Digital Lifestyles Reference Guide

Aug 27, 2004

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Blogging services have the advantage of requiring no understanding of how servers work, what solutions are required to make a blog function or what happens when something stops working. Services are designed for people who want to spend their time posting information to their blog, not configuring all the intricacies of making the blog work. Hosted services come in two varieties: free and fee. Each service offers different strengths and weaknesses. It's important to assess what features are important to your blogging needs prior to choosing because most of the services don't make it easy to switch to a new service later on.

Pay services

These are blogging services that require a monthly fee for access.

Typepad

Typepad supports text, photo and video posting in all versions of the service, with incrementally more space depending on which version of the service you pay for. Available in 3 versions at $4.95, 8.95 and $14.95 per month respectively, the two biggest differences between each level of service are the amount of space and number of authors per blog. All versions of Typepad support unlimited photo albums, or at least unlimited to the point where there's no more available storage. Syndication is automated for both RSS and ATOM. The Basic version of Typepad limits you to one Weblog, one author, 50MB of storage and 1GB of monthly transfer. The Plus version supports up to three Weblogs from one author with 100MB of storage and 3GB of monthly data transfer. Typepad Pro offers unlimited Weblogs and unlimited authors per account, with 200MB of storage and up to 5GB of monthly data transfer. Website customization is also limited until you get to the Pro version, which allows full access to template configurations for a blog. Plus and Pro versions support mapping a domain to a Typepad blog, so instead of seeing typepad.com/yourusername in the browser address bar, yourdomainname.com will appear instead.

Blogware

Blogware supports posting from a variety of sources, including the common Web browser interface, via email or by sending a message via cell phone. One of the more unique features of Blogware is support for access control to determine who is allowed to access specific topics within a blog. Several Web interfaces offer visual feedback on eliminating blog comment and trackback spam, viewing traffic to the blog and making privacy and security modifications. Blog configuration is supported through a WYSIWYG interface allowing modification of layout and design elements. Syndication is provided through RSS 2.0 with support for enclosures. A photo album feature provides an online source for storing and organizing images, with support for automatic updates via camera phone or through batch upload from your desktop. Blogware blogs are available via a network of resellers which operate in several countries throughout the world.

LiveJournal

LiveJournal offers a limited feature free version, which includes the ability to post text, control access through friends and aggregate feeds. The pay version of the service is $25 annually, which allows the user to customize styles, provides a LiveJournal email address including PGP encryption, photo storage, directory searching and text messaging. LiveJournal's access control works similar to social networking, allowing the user to define friends who get access to content based on a permission structure.

Free Services

These are hosted blogging services providing users accounts free of charge.

Blogger

Blogger is a Google subsidiary providing free blogs to anyone who signs up. It supports basic text posting through a Web interface. For users who install the Google Toolbar, there's a Blog This button on the Toolbar which automatically generates a posting linked to any page being visited at the time the button is clicked. Photos are posted through a service called Hello tied to the freeware photo manager Picasa. By dialing a specific phone number and leaving a message, MP3 audio posts are automatically appended to blogger accounts. Syndication of Blogger blogs is done using ATOM. Blogger supports multiple authors posting to the same blog. Comments are supported. Blogger supports a variety of configuration options requiring some knowledge of HTML. Posts may be emailed to a Blogger blog from any device with email support and access to the Internet.

MSN Spaces

This is the Microsoft blogging solution. Signing up for the service is free. MSN Spaces supports posting text and photo blogging via cell phone or PC. Photo album management is supported. Customization is limited to color selection, theme choices and layouts from a list predetermined by MSN. Integration with MSN Messenger and Hotmail lets you know which contacts from both services have Spaces and how recently their spaces were updated. With the MSN Toolbar Suite installed a Blog To MSN Spaces option is built into the browser toolbar providing quick access to posting information. A lists feature provides a way to generate custom categorized favorites list and a Music feature keeps track of song favorites tied back to MSN Music. RSS is the format for MSN Spaces syndication.

OurMedia.org

OurMedia.org is primarily focused on hosting and distribution of audio and video files through a blog infrastructure. It combines the concept of social networks, where users connect through friend relationships, with blogging as a means of supporting the audio and video content posted. The service is completely free, with audio and video content storage requiring an additional account with InternetArchive.org. The blogging component is basically a text entry mechanism with additional support for uploading photos.

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