Which Blog Service is the best? WordPress vs Blogger vs LiveJournal January 3, 2007
Posted by NAyK in Blogging, Reviews, Software, Wordpress.trackback
…a persectival help/guide to choose between blogger.com, livejournal.com and wordpress.com
WordPress, Blogger (blogspot) and LiveJournal are all blog-services that are free, allow users to input text, and are community driven and thus have privacy features.
Having used all three blog-services, I must say that out of WordPress, Blogger and LiveJournal, WordPress is best suited for my needs. Now I know I’m saying this ‘in’ WordPress, and so it looks like I’m sucking up, but actually I’ve found that WordPress, primarily because of it’s categories is more user-friendly for writing.
But let me give a more detailed explanation.
Blogger.com (Blogspot)
Blogger.com was the first blog-service I used. It was free, it was associated with Google (a company that I respect), and it offered me html editing (a feature that I really enjoyed using). But when I started using it for writing, I found that I really needed to categorise my work. Meaning, even if my blog was about one major topic, let’s say Linux, I wanted categories, like distributions, helps, reviews etc. Plus I also wanted to highlight a key post, something that would be accessible for all viewers easily. The way I worked around these needs to was to extend the links on the side, making special links for the posts I wanted highlighted. I also tried talking about one category in a month, so that the entire month becomes one category! It wasn’t that I would have stopped blogging if I didn’t get categories, but definitely I knew I needed them. I enjoyed blogspot, but something was missing. I knew it. (latest update: unconfirmed reports suggest that blogger now has categories)
WordPress.com
Enter WordPress! I saw wordpress.com in action when another beginner blogger needed my help to edit his wordpress blog. When I saw his blog, I immediately wanted it. I must honestly admit that I was attracted by the blogstats! (It was so cool that it was part of the standard feature). But when I saw categories, I was floored!!! In fact, I thought it was a paid site because it offered so many things that I needed.
As soon as I helped him out (I had never seen/used WordPress before, but it was pretty simple to use). I went to my own computer, registered and to my utter amazement I saw the feature to import blogs! Earlier the only thing stopping me from changing would have been the fact that I would loose all my earlier work. But the attraction of categories especially was so high I was willing to sacrifice older posts, just to start blogging in a new (more organised) world. But with the import feature I was able to import all three of my blogger.com blogs without too much problem. The only thing that happened was that because blogger and WordPress use images differently, I had to correct the links of a few of my photographs. Since my blogs are primarily text based, I found that not so bad.
Another feature that I really liked in WordPress was the ability to make static pages. This solved my problem for standard pages that I want everyone to be able to access. So for instance, this site has “which linux?” is on a separate page; it is a helpful quick-access page.
Then again, I really like the akismet spam protection… that protects my blogs by default. In my blogger.com account, I received only about 5 spam messages… which is not so bad considering that my site is not that important, but at WordPress it has already blocked a few spam messages without me bothering too much. Nice.
I was also impressed by the WordPress’ dashboard that was more user-friendly (and more feature rich) than blogger’s dashboard. In fact, initially I preferred blogger’s dashboard because it was simpler… but I’ve come to love WordPress’ dashboards and features.
Finally, I was complete impressed that wordpress.com is built with WordPress software which is open-source… both free and free! Wow, now this is a great example of a quality open-source product that I would certainly love to be associated with!
After all this (and more), I was entirely sold out to WordPress.
As I continued using WordPress, one thing I really missed (from my blogger.com days) was the ability to edit my page (CSS and all). Editing my page was something I really enjoyed in blogger.com and wish I could have it in WordPress.
To WordPress’ credit, it was offered user-friendly template changes which are non-destructive… which mean that when I change a template, it preserves my previous link customization. For those who have used blogger.com know that when you change a template you lose all your changes. To workaround, you need to have a copy of your relevant changes in a text file, and paste accordingly. This is unnecessary in WordPress that allows you to experiment in its limited but nice template range.
Another thing I missed was the ability to post through email. Blogger.com offers a helpful feature, where you have a unique email address for each post, and then, you just need to email your uploads. WordPress sadly doesn’t have this… maybe later it will.
