Blogging+-+What+Three+Blog+Tools+Would+I+Recommend

Assignment #3

Expected time to complete this assignment: 1/2 hour - 1.5 hours. (Participants who already are familiar with blogging will spend a little less time on this assignment.)

There are many available platforms to create a blog. When you start a blog, it is helpful to know what platform you would like to use. This assignment will give you an overview of the many available platforms. Some are free others are available for a fee. Many of us in our ministry areas will choose a FREE platform as that is what our budgets will allow. Just like choosing any tool, you will want to pick a tool that you are comfortable with. You are asked to narrow down your choice to three potential platforms and to have some basic reasons for choosing these. Ideally, if someone asked you what blog platform would you recommend, you would have three potential options to suggest. When you have decided what three (3) platforms you would suggest, go to [|SURVEY] to identify your three TOP choices. Also include why these are your choices.

Note: After this assignment is completed, we will embed the survey code into this wiki so that you can come back and see what your classmates are suggesting and why.

The following blog platforms are those that are mentioned in the articles. [|b2evolution] [|Blogger] [|BlogHarbor] [|Blogware] Blogsome - [|http://www.blogsome.com] [|CityDesk] [|Community Server] [|dasBlog] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Expression Engine - [] and [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|LiveJournal] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Mambo] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Movable Type] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">MSN Spaces - spaces.msn.com (no longer available) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Squarespace - squarespace.com (no longer available) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Textpattern] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Tumblr] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|TypePad] (There are Basic, Plus, and Pro Options) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|WordPress.com] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|WordPress.org] Hosted or Installed <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Yahoo 360 - 360.yahoo.com <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Xanga]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Name: Sheila Patenaude <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Three blog tools I would choose: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">After looking at several on the list, I decided I would choose <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">1) WordPress.org--because it's free, because it's dignified in its presentation and content, and because religious organizations seem to use it ofen. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">2) Type Pad--because it's "simple, personal, or social", has a 30 day free trial, and offers 100 free designs to choose from. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">3) b2evolution--because it's free, can be used on one's own website (if we have one), because it can use any server, and finally, because it offers good privacy options. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Hi Sheila, Please use the link to the SURVEY above to indicate your three choices. - Claudia

Name: Lorraine S. DeLuca The three I would choose are: 1. Blogger - I already have an account with Gmail and using the same one would make it easy and it is free. I watched the video tutorial and it seems easy to set up and use. I liked the fact that you can easily change the type and upload pictures and files. 2. Wordpress.org - It is the first one we were introduced to and the one I am most familiar with by using it during this course. The fact that it is hosted make it easier to use. Some of the others I looked at seemed more advanced and more confusing to start with. 3. Textpattern.com - What I liked was the fact that they promise a quick conversion from plain text to HTLM and that it is easy to upload images and files.

Hi Lorraine, Please use the link to the SURVEY above to indicate your three choices. - Claudia

Sr. Caroline and Claudia,
===I was having fun - and learning - until I got to this part of the assignment. Now I feel like a fish out of water. There are just too many words/terms and acronymns that I do not understand, and to be perfectly honest, I am not sure that I want or need to. Too many choices and not enough time; I guess that's become my mantra.===