Question for the bloggers

[Legolas]

I'm working on a presentation for a conference on the benefits of blogging in my profession. I have a professional blog, through blogger.com, but was wondering what other sites you use and the pros and cons of each. What do you find easy to use? What do you find challenging about the site? What would you like to see as an option (for example, I can't make files available through my blog, which would be beneficial for me). I'd like to present my colleagues with some options.

Thanks. Legolas.

[scout1222]

I use Blogger and Livejournal.

Blogger is more "blog" in the traditional sense, while Livejournal is more communal. It's easier to form a community on LJ and filter who can see what.

Blogger is what I use for a weekly "newsletter" for a part-time job I have. It looks a little more "professional." But Livejournal is what I use mostly to keep in touch with friends who are far away. It's my slice of life journal, where I post really stupid stuff.

I use LJ far more than Blogger, so not surprisingly I find it easier to use. I don't need to use as much HTML code. When I try to format stuff on Blogger, I don't find it as intuitive. My needs are pretty simple, so I'm talking about mostly text and maybe inserting an image or a hyperlink here and there. Both sites do just fine with that.

Both sites I think also offer more custom looks and feels, but I think they require a little more advanced knowledge than I have. On both blogs I've used a set style that I've picked from their selection. It would be nice to make it look prettier, but I don't have the time or effort to figure out how to make it happen.

[MISSINDI]

I've used Blogger for about 2-1/2 years now and have no problems with it. Over the next few months though, I am switching over to WordPress (have had my own URL since the beginning), for a variety of reasons. Two things that WP has that Blogger doesn't is the "more" tag and the ability to postdate posts.

[615bride]

Not a lot of time to write so I'll try to come back later but wanted to say quickly that I use Movable Type and am extremely happy with it.

[SheRa]

i'm currently on livejournal but am working on switching over to blogger because it's easier to customize. i haven't been able to get a proper list of blogs that i frequent on the sidebar in my lj, and i know i can put the foodie blogroll on blogger. i also wanted to make my own header image. a majority of the food blogs that i read are on blogger.

[Legolas]

Thank you for your input.

[mrswaz]

Two things that WP has that Blogger doesn't is the "more" tag and the ability to postdate posts.

I post-date posts quite frequently. Or are you talking about post-dating and then having them publish themselves on that date? That would be nice to have. I still have to manually publish my post-dated material. Kalyn uses blogger and has a "keep reading" on many of her posts- maybe she can tell you how she did that if that interests you.

Another Blogger girl here. I love it, and have thought of switching and using my own domain, but I've kind of created an identity and a fan base, and I would hate to switch and confuse them and lose some of that. I write on Wordpress for Well Fed, and I don't care for that one much- I love the ease of Blogger.

[615bride]

Not to hijack but mrswaz, you should be able to have your site "mirrored" over to your own domain if you want that. That way people who are used to typing in your blog now will automatically be taken to your domain with no problems... I used to do that before I was on Movable Type.

[MISSINDI]

I post-date posts quite frequently. Or are you talking about post-dating and then having them publish themselves on that date? That would be nice to have. I still have to manually publish my post-dated material. Kalyn uses blogger and has a "keep reading" on many of her posts- maybe she can tell you how she did that if that interests you.

Yes, the post will publish itself on the date you set - love that. There is a code that can be installed for the "more" tag on Blogger, but in WP is much simpler to just click the little icon.

If you have your own URL, you can have it forward right to your blogger address - fyi