Yet another thing I missed in WordPress was the ability to search other blogs from within the top-bar of blogger.com. In WordPress, while the search feature in our blogs are quite helpful (and better suited than on the top-bar in blogger), still I miss the ability to browse other sites.
LiveJournal.com
As time has gone by I’ve found that I’m also veering towards Community Blogging. For that the issue of private/user oriented blogs have come. I was told (through articles etc) that LiveJournal has good community oriented blogging support. Both blogger and wordpress offer users with varying rights (administrator, editor, user etc) so I was curious what addition did LiveJournal have to make community blogging better.
I registered and in comparison to both blogger and WordPress I found LiveJournal cluttered and effect-heavy. It reminded me of MySpace, Yahoo 360 etc. Not something that I wanted for my community driven site.
As it turns out, LiveJournal is actually very geared towards community blogging, with ‘friends’ links all over the place. It has cute icon driven editing sites, but from the looks of it, it’s got a pretty standard look. But the key thing that put me off… ADS! To add to their cluttered look, I had to deal with their advertising. I understand that these services, are services, but when it comes to ad-free to with-ads, I can’t even think of using LiveJournal that does such a tacky job with ad-placement. (latest update: recently, LiveJournal revamped it’s look and ad-placement and the site is looking neater. But if you hate ads (especially ones that you are not directly benefiting from), you will never like wherever they put them).
I also didn’t enjoy using LiveJournal and quickly abandoned my blog there and urged my “community” to shift to WordPress instead. We’re primarily text driven, so maybe WordPress is best for that.
Perhaps LiveJournal and other blog-services are better suited for more video-music-picture sharing sites… and for that aspect I’m not sure whether WordPress matches up or not.
Summary: I return to my initial statement. Of the three popular blog-services I’ve used, I’ve found WordPress by far the best to suit my needs. It is organised, simple/user-friendly, growing in features… AND open source. There’s not much more that I need.
*****************
OTHER VOICES
(latest update: For blogservice ratings, see this site: http://blog-services-review.toptenreviews.com/)
I guess in a WordPress blog, you might probably expect a pro-WordPress review. However, I just read a post of someone leaving WordPress and moving to Blogspot. The main reasons seem to be the ability to edit CSS (layout) and the ability to have Adsense (the Google-based ad programme). This Adsense thing is really important to some people but WordPress doesn’t allow it. Another reason the author gives is that WordPress is a closed community, ie. ties you to WordPress blogs. While I know that is not true, because google recognises WordPress blogs, I still find myself going to other WordPress blogs more. So I guess some of his criticism is founded. The post is found here: http://dirkgently.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/im-leaving-wordpresscom/
For other opinions see: This post which is more studied (research oriented) and very informative, people might find this more useful: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page5516.cfm And this post http://www.bloggingchannel.com/free-blogging-site.html has a simpler pro-WordPress studied explanation.
I am a student. When I used LiveJournal I couldn’t post from school cause it was considered a chatting program. But I can post and edit from WordPress. Another plus.
Cassie
Blogger belongs to google and honestly if you blog on blogger you are playing into google’s big hands.
WordPress on the other hand is independent and a really cool tool.
At the end of the day whether blogger or wordpress, its great to have a job or know how to get one.
Visit http://www.joblifecoach.com
I have to say, I’ve been using LJ for about five years now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad on one of their pages. Where did you see this? Certainly I don’t have any text or banners showing up on my journal, friends page, or profile. And while I am a paying customer, even if I don’t log in and tell it that I am I do not see any advertising anywhere.
I don’t know how long you had your LiveJournal account – maybe they were in the middle of switching management or owners – but to the best of my knowledge there are no ads on Livejournal.
To Eric: To the best of my knowledge, paid accounts do not have ads. Free accounts do. I’ll try to show an example (not mine) soon.
Comments. WordPress.com seems to be horrible in this regard. Viewers can’t preview comments before submitting them (as I can’t here), can’t edit them, and can’t delete them later.
