The Free Website Project

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Last week I wrote a post recommending the switch to WordPress without trying the newer releases of b2evolution, ans since then I’ve had to eat my hat more than once. When you’re a blogger, it can be tempting to rely on a combination of other common knowledge, popular opinion, and intuition. The problem, as we all know, is that many times all three of these things fail. That’s what happened last week when, having been annoyed by one too many WordPress plugins, I decided to write a comparison without really doing any research.

Before I begin a more objective look at the major platform choices for newbie bloggers, I’d like to correct a few possibly confusing errors I made in the last post. If you haven’t read it, go ahead and skim past this list:

• WordPress has more plugins
  This is a fairly true statement. WordPress does have the greatest number of plugins. By going with anything else, you miss the startling and amazing variety of little widgets to add to your blog. Having said that, b2evolution is much kinder to those wanting to use snippets of regular HTML code (such as AdSense blocks) as plugins. They can be held in widget containers and easily moved from skin to skin without ever editing the template file. Gone are the code hacks I mentioned in the last post. This is one of the reasons why I think the b2evo widget/plugin system is superior, but more on that later in this article.
• WordPress has more users
  In the numbers game, WordPress wins hands-down, which means you get all the perks of having thousands of templates and addons written for you. No arguments here.
• WordPress is more polished
  This is one of those statements built on intuition more than anything else, but since I’ve made it it’s only fair that I examine this further. There are several elements of WordPress that are more polished, although clean code isn’t one of them. I never realized until I tried out WP how many more comments b2evolution has to guide you along. This is particularly strange when you consider that every little configuration change in WP must be accomplished by a code edit, a somewhat intimidating process for newbies and a tedious one for blog veterans. In addition, many of the little nuisances that I wrote about are now taken care of in both b2evolution and WordPress. It seems they’re really leveling out the playing field with the recent development!
• WordPress is expected
  I was scraping out the barrel a little here. Actually, it really depends on the niche. If you blog about blogging then yes, WP is the expected platform. If you blog about, say, recipes, many people don’t know or care what blog engine you use (in fact, many are actually unaware it’s a blog they’re reading). Oh, and did I mention that the permalinks are now the same as WP’s? Yeah, that too.

So, now we’ve cleared that up a bit let’s look at 3 options many newbie bloggers will be (or should be) considering: b2evolution, WordPress, and Blogger. I’ve chosen these three because they all have a fair number of users and features, and are all right for different groups of people, but keep in mind that there are many more out there. Let’s switch things up a bit and start with blogger:

Blogger
Many people reading this will recommend against Blogger, but they’re not the people you should be listening to if you’re not interested in tech. Going back to my recipe blog example, you’re probably going to spend more time cooking than installing plugins, and a free hosting included service like Blogger makes that easy. Log in, pick design, start blogging, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! A word of caution, though, if your blog is internet or technology related you have no excuse using Blogger, because people will be expecting a bit of internet know-how. Another big problem with Blogger (probably the largest) is the fact that there are no categories for your posts, so if you’re writing a more in-depth blog rather than a journal, look elsewhere. On that note, let’s move on to WordPress.

WordPress
WordPress has both self-hosted and hosting included options, just like Blogger, but it asks a little more from you in the technical department. If you want to customize things, or enjoy having complete control over your creation, make that a lot more. So, when should you be using WordPress? If you have a blog about blogging, you probably should because then you can write up all those juicy WordPress template and plugin lists and set StumbleUpon on fire. You can, of course, do that with another blog engine, but it looks a little contrived.

b2evolution
Let’s say you’re the average blogger: a pretty good writer, a lover of multimedia, and a competent but not over-enthusiastic user of HTML and PHP. Code edits aren’t your thing, but neither are the restrictions a truly newbie system might place on you. Before you rush to Blogger or WordPress, why not take a serious look at b2evolution. I’ve got four alliterative words for you: community, customization, and clean code. In terms of community, you’ll find the b2evolution forum is full of people truly devoted to the software. That’s why they’ve been developing it so much over the last 6 months or so, which leads me to the customization department. In WordPress, many check-box type options are accomplished only by changing the PHP or HTML. If you’re into editing code, b2evolution is also a great choice because those things that should be edited can be, and very easily too!

In conclusion, different blog engine options are good for different kinds of people, but this list can help you as you look around the web. Keep in mind, though, that almost any software (especially self-hosted) can be customized to do whatever you want with a little help from the online community.