Blogs Aboard

[Utahsailor]

As we are about to start our two year live aboard adventure, we would like to have a blog as so many of you do. What is the best vendor to use for Canada to Bahamas east coast cruising? Any tips of creating and sustaining one?

Thanks, Don Mitchell

[Hermanns]

We used Wordpress.com - easy to use and maintain, they also have apps to post from a mobile or tablet device!

See ours here:
http://svcerulean.com/

You can use a bunch of themes and customize - really fairly fun to do!

Hope that helps get you started...there are a bunch of tutorials so don't think it's too complex.

[SaucySailoress]

Whilst mine is at Wordpress, I've had it a good few years. If I were starting one up now, I'd do it at sailblogs.com - there's a link at the right with an RSS feed. There are some great blog posts there, and loads of functionality, including the ability to synch with your GPS position, if you're not afraid of a few likkle pirates!

[rebel heart]

squarespace has done us well and is extremely flexible

[zeehag]

wordpress is good.. even has antivirus and such..easy to use.

[wingNwing]

Blogspot (google) is very easy to start up, minimal learning curve, if you just want to use the defaults. You can get fancy later. If you're tech savvy, wordpress gives you more control.

[Benz]

We have just begun one on Wordpress: zartmancruising.com Takes a while to set up; I became a computer widower for a few days, but it gets easier the more she works on it.

[wingNwing]

Don - one more specific tip: blogger, and I believe wordpress also, has an option where you can set up a dummy email account, and send an email to that account that becomes a post. Very handy if you're in a place with limited internet (or posting via your smartphone). Look into it before you leave the world of max bandwidth; you'll thank me when you get to the Bahamas.

(The link in my signature for Monkey's Fist, is a blog accumulator. Once you get a blog set up, if you're interested in increasing the audience for your blog, maybe you'd consider submitting something?)

[Dennis.G]

If you want a nice looking blog with cruiser-handy features, but don't want to spend a bunch of time getting it setup, I would look to sailblogs.com
Easy as pie.

[mbianka]

I've been using Blogger (Blogspot) since I started in 2006. Easy to setup and I like the price (free). Works well for me and even let's me post easily from my cell phone when the mood strikes and internet connections are dicey or I'm just at the Helm enjoying the view:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: Dawn is a feeling

[AnchorageGuy]

We have been using Blogspot while cruising for a very long time. Have a look at either in my signature. We have been posting while we are here in the Bahamas and on most of our previous cruises. Chuck

[Andy R]

An excellent option that thousands of sailors use is SailBlogs. A few nice features of SailBlogs is the fact you can submit your blog entries various ways including email and via satellite phones. The system is also setup to link your blog to your facebook account so when you post a new entry your facebook wall will get a link and thus inform your friends, this makes keeping everyone in the loop very easy. Of course each blog has it's own RSS as well which can be linked to Feedburner to create an email notification system as well.

Another great feature is the ability to link your entries to long/latt and thus show a map of where you have been along with photos and stories along the way.

Here is an example blog:
Providenciales: Turks and Caicos | S|V Firefly...exploring the 'verse.. Know what the first rule of sailing is? Love.

You can also connect with other sailors and read the stories of sailors near you as well.

[Graceunderway]

Wordpress! Very easy to navigate.

http://www.graceunderway.com/

[SmartMove]

We use SailBlogs.com, if I could do it over I would use Wordpress. I went with SailBlogs because it was really easy, Wordpress had a steeper learning curve -- (I don't know this for sure) but I think I would have had more ability to customize (be more creative) with Wordpress.

[msponer]

Octopress, and that style, is cute if you are quite a bit more nerdy. The idea is that you write content as text files, which are then are used to generate a fancier looking website.

Sort of like LaTeX was for print.

I like systems like this since I can then make it do exactly what I want, without fighting with someone else's idea of what I want. And the entire toolchain is easy to setup on a laptop, in isolation, so you don't need the Internet to play with what it will look like.

But I am still not sure that we will blog, that way, at least. I was thinking a bit more weird, of a non-linear narrative approach. To record, document, and share, but not collapse and summarize into tidy little packages for other people's consumption. I still feel that distilling and labeling is harmful if done in small batches, during the experience.

And, being a nerd, and am of course continuing to solve every problem with the hammer in my hand.