This is a rather important feature for many people.
Maybe I’m going to regret making this comment in a little while, but I’ll have no way of deleting it…
Hi Shreevatsa… I understand your paranoia. I feel it to. So since I have administrative rights to this site, just send me a message if/when you want to change what you have said, and I will either correct or delete your comment. Whatever you prefer. thanks for taking the time to say what you said though.
You seem like blogging software expert, so can I ask you a question? How do I add a button to my sidebar in WordPress? I tried to add a The Truth Laid Bare button, but it came out as a broken link. I’m wondering if this has something to do with the javascript in the image address. You’ll have to excuse me– I know nothing about this stuff.
To Claire: No, no, no… I’m not a blogging software expert. not at all… I’m just a free blogging tool user who has opinions! :)
But I have a perspective to your query that may help, if you are a free wordpress blogging site user like me.
I treat a button like an image with a link. Sometimes like the desktops on the sidebar of this page.
So this is how I did it.
1. Make a button (ie. make an image of a button)
2. Upload it onto wordpress, remembering this link.
3. Go to the dashboard and click on presentations.
4. Click on sidebar widgets.
5. Drag a Text1 or Text2 (if available) widget onto your sidebar in addition to your current sidebars.
6. Click the [=] config tool on the right of the Text1 widget.
7. Give a title like “Links”
8. Add the following html code to the text box, replacing the relevant address of your button, and the subsequent link you want the clicker to go to. I’m putting the code in square [ brackets ] rather than to prevent it from reading like code on this comment, but you can easily replace the [ brackets ] with the and use it. The following code is what I used for my side-bar image. You can adapt it as you want for your purpose. I hope it helps.
[a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/392266184_25ad430745_o.png" title="openSUSE 10.2]
[img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/392266184_25ad430745_m.jpg" width="240" height="150" alt="openSUSE10.2Screenshot" /][/a]
I prefer WordPress.
Great comparison. Same feelings here. Weird enough I’ve been blogging on Yahoo 360! That is a cross between Myspace and traditional blogging sites. All in one sort of platform.
But for my unadulterated blogging instinct I considered Blogger and Word Press. And my comparison would mostly match yours. BLOGSTATS is the greatests feature!! (Yahoo provides it too) I wish Blogger introduces Blogstats!
As for playing into the hands of big giants… They will always be there. Who knows sooner or later Word Press will be owned by some giant too. That’s the way it works. But personally, I think the giants cannot censor blogs all that conveniently… that would go against the whole concept and spirit of blogging!
[...] site comparison Posted April 3, 2007 Here is a nice review of blogging [...]
I’ve been using Livejournal for nearly 5 years and all my closest friends and family are on there.
They have ad free non-paid accounts, but you don’t get the full feature set. Also LJ is also open source.
Instead of categories LJ supports tags, which seems like an adequate organizational feature.
The main problem I have with LJ right now is that I have so many entries and comments (1,227 entries and 4,400 comments) that I have a horrible time using their “archive” system to find old content. I need to be able to search my blog, but they don’t offer any search features. Does WordPress? Much of the content of my blog is friends only or private, but I still want to be able to search it. Because it is private technocrati and blogsearch are useless for me. Any ideas of a work around? Or a service that does this better? Privacy plus search?
Thanks for the informative review.
I just found a tool that does exactly what I want! LJArchive. It backs up an LJ blog to a local disk and makes it incredibly easy to search it and view older entries. Yay!
http://fawx.com/software/ljarchive/
To Oscar: Hey that’s good to hear something positive about LiveJournal. It is certainly more ‘community’ oriented than WordPress.
WordPress does offer search of blog.
About ‘public’ accessibility, I’ve noticed that while WordPress can be discovered by technorati, google etc. You can also choose for privacy to further restrict google etc from finding your blog, and/also you can limit users who access your pages.
However, I think wordpress’ extra pages (extra from the blog) are usually not accessible in google etc. I wonder why it is.
[...] WordPress vs Blogger [...]
