories Yes
Ease of use Medium
Can you limit access by IP range (and how does that affect RSS) No–limit by user only; can’t offer RSS
Can you moderate posts and comments? Yes for comments; only designated ISD staff can “post”
Will “they” host, or would we need to download software? They will host
Can we link from a short article to a longer one? Yes. Just use the More tag button to the right of the one that looks like a tree.
June 18, 2008 at 9:09 am
comment with link
June 18, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Excellent, Nancy!
Wonder why we don’t see more of this design; short article on first page, linked to full article on another page. GADZZZ!
You’re the ONE!!
June 18, 2008 at 3:28 pm
It amazes me that I could not find other WordPress sites that designed their page with a series of short articles which link to a page carrying the complete articles. (Only other site I found like that was one where WordPress resided on their server. But, apparently that didn’t mean anything.)
What you did with the look is much better than most of what I’ve seen “out there.” It’s a *great start.
Unsure about the value of that pop-up/rollover that links from the “more” (full article) link. After I followed a link I was stuck on the page. I was not able to return to the blog page. It was a dead-end. (I didn’t try all the links.)
Here is a page from WordPress that gives pros and cons of hosting on our server (“.org” sites ) vs not hosting on our server (“.com” sites)
WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
You may find yourself blogging here on WordPress.com for a while and then realize that you want to make some changes to the software. You ask around: “Is it possible to upload your own plugins?” People tell you that it is possible, yet you can’t find a way to do it. This can be confusing! Why can’t you upload themes? Why can’t you edit files? Why aren’t the menus there? Why can’t you do things the way the documentation (Codex) says?
The confusion comes from not understanding the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Let’s clear it up.
WordPress.org is open source blogging software that is freely available to anyone to download. The software must be downloaded and installed onto a computer. WordPress, being internet software, must be installed on a web server–that’s a computer that is set up to serve web pages over the internet–and your personal computer probably isn’t a web server. So, to make the free WordPress software work, you have to own a web server or rent some space on one. That’s called hosting and it’s not usually free. There are plenty of good hosts out there who will let you install WordPress on their web servers for a reasonable fee. You can then do anything you like with your own copy of WordPress: install plugins and themes, etc.
WordPress.com is different. It’s a web site that provides blogs hosted free of charge. The software on WordPress.com is very similar but not exactly the same software you can download from WordPress.org. It is a multi-user version of WordPress that allows many thousands of blogs to be hosted on a single web server. The free blog hosting does not come with the ability to upload plugins or themes. Because any change in the software affects every blog on the system, some of the things you can do on your own hosted WordPress blog are disabled here. Some of these features may become available in the future as paid upgrades, comparable with traditional hosting fees.
WordPress.org Benefits
* Ability to upload themes
* Ability to upload plugins
* Great community
* Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded
WordPress.org Cons
* You need a good web host, which generally costs $7-12 a month
* Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run
* You’re responsible for stopping spam
* You have to handle backups
* You must upgrade the software manually when a new version comes out
* If you get a huge spike in traffic (like Digg or Slashdot) you site will probably go down
WordPress.com Benefits
* It’s free and much easier
* Everything is taken care of: setup, upgrades, backups, security, etc
* Your blog is on dozens of servers, so it’s highly unlikely it will go down due to traffic
* Your posts are backed up hourly
* You get extra traffic from blogs of the day and tags
* You can find like-minded bloggers using tag and friend surfer
* Your login is secure (SSL) so no one can get into your account if you use wifi
WordPress.com Cons
* Limited customization of themes (though we’re adding more every day)
* You can’t hack the code behind your blog
Nancy, if any of this is not helpful; feel free to edit. Guess that’s one of the good things about previewing the comments.