Well, it just dawned on me. Google Sites sucks.

I'm sorry. It's sad. But I've given up on that incredibly limited editor! Does anyone have any recommendations for relatively cheap blogging platforms? My aunt is a blogger, and she recommended using WordPress, but I'm sort of leaning towards Wix.

It needs to be a WYSIWYG editor, because I don't know how to code. (note to self: learn to code)

Any suggestions?

Are you looking to blog or just to build sites?

WordPress is good in that it doesn't lock you in. If you use Wix, you either have to re-build your site or stick with Wix.

If you use WordPress's hosting to host your site, you can choose to move to your own hosting (or another host, neither yours or WordPress's) at any point, since it's open source.

There are several other open source blogging platforms, I just don't remember what they are.

Flamekebab wrote:

Are you looking to blog or just to build sites?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by “just to build sites”. If you mean like informative sites, then yes, it will be an informative site with a blog.

You mentioned using Google Sites in the past. That seems more like something one would use to build a traditional site as opposed to a blog.

So is the focus on building pages or blogging?

I like WordPress for its modularity but it does mean handling hosting (or paying WordPress to do that for you).

Flamekebab wrote:

You mentioned using Google Sites in the past. That seems more like something one would use to build a traditional site as opposed to a blog.

So is the focus on building pages or blogging?

I like WordPress for its modularity but it does mean handling hosting (or paying WordPress to do that for you).

I thought that WordPress had a free hosting plan, but that the said plan had ads. That may have changed, though.

Flamekebab wrote:

You mentioned using Google Sites in the past. That seems more like something one would use to build a traditional site as opposed to a blog.

So is the focus on building pages or blogging?

Hmm, I guess you could say both. My site was originally more of a traditional site, but I think it's beginning to become more focused on the blog. So I guess you could say I need a happy medium…?

Then I'd suggest WordPress, ideally hosted somewhere (I'm not sure if you're aware of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org - I'm talking about the latter).

Flamekebab wrote:

Then I'd suggest WordPress, ideally hosted somewhere (I'm not sure if you're aware of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org - I'm talking about the latter).

Wordpress.com hosts blogs, wordpress.org is where you can download the wordpress software and install it on your own server (or on a hosting service). There's also other services like Google Blogspot.

I'm a blogger, and I use wordpress. It is really good

jji7skyline wrote:

Wordpress.com hosts blogs, wordpress.org is where you can download the wordpress software and install it on your own server (or on a hosting service).

Thanks for explaining
I'm guessing the hosting thing is likely to be a stumbling block but I hope it's not. I remember getting my own hosting for the first time (early 2000s) and it was amazing!

Hosting is really cheap nowadays, you can get unlimited hosting for less money than buying a meal at mcdonalds and there are even free hosting plans available for people who don't want to commit right away.

000webhost, halfdollarhosting, and 1freehosting are all good, cheap/free hosts. I've used all three.

Domains can be had reasonably cheaply too, thankfully.

Flamekebab wrote:

Domains can be had reasonably cheaply too, thankfully.

Yeah. You can get subdomains for free usually. Avoid dot.tk and similar free domain services though, they betray you once your website gets big enough and replace your website with their ads.

Flamekebab wrote:

Then I'd suggest WordPress, ideally hosted somewhere (I'm not sure if you're aware of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org - I'm talking about the latter).

Is there a significant price difference between the two?

Flamekebab wrote:

Domains can be had reasonably cheaply too, thankfully.

Yeah, I bought my domain name for only about $11, although it'll probably be more expensive with hosting.

WordPress.com (their service) has a price tag for the full version, WordPress.org (their software) is free.

WordPress.com is just WordPress hosting. Personally I prefer to handle my own hosting and so pay for that and run the software myself.
It might be easier to pay for their service if the prospect of your own hosting is intimidating. It's not particularly scary though

Sorry for bumping and old thread, but what are your thoughts on Joomla and Drupal? They should also act as a “WYSIWYG” platforms and I've read that setting up a blog is fairly easy. Yet, it seems like WordPress is more convenient for blogging. Any thoughts on this (re: WP vs Joomla vs Drupal)?

Also read this blogging guide - it suggests to use WP, but also points out Joomla & Drupal, hence the question.

Thanks
Z.

It's been a long time since I used either so my thoughts are fairly outdated. I found Joomla more user-friendly but massively over complicated. Drupal was less complicated but required a fair bit of knowledge to understand how it fit together.

If I was building another site I might consider them but surely there must be something better these days?

For blogging I just use Blogger.

Flamekebab wrote:

If I was building another site I might consider them but surely there must be something better these days?

If you're willing to get your hands dirty with node.js (or pay inordinate sums of money for hosting), there's Ghost. I haven't tried it personally, but there seems to be nearly unanimous agreement that it's pretty great.