I have several blogs. Two are on livejournal, two on blogger, plus I have wordpress hosted at my website (although I am yet to play around with it as my time is consumed by my other bogs!)
The things I like/dislike about lj and blogger are:
LJ: good community. Easy to ‘friend’ people and you know that people are actually reading your blog! My paid account is a ‘friends only’ journal as it’s my personal journal so I like that privacy feature, I like belonging to communities and reading my ‘friends’ page every night. My free account is open to the public though and I use it as a journal for my wedding plans (I’m tempted to move it to blogger though as I don’t really use the community side of that blog)
Blogger: Much quicker and easier to change modules and add/delete links on side bars than livejournal. Whilst it lacks the ‘friends’ option of lj, it’s so quick to add links to your side bar that you can keep track of people easily. My blogger accounts are for meme’s and weight loss. I must admit I’m happier to direct people from weight loss forums to my blogger account than to livejournal (my weight loss one was orignially there) as the user page in lj with all your friends listed etc looks a bit less serious and a bit more ‘my space’ . I think my blogger looks a bit more ‘grown up’!
In summary (sorry to have written so much, it’s only in the last few days that I’ve worked out why I like what better so this is novel!)
Livejournal is great if you like belonging to communities and having all your friends and community posts show up as part of your personal journal.
Blogger on the other hand is better if you’re not interested in collecting ‘friends’ and communities and want a nice looking page that’s easy to work with.
to ren: hey thanks for your comments. You’re right, LJ does seem more community oriented. Guess it was just too much for me. :)
FYI: Blogger now has categories
To Matt: Really? About time. Guess the competition hots up now. :)
Blogger strikes me as much more advanced now then it was six months ago (before the Beta version was released and users were required to set up a Google account in order to upgrade). I had already made the switch to WordPress and must say I’ve been rather disappointed. I need more control over my design than WordPress.com allows. Also, the supposed “five-minute install” for the more advanced WordPress.org has proven to be a royal pain!
WordPress used to allow the uploading of other types of files besides images in posts. I really liked this when first starting out, because I like to put music with my posts. But after this was disabled, I gave up, and for quite some time there were problems with page loading as well. I found LiveJournal to be really full of clutter, I don’t care about all the flashy images and friending, adding to memories, and all the other stuff that shows up on an LJ page. Don’t care about categories on WP or Blogger either. Livejournal had disabled or gotten rid of the audio alternative to the visual verification code, so users of screen-readers can’t sign up for livejournals any more. A big DOWNER. Blogger has become a lot more user-friendly, with an audio option so people with visual impairments can finally create accounts and blogs over there. I haven’t checked out WP’s registration form lately, but they used to be good, with no visual verification code. If they’ve gone that way now, I hope they have an audio option so users with vision problems don’t get the door slammed in their faces like on so many other sites that use the visual code with no audio alternative. Lately I’ve managed to get back on WP again, but wish they’d re-enable the uploading of .mid and other audio along with the pic files on blog posts. I really like Blogger’s post by email feature.
Hmm, it’s a good post… I couldn’t decide where to finally host a journal, either here or on LJ, but now I think that I’m definitely staying here.
I am LJ user, and must admit, that I hate LJ sux for the following
you can’t upload pictures using free account
you can actually do it by switching to so calles plus account which means they will show ads in your blog.
It is possible to upload pictures somewhere and give a link.
This way one coul stay with free account and have pictures.
But not some of my non advanced suer friends. Besides, it is not pleasure to upload pics to other site and then go abck to lj and put there a link. lj sux because they seems hungry to money and dream how to earn more, and more.
They sux. Sup sux.
The only good thing about LJ is they friend list feature.
Yes, I use it. It is cool to know who are subscribed (friended) you.
It is even more cool to be able to read your friend list. You can have an account just to read the people you wish read in an easy and pleasurable way.
I miss this feature in blogger, and it is now being added to wordpress.
Unfortunately all of my friends and most of compatriots write in livejournal.
And, despite I have a blogger account which I like very much for its configurability I write often in lj to be in contact with people I am interested in.
