Blog software comparison chart

Published by in blogs on October 25th, 2005

The Blog software comparison chart that accompanies the article “Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool?” by Susannah Gardner is a great reference source on blogging tools.

I currently use WordPress as my primary blogging tool, but also use Blogger for some team blogs and several podcast feeds I maintain. One of the biggest benefits to WordPress over Blogger (at least at this time) is the ability to organize posts into different feed categories, and automatically have separate RSS feeds for each category. This lets me use the same WordPress blog but use a separate feed address (which I burn with Feedburner for tracking purposes and browser / podcatcher compatibility.)

There are several limitations of WordPress cited in this comparison chart. Here is a listing of them, along with my response (defense you might say) of WordPress:

  • Just supports 1 blog: You can alternatively install WordPress Multiuser and get unlimited blogs
  • Doesn’t support news aggregation: I am betting there is a plugin for WordPress that does this, but I don’t have a link for one offhand
  • Doesn’t support photo galleries: I recommend that people use Flickr and link to posts from within WordPress.
  • Doesn’t support Captcha based spam fighting systems: Again I suspect a WordPress plugin is out there for this
  • Only 7 skins: No, you can directly edit the WordPress design template and easily download and install others, there are hundreds of choices with the list constantly growing
  • Can’t edit or modify the admin panel: This is pretty minor, since WP is open source I am sure you can, the key is that as you add plug-ins their control menus are automatically added to the admin panels.
  • Can’t edit templates offline: True I think, but how often do users edit and change their templates? This is a minor inconvenience.

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  • Can’t work offline: This is incorrect, I am doing this right now using the shareware program Ecto/ul>

    Despite the inaccuracies cited above, this comparison chart is helpful. A major omission which should have been included is Manila.

On this day..

1 Comment »
  • http://www.hopstudios.com/ Travis

    I think the point of the chart is that the default install doesn’t do many of the things you’ve listed.

    It’s true that there’s a lot of plugins, but it’s also true that many bloggers don’t have the time / skill / interest in digging around through all the free, semi-supported add-ons, nor do they have the ability to check each plugin for compatibility / security. For example, the default install just supports one blog, whereas MT and EE can do multiple blogs, and I think that’s what the article and chart were trying to get across.

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