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Where to blog?
WEBLOGS are a new form of web publishing and communication, comparable to e-mail or instant messaging. A growing number of start-up companies are doing whatever they can to popularize blogging, with millions of people worldwide maintaining online personal journals that deal with everything, from politics to posting new pictures each day.
The practice is destined to revolutionize the way people distribute and acquire information. The buzz about weblogs, or blogs, as they are commonly known, is being augmented by competition among platforms and software that are making it easier to set up and write blogs.
There are many services and software available for users who wish to start their own blogs. A quick search produces lists of blogging software, platform and providers available on the web. One good source is about.com
The first thing that you need to get started is to choose software to blog. Consider this before making a choice — different blogs software offer different features. It is important for users to have an idea of what these features mean, depending on the intended purpose and needs of a blog. Of course, it does help if you are relatively good with computers — some blog software require a bit of work and basic knowledge of HTML, among other things, to set them up and get going. However, quite a few beginners do not wish to spend too much time on setting up blogs. This also excludes blog software like WordPress, Movable Type and Drupal for beginners, because they need installation and a bit of configuration.
Blogs have become one of the most convenient ways to display photographs on the web. Those who want to include photos should know how different blog software handle graphics. Some software allow uploading images to the server and then placing them in the blog, whereas others require the uploading of images elsewhere and then include HTML codes for them within the blog post. Similarly, some software can post or integrate different files, such as moving images, sound files, .pdfs, or word processing files.
There are many free platforms available, but by paying a fee one may get software with better support options. Similarly, in-built aggregator and subscription through Atom and RSS feeds, permalinks, archives, comments, track backs, use of post categories and group blogging are a few other features the users should know about before starting.
Two of the most famous blog services are Blogger and Movable Type. Blogger is probably one of the best places to blog even though it may lack some of the more sophisticated features. It is great for bloggers of every type.
Personally, Blogger was a great introduction to the field of blogging. Since February 2003, I have had a blog on Blogger. It offers ease of posting which I enjoy. Blogger (Blogspot) became a leading service when Google purchased Blogger.com from Pyra Labs in the same year. Earlier, it was supported by text ads but now Google has removed them. Google has started ASense that allows users to include pay per click Ads on their blogs or sites, instead.
Undoubtedly, the service is a favourite among Pakistani bloggers. Search engines may be more likely to pick up your blog if you are using Blogger. One can add almost anything in the template and enrich blogs at this site.
Posting on Blogger is easy: open an account, enter plain text or a HTML code in the editor, spell-check it if you like, and click the post button. Previous posts are chronologically listed.
Those who have the Google Toolbar on their computers, can simply click on the BlogThis! button on the Toolbar and quickly post a link to the page being viewed. The comments feature has recently been updated, making it more functional and user-friendly. There is also a “mail this entry” feature. It is free, which shows that Blogger has more registered users than any other service.
TypePad is another service with good support for content postings. It is priced between $4.95-14.95 per month. Blog can include one or more photo albums, which automatically generate thumbnails and attractive display pages. Books, music, wish lists and links can easily be added. Typelists automatically appear as sidebars, flanking the posts.
A little knowledge of HTML is essential. TypePad blogs are inviting and easy to navigate. The service’s comment system leaves you in charge. You can enable comments on a per-post basis and hold incoming comments by pending approval. Visitors can read posts or check out your lists of books, music, links, or friends.
In order to attract more users, all services are changing rapidly. If the weblogging software one is using does not have some features, they are probably on their way in the next update. Moreover, there are many sites dedicated to specific plug-ins and add-ons. You can add Blogroll to organize links to other blogs that you wish to put on to your own site. Another example is NotifyList, which is one of the many sites that can host your own mailing list. Just make sure to check if these features are compatible with the weblogging tool being used.
Having said that, here is my recommendation. Start anywhere. Spend a couple of days testing different blog software and try to get a feel of the way they work. In any case, whichever blog software or platform you choose, just have fun and keep on blogging. I have observed that bloggers start with services like Blogger and later, when they learn more, they shift to other services like TypePad. So where you want to blog? That is the question.
The writer