I forgot to write, that I miss possibility to comment comments.
It is present in livejournal but missing from blogger and wordpress
I have created my own version of Blogger VS WordPress for internet marketers through your article over here but I focused on WP and Blogger:
http://studentblogproject.com/blogging-platforms%20/blogger-vs-wordpress/
Hope it helps!
[...] the dilemma. I read this article about blogger vs. wordpress vs. livejournal and I read this one, too. Basically, all of the same stuff. WordPress = categories good, Blogger = [...]
[...] an interesting comparison of the two. And another one that includes [...]
[...] by some popular blogs between Blogger and WordPress: Blogger vs. WordPress.com Comparison Chart Which Blog Service is the best? WordPress vs Blogger vs LiveJournal Blogger vs. [...]
[...] For another view about the differences in blogging tools click here. [...]
Thanks for the comparison. I currently have a blogger blog but I’m evaluating my options deciding which service will be the most useful in helping me grow readership and build traffic.
i have tried both, and now i think im gonna just stick to blogger simply because i think easier to use than wordpress.
Thanks for the comparison. I do like the idea of categories feature. Being on Blogger hasn’t been bad but I’d really like that feature. I think I’ll be switching over very soon.
Nice review. But now, the blogger has almost all the features wordpress has to offer plus more.
1. It is free
2. Categories option has been included
3. Little knowledge of xml and blogger can be customised the way we want. A GUI for template tweaking helps a lot for a novice like me
4. We can include small widgets in template to make it even more attractive
5. Easy to set-up a custom domain name on new blogger. The feature is being supported
6. Track Back capability has been included in new blogger
7. Visitor stats can include third party tracker scripts or any type of script
A year ago, Blogger was looking stale but now things have changed and its about time all the other blogging services upgrade their features.
WordPress + usage of Windows Live Writer (blog-writing/publishing program free by Microsoft that has been released just recently) makes an excellent combination. Alleviates much of the older frustration one had using wordpress and believing it were complicated.
Great comparison. I also started on Blogger, but moved to WordPress a couple months later. I like Blogger, but wanted to host on my own domain and needed some of the features offered by WordPress. I’ve never tried LiveJournal.
I just wrote about an experiment I conducted to see if a new blog could be launched in less than 15 minutes on either Blogger or WordPress.com. You can read about it at http://bloggingstartup.com. Look for the January 25, 2008 post.
I’m not sure what I think yet …
Blogger has the full ablility for you to earn using adsense.
WordPress don’t have. You need to put plugins etc that will ruin your template codes.
[...] I’ve been a blogger user for quite some time. Though it has served good so far, I felt “restricted” in many ways as explained here and here. [...]
I tried WP on a free host, and had some trouble with it. I have the domain, and want to keep it for e-mail, so I decided to ultimately go with Blogger. They allow a custom domain (example.com or sub-domain: blog.example.cm). This was perfect for me. I can let google host my blog (much better than previous webhost) and still use my domain! I do like the wordpress look and feel, even the default template. And being OpenSource is nice. But, as with my e-mail, I’m going to let the Google masters take care of me! Can’t beat FREE!
I like to blog.. weeee
I’m switching because I happened upon a piece de resistance: http://thrind.xamai.ca/
The dude makes AJAX wordpress themes that look like commodore64 etc.
[...] WordPress rocks – http://wordpress.com/ An excellent Review of Blog providers written by NAyK is found here [...]
I now have 5 sites on Blogger and I am very pleased with it. I tried WordPress for a while and found it VERY difficult to work with. The templates are locked down tight. It is near impossible to make changes.
On Blogger I was able to get a really nice 3 column template with almost limitless editing capabilities. All that is needed is some rudimentary coding knowledge. I was able to change category names and add categories.
In addition, WordPress seems to have a limit of 300 links per post and Blogger has no such artificial restrictions.
The examples of the category changes and the look changes can be seen on my new sites. (Keep in mind that it’s still under construction.)
http://mesothelioma-health-information.blogspot.com
Blogger – flexible with easy to use features
WordPress – restrictive with hard to use features
LiveJournal – I’ve never tried.
