Blog services review

If you're considering writing your blog for the first time, you'll be hard pressed to find anything simpler than blogger. Still there are plenty of other services available. You can find charts online comparing the various features.

I've been writing my blog for years. I have posts as far back as early 2001 and have still managed to keep the total size of the blog small (just over a quarter of a gig) . I started it using homegrown code but decided in late 2006 to move over to someone else's product. Its running on my own machine so I still have to worry about the server and bandwidth so I would love to move it to some other service but there are a couple things that have been preventing me from making the move.

1. I worry that if I were to host it on blogger, for example, that it would be very difficult to keep backups. There's no backup feature so I would have to back everything up manually. If Google decided that they didn't like my blog for, some reason, they could come along and delete it and I would lose years of work. Or, like YouTube, they could delete my account altogether.
2. There isn't any way to change the date on posts. This is a convenience I've become accustomed. It would be difficult to give up. It seems like such a simple change, that it's silly that blogger won't just make it.
3. I already have comments on my blog posts. Moving to blogger would mean that I would lose those comments.
4. I have files, other than images, hosted on my blog. Blogger would prevent me from uploading these so I'd have to find somewhere else to put them. My current software allows me to manage the files, any images, my posts, my comments, etc, all from the same interface.

It looks like blogger is aware of some of these issues. In fact, the other day I stumbled upon a page that lets you vote for your enhancement request. I've included the list below.

1. I want to restrict access only to specific posts.
2. I want to show excerpts of my posts, with links to the full text.
3. I want to export/import my posts to/from another blogging tool.
4. I want to be able to upload other files to my blog besides images.
5. I want to display my posts in reverse, or non-chronological order.
6. I want to track where my visitors come from and how they interact with my site.
7. I want Blogger to be available as part of Google Apps.
8. I want to purchase domains through Blogger.
9. I want the ability to post a podcast on my blog.
10. I want the ability to read my friends' blogs all in one place.
11. I want more gadgets for the sidebar.
12. I want more template options.
13. I want to recommend a Blog of Note.

You can find the blogger voting page by following these steps from the dashboard.

Help | Help Center | Manage Your Account | Getting Started | Where do I sign in? | write Blogger Support (located in the bottom right of the screen) | Skip authentication | Suggest a feature | Submit

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Posted by QICBoy on November 28, 2007 7:00:00 AM PST #