This is a re-opening of a "Closed" question, which I did not have time
to purse before.
This is a series of inter-related questions, which seems the only way
to handle this. I hope that isn?t a problem. I?m interested in
creating a blog, but I have a number of questions that I need answered
first. They all tie in to this general concern: I can imagine making
changes later on. Thus I don?t want to make certain choices, and then
find out later that changing them is difficult-?but might not have
been, had I set things up differently to begin with. So I?m trying to
do preparatory research.
This includes a series of questions, of course; but many are
inter-related, and in any case, only someone who knows blogs pretty
well can answer these?-and for someone like that, these are very basic
matters, and thus should take little time and hardly any research (in
fact, probably none). Therefore, I think $20 is probably a fair
price?-if people think this is unreasonable, please let me know. I?ve
had excellent experiences with Google answers so far, as far as both
content and payment, and I?d like to keep things that way.
A prefatory point: Please bear in mind that I?d like to do as little
coding as possible. I?ve studied programming at times, and plan to
learn HTML eventually (for certain website projects), but I don?t want
to have to learn, in order to start blogging. In fact, I?m more a
writer/designer than a coder anyway, and for the blog, I?d like to be
involved only in content, if possible, at least for a long time.
1. Pseudonym, and changing name, too. For a number of reasons, I might
want to blog under a pseudonym. A bit of online research suggests that
this may, in general, be frowned on. Perhaps that would be reasonable,
for someone using a blog to write harsh criticism of various targets,
but I won?t be doing that, so would a pseudonym have any negative
connotations? Secondarily, how difficult would it be to change names
(including a switch to my real name) later on, while somehow
maintaining the identity of the blog?
2. Name of the blog and/or site. I have a domain name I?d like to use
for the blog. I take it I can use the name as one part of my blogsite
name, in relation to the blog ?host? name. Does my domain name remain
searchable by itself, on the Net? In other words, suppose I later
wanted to use that domain name on a different blog host, or as a
complete website. Could I do so, and would it still be searchable?
(Also: While staying on the same blogsite, can I change that domain
name?)
3. Changing blog ?hosting? site. As noted, I suppose I might want to
change the blog ?hosting? site. If so, what would happen to the
earlier posted and archived blog texts? Do I get to take them with me,
somehow, and can I ?install? them on the new site? (How?) Or must they
remain on the original site?
4. Storing/accessing blogs in categories. I?m pretty sure I?d want to
write on different topics?even doing several brief sections on
completely different topics in one day. If blogs can only be presented
or stored by date, that wouldn?t help the situation I?m describing.
So: Do some ?blogsites? provide a ?store and search by topic? feature,
and do some do it better? (Related: Do some also offer a complete
text-search that works well? I?m curious, though that wouldn?t really
solve my main question, since I?d want the search-by-category option
in any case.)
5. Layout, form: Are some sites notable for giving you more control over layout?
6. Are there some blogs which do more of the things above well, but
cost more? How much more?
Many thanks ? hope this is a feasible project for someone to answer.
Note: here's a request from mvguy-ga, which I did not reply to, I
suppose (sorry!). I would like to bring this question back though, as
noted, so I invite mvguy-ga to post in again... and I'll try to
contact that person.
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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 09 Feb 2004 11:22 PST
Are you willing to set up your own domain and to use blogging software
based on your own computer rather than using the services of a
blogging host? If so, you have a great deal more flexibility, but you
also need a bit more technical expertise (not necessarily a lot for a
basic blog, but probably more if you want features such as search and
user comments). And if you'd be willing to do that, are you using the
Windows operating system or a different one? (You have more choices
with Windows.) If you could explain how much much technical expertise
and how much non-writing work you want to put into this, it would help
me or another Researcher develop an answer. Thanks! |