The ability to host pages at WordPress.com sealed the deal for me. I was migrating from Upsaid.com, whigh only has .html and .txt export features (up to 99 posts + comments in a single file).
At WordPress I just uploaded my Upsaid archives as html files. It’s a bit ugly formatting-wise, but simple and functional.
I never did figure out a way to get Blogger to host those Upsaid archives. Pasting the HTML code into posts caused Blogger indigestion.
I have friends on LiveJournal, and never found the clunky graphic feel appealing.
hello all,
i starting using livejournal earlier this year. and to my knowledge, there are ads.
after that, i read an article online and it says that from certain date onwards, BASIC account is no longer available. s1 is no longer supported to.
this means, users signing up AFTER that date, they will have to use a paid account if they do not want ads, and if they want to further customize their layouts.
correct me if im wrong
is wordpress really good?
To em: In my humble opinion; blogger has become really good in recent times, but I still like wordpress better.
WordPress is the best.
Regard,
ardianeko.wordpress.com
Blogger is simple, WordPress is powerful. You can take a look at their combination — AltaBlogs.com. It’s based on WordPress and have a simplicity of Blogger.
http://altablogs.com
WordPress.org seems to beat Blogger outright – but given you have to pay for it and handle it all on your own, it’s about right. Considering Blogger is free and you don’t have to pay for anything I think it does it’s job pretty well.
In terms of useability, dashboard and functionality I think WordPress trumps Blogger. The dashboard really is amazing. Plus I like the ability to truncate posts without inserting code into the template HTML.
But the restrictions on WordPress.com blogs have me preferring Blogger overall. Having to pay to edit a couple of colours and margin sizes on a WordPress layout is a pain. Plus not being able to embed whatever videos and audio players you like is a pain also. Not so bad if you’re not hot on embeddable videos – but for me this was a letdown and is what caused me to keep my main blog on Blogger.
wordpress are much powerful than blogger, here plugins helps in acheving any type of problem , it helps in driving much traffic .
With setting standards of SEO and also in exchange links
WordPress Rulez!
WordPress is good. Its got a lot of featurez
wordpress is my new fav, hands down
been using it for a few weeks and I can’t go back to blogger
This is a sort of discussion that will continue forever.
I feel blogger with its ease of use is extremely good for a newbie while someone who likes playing around with the codes, etc should go in for WordPress. Those who believe in “community living” should opt for Live Journal.
I had been a blogger. One of the major drawabacks i found with blogger is i couldnt find a theme with three columns one on the left and one on the right with posts in the middle. this one is offered by wordpress. so i’m planning to move to wordpress.
also blogger support is very poor. have sent surfeit of mails to check the adsense status. not even single response i got. pathetic
turst me, wordpress may look a bit difficult to use and organise, but once u get used to it, am sure u’ll love it. hardly it would take two three posts for u to get accustomed.
soon u can see my http://visionofvinith.blogspot.com in wordpress.
I’m having the same problem deciding…Maybe you should make a poll? :D
Thanks a million for the tips!
[...] Which is the most popular free blog service available ? A. [...]
thanks for the review, it’s very illustrative since I am deciding between blogger and wordpress, and kinda curious about livejournal et al as well.
I really love the community aspect of live journal. It just seems so much more colorful and freewheeling of the three. I started with them so I guess my heart will always be with them.
supprt wordpress forever!!!
Thanks for this article and discussion!
About WP: I wish I could uplode sound files that aren´t mp3, for ex all that streaming media you can upload your own stuff now.
Another thing: When I used Blogger I could go in and make you Tube windows smaller by changing the code, but in WP I put in the windows link and can´t do anything.
Is there anyway to paste embeds directly in a document when you write? Other embed codes than what you get from You Tube and such?
If I upgrade WP, is it true I can upload mp3 directly to my blog?
[...] Which Blog Service is the best? WordPress vs Blogger vs LiveJournal This guy tried both and ended up totally loving WordPress. [...]
