WordPress.com versus the new Blogger

Earlier this week Blogger unveiled its new Beta version. I have been playing with this service and am extremely happy with the new features Blogger is unveiling. Blogger, originally created by Pyra Labs was one of the pivotal fores n the explosion of the blogosphere over the last several years. Originally a tiered service with free and paid versions, Blogger was acquired by Google in 2004. Since its acquisition the feature set of Blogger has languished while new offerings such as WordPress.com have entered the scene.

Blogger and WordPress are both attractive options for those looking to set up a blog. These services eliminate the need to find a host and install blogging software. Because these are hosted services, you have less control than if you host your own blog. Both services differ in what they limit and to what degree.

WordPress.com is the free, hosted version of the popular content management system WordPress.org. WordPress is an excellent, feature-rich blogging platform. The full feature set of WordPress is only available if you install it with your own web host (the software itself is free). Many (if not most) professional blogs use Wordress as their content management system.

Here is an example of an old Blogger blog
Here is an example of a Beta Blogger blog
Here is an example of a WordPress.com blog

Both Blogger.com and WordPress.com are extremely straightforward to set-up and use. I think that Blogger is slightly more user-friendly than WordPress.com for the novice blogger, but 15-30 minutes of reading and tinkering with WordPress is all that is really needed to get going. Blogger.com is also a little more easily integrated into cell phone, camera phone, e-mail blogging, and the like, and is probably a slightly better choice for personal bogs and total beginners.

WordPress features include static pages, categories, an extremely powerful editor, and many other features. Pages are a way of keeping static HTML pages within the dynamic blogging interface. This can also be accomplished with Blogger, but it is a hack and not as useful. What I do in Blogger to create a page is make a post or (cannibalize an old post from months ago), and link to that post from a static part of my blog. Look at my age here for an example. The links in the navigation bar are all links to old bog posts which I then use as content management pages. This works, but it is a hack and not nearly as slick as WordPress’ built-in pages feature.

Blogger is more useful than WordPress.com if you like to tinker. WordPress.com limits the number of templates you can use and has a somewhat (but not fully) customizable sidebar. Blogger gives you complete control over your template. You have total access to the HTML and can basically do whatever you want. Any sort of add-on, template sidebar structure, navigation and the like are yours to tinker with. This is also possible if you use install WordPress on your own server, but the freely hosted WordPress.com currently does not allow access to the HTML.

The non-techie (or at least non-tinkerer) will not really care about this feature. WordPress.com’s templates are really superb, and I think that they tend to look much better out of the box than Blogger templates. You can however, tweak Blogger templates to look pretty much like WordPress templates–it just requires some technical knowledge.

The new Beta Blogger really changes things up. Blogger has lifted many features from WordPress.com while still allowing access to the HTML (coming soon). It is unclear right now whether the new Blogger will support multiple pages like WordPress, but the sidebar is now widgetized like WordPress and categories are supported (Blogger is calling them “labels”). You can drag and drop sidebar widgets quite easily (a huge improvement over the old Blogger). The publishing scheme has been reworked and changes/new posts appear instantaneously (no more spinning triangle of death). Here are some more features according to the Blogger team:

A lot of folks have been wanting to use new features like Labels but with their existing template. Or there are folks who are looking for more fine-grained control than offered with the new Layouts system.

Fortunately, it’s always been part of our plan to introduce a new Edit HTML system for Blogger in beta. This system will not only let folks have the degree of customizability they desire, but it will let you create templates that are customizable with the Layouts system. Right now we are finishing the first version of this system and will be introducing in the “days not weeks” timeframe.

I am anxiously awaiting the opportunity to move my blog over. Hopefully this will fix the rendering problems that my blog (and tons of other Blogger blogs) has in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

check out Jason Heath’s Bass Page for more information

Odeo

Recently I have been using Odeo , the podcasting/content management system, for my double bass MP3 audio content. It is a very slick service. They give you very easy-to-use content management tools. Odeo will host your audio content for free (unlimited), and they provide you with many methods of accessing, publicizing, and distributing this content. The company is not necessarily doing anything that is not already offered by other companies, but it is much easier to use than, say, the Internet Archive for dumping and accessing your files.

After dumping your files on Odeo you can embed a Flash player on your site and stream the audio from Odeo. Check out my audio page for an example on this. Many other companies offer this sort of service (some free, some not), but Odeo gives you a choice of Flash player without redirecting the listener back to Odeo. Its implementation is slicker than many other services. People can also download your MP3 files directly from Odeo. All of your audio is available either through a unique URL for the particular file or as a channel of related audio. Here are my channels as an example:

Jason Heath’s Double Bass Performances
Double Bass Solos – Practice Tracks
Double Bass Orchestral Excerpt Practice Tracks
Double Bass Scales

Odeo also has a built-in recorder function in Odeo Studio . You can record within your web browser and then download, edit, and re-upload the file. There are programs like Audacity that also offerthis functionality (for free) but this recording feature is still useful.

More useful, however, are Odeo’s rich podcasting features. Take any set of your audio files and roll them into a podcast. You can then submit the feed to iTunes and other podcasting directories. Odeo will take care of the artwork, description, etc. The catch? They insert a three second promo for the Odeo service at the beginning of your podcast. Whether or not this is an acceptable trade-off for using their really excellent free service is a matter of personal choice. Currently, I am using Odeo to host my computer generated practicepodcasts (with the commercial), and I am hosting my bass performances podcast (with no ad) myself.

For only a few dollars a month companies like the excellent Libsyn will host your podcasts ad-free. If my bass performances podcast takes off I will probably start using Libsyn. Odeo, however, is a great way to get your feet wet in the podcasting world.

Check out this and other related information on Jason Heath’s Bass Page.