I couldn’t see spending much time creating content for any site that wasn’t easy to archive on my own storage. If the company you’re using goes under, wave bye-bye to all of you precious entries.
Blogger has the ability to tediously backup your content. And it is possible to convert it for use by WordPress. But this is a pain.
With WordPress archiving can be done in 1 or 2 steps (database, files). But what’s even better is that since it’s open source you can host your own if, /dev/null forbid, WordPress went poof.
I do like the simplicity of Blogger, but I won’t give up that much control over my own work.
What I like about Blogger is that I can edit the CSS of my template for free, so I’m practically unlimited! In my mind I wonder “Why should I limit myself to the templates WordPress gives me when I can have any template I want on Blogger?”
However, if WordPress would allow me to edit my template and use my own custom template for free, I think I’d switch to them and never look back. Do you think they ever will?
I agree with Sharon. WordPress is awesome, but the fact I can’t edit ccs (without paying) is ridiculous.
Google is improving Blogger a lot and I think that soon it’s service will be nice and WordPress will have to go back and allow people to edit ccs.
While that, I refuse to use a service that won’t allow me to edit my blog as I want, that’s why I’ll stay with Blogger.
On the other hand, Adoz Lizzat said above about “playing into google’s big hands” while using Blogger… Come on! You have two options: assuming you are not a CIA agent, so what? If you are a CIA agent or a freak paranoid about privacy and how Google handles your personal info, simply create a new account just for Blogger, clean your cookies and you’ll be safe.
Both services are great. Pick the one you feel comfortable with. Anyway, run from Live Journal, as it’s a piece of s***…
What do you think of iXpress.me that provides impressive web addresses like: http://Joking.Of-Cour.se/ etc?
Thanks for the review — been trying to decide which to use & your ideas are a great help.
I have just loaded up Ubuntu and its great
I’ve been wondering about this. I’ve always used LJ, but it seems like everyone else is on blogger or blogspot. I love LJ’s comments; I can have real, threaded conversations with them. I’ve never seen an ad and I wouldn’t want to keep my photos at the same place as my blog anyway.
What sort of annoys me is that I would like to have more fine-grained control over friends lists and communities. I would like to have as many friends lists as I want so that I could categorize them and see these categories on different pages. I would also like my journal posts to automatically be part of a community without having to post separately (I suppose if I had the first, then this wouldn’t be a problem). That way I could tag certain posts which would automatically appear in the desired community.
I don’t know if these features exist elsewhere. Maybe I’m dreaming.
I Used both Blogger and now use WordPress. What a lot was said about it! I did however, find some of the statements to be true
e.g. 1. In Blogger you couldn’t change themes without messing up your links.
2. The themes could have been better- the thing with WP is that the themes, limited they may be, but are extremely well done, and have a professional look and feel to them. It makes Blogger look like a site created by a kid using dreamweaver!
3. I found I could do more in the WP Dashboard than the Blogger one. the stats thing was super cool.
4. The importing was smooth as butter in WP and made my site look a whole lot better than blogger.
i know i’m re quoting most of the things already said so well in this blog/comment section, but it only comes as an affirmation to them. And to prove my point why don’t you check the sites out your self…
http://treeoflifechurchmumbai.blogspot.com/
this is the one i shifted out from.
http://treeoflifechurchmumbai.wordpress.com/
this is the one that is currently in operation and that i use. Please leave a comment after this one to let me know what you think about my comments. Thanks
helped me out. but im quite lazy to switch all my blogspot entries and import them into a wordpres.. though wordpress seems much cooler. not that big of a deal to me since about nobody reads my blog anyway. hah
I’m getting ready to start my first blog and have enjoyed reading this post and all the replies so thank you to all. I have to say, and the reason I’m replying since I have nothing to say, that I enjoyed Ivan’s comment the most:
“though wordpress seems much cooler. not that big of a deal to me since about nobody reads my blog anyway.”
[...] Which Blog Service is the best? WordPress vs Blogger vs LiveJournal, por NAyK, 2007-01-03. [...]
i love wordpress most according to me it is the best service.
thanks.
Thank you for the post. I believe I’m ready to start a blog. Your information and the comments were helpful. Again, thank you.
hmm.. maybe I should switch to wordpress…
What, are you serious? Do you really think the choice of best blog service is limited to three? I don’t know what to say, only this: I gotta find some other reviews a bit more extensive.
WP is more simple to use and professional look than blogger.
Thanks, that was a great comparison and the number one reason that I will choose wordpress.
[...] Here is another opinion [...]
One feature making me use LJ is its providing privacy option for each post, not for the entire blog. For example, if your blog is for public but there’s one post you wanna show your friends only, that’s an option LJ will offer. Their friend page feature also makes it easier to follow friend’s updates.
But you’re very right , LJ is heavily community-oriented. Anyway one of its main feature is setting up a “community” and I think most LJ users belong to several communities (I follow around 80s :P) All of its features: The friend page, the privacy, the search bar … are towards “community” more than “private journal”. Other LJ features relating to appearance, music/ game/video activities are worse than other blog services. After all I think LJ is a very social “journal”, but not a real “blog”
I’m looking for a blog service that provide privacy setting for each post like LJ, with better look. Am I dreaming? *sigh*
P/S: About the ads… not sure why you got the ads… Lj provide 3 account types:
Free: free, no ads, limited theme/avatar, missing some minor features
Plus: free, ads, more options
Paid: no ads, every feature
Old users often choose Paid acc but the Free acc is actually very good
A very useful post with some great comments. I’m in the process of switching from WordPress to Blogger. They’re equally easy to use but I’m attracted to Blogger’s many gadgets, where I can easily add Etsy favourites, Facebook link etc. as well as buttons/ads. However, I miss the pages function that WordPress offers. Blogger offers one front page, which is quite limiting. For that reason alone I might go back to clever WordPress and pay for an upgrade.
Very useful post indeed :) (I went around the blogs the same order as you did~)
I’ve been thinking alot, whether I should use Livejournal or WordPress. WordPress in my opinion is very ’simple’ and I actually like LJ’s “friends” option. But the only thing that is holding me back is I actually have readers on my WordPress account. And also WordPress doesn’t allow CSS editing. UNLESS you pay, which I don’t do.
Your opinion? ;D
[...] blogging sites out there. This review favored WordPress over all others. Then I read this blog post that compares WordPress vs LiveJournal vs Blogger. The post is very helpful and detailed, and [...]
I would recommend FreeBlogZone. It is unique, has staff in which are very on-the-game and helpful, new features, and very easy to use.
I can’t believe you’d recommend FreeBlogZone, unless you have some financial investment in it. Their home page is quite drab, they do not provide a tour of their features, and they don’t seem to have any sort of community whatsoever. In fact, going by their “blog directory”, they only have a total of 18 subscribers! I just checked out several of ‘em, they are terribly plain and worse: downright boring.
[...] [...]
now I am more confuse
hey…
i use blogger just because belongs to google :)
>i use blogger just because belongs to google :)
Worst reason *ever*.
http://www.google-watch.org/
Thanks. Good, helpful post.
I’m trying to find a blog service that is better for hosting images and small flash files or videos. I like having a blog where I can comment on the design and art, and have the files tagged and sorted, but not viewed like a photo journal. I’m also looking for the most free image upload with good blog quality.
If there are suggestions for the best sort of blog for this, I would be happy to hear.
Thanks.
I have one blog in blogger, another one in wordpress, and one in Tumblr. Whenever I post something in one of my blogs, I post them to my other blogs. +_+
I cannot quite put my finger on it but I really hate wordpress.
Maybe it has something to do with where I am (NZ) but WordPress is hideously slow and I actually find their interface very messy.
Also, I get this subtle, arty, Mac’ish and almost snobbish feeling with WordPress which just pisses me off.
Blogger is just way more practical. Probably also a bit rough round the edges too but nonetheless…
Muzzerino
Nice post! Thanks for sharing your experience.
I think I’ll stay on Blogger because html editing is really important for me.