The Perfect Blog/Website Platform

[VirtualVagabond]

No, I haven't found it. I'm looking for it ...

I asked the following questions on another thread but it was just as it was morphing from a supernova to a black hole so there wasn't much response, apart from a few others having similar frustrations. I decided to try again with a new thread.

"When I was setting things up I looked for free and easy, like sailing

I came across Weebly and it fitted those criteria very well.
But I do have a couple of frustrations and would like to know if they are common to all platforms:

1) I have to be online to type posts. I would love to be able to do all the work, add photos etc offline while we're over the horizon somewhere, and just be able to hit "Publish" when we're online again.
At the moment I have to type posts in WordPad, and then cut and paste and doctor when online again.

2) Uploading photos takes forever. A platform that lets you drag and drop would be heaven. Are there any out there, and can you do it offline?"

All input appreciated, as usual.

Vic

[MarkJ]

Yes. Your own website and FTP program lets you do that.

You write it up and get the photos sized and ready and then when you are next on line you hit the FTP button and connect and upload the webpage.

Its easy. (once you know how!)

[AnchorageGuy]

Blogspot will allow you to do all of your work using Windows Live Writer on your computer and then just hit publish to upload the post. It handles your post and pictures at the same time. Blogspot has some annoying issues but is as good as any free sites. We have used it for years. Just check out the blog links on my signature. Chuck

[Target9000]

You may want to look into "offline blog editors". There are a great many to chose from and they work with a great many blog platforms. For instance, here are some that work with wordpress:

Offline*Editing — Support — WordPress.com

[Tim R.]

I use Weebly and I find it works very good. My criticsim with it is you cannot post to your blog without going into website editor mode. It would be nice to be able to create an account to update the blog that does not have admin access to the site. See the link in my sig for my work in progress.

1. True, you cannot compose offline and then publish without using cut and paste. You should be able to use most any editor to write up with a note regarding photos and then copy and paste when online. You could also use an html editor to completely build your post and then paste the code using the custom html tool.

2. Photo upload speeds are detrmined by connection speed and size of photo. Weebly does have a drag and drop feature. I use it all the time.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

I use Weebly and I find it works very good.

2. Photo upload speeds are detrmined by connection speed and size of photo. Weebly does have a drag and drop feature. I use it all the time.

Do you use the basic free edition or have you gone to the PRO?

I've got the basic, and it has an upload button for photos. These can be single pictures with or without text, or up to 15 photos in a gallery. Once I've reduced each photo to be within the maximum size they allow, the upload process is very slow, even with a strong internet connection.

Is the drag and drop feature only available with the PRO edition, and if available with the free edition, where do you find it?

Vic

[Target9000]

Blog platforms themselves are rarely very good at handling files and they're almost always terrible at SERVING the files (ie, photos). I highly recommend you start using a photo hosting service that provides a content delivery network (CDN) and just use image tag links in your blog postings. This makes your site load faster for viewers and it lets you use a dedicated photo host (which usually is much much more usable) for your blog.

[Tim R.]

It is Weebly Premium Site Builder. It came included with my ipage.com hosting package.

Originally Posted by Target9000

Blog platforms themselves are rarely very good at handling files and they're almost always terrible at SERVING the files (ie, photos). I highly recommend you start using a photo hosting service that provides a content delivery network (CDN) and just use image tag links in your blog postings. This makes your site load faster for viewers and it lets you use a dedicated photo host (which usually is much much more usable) for your blog.

I used to subscribe to this method but got burned when myphotoalbum.com went under and they used proprietary code so I could not even copy the format to a new website. I also do not like the limitations they have; I like to be able to customize my site using html which photo album sites do not offer. They also collect advertising revenue that I could be collecting on my site.

Because of that I created a website on ipage.com that I can add photo albums, blogs, custom html code and many other things. It is also html based so I could pick it up and move it to another hosting service if I like.

A friend of mine is using pbase for his photo site and he is trying to morph it into a commercial business website and it is a pita. Better to start with a website and have all the tools you may need.

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

It is Weebly Premium Site Builder. It came included with my ipage.com hosting package.



I used to subscribe to this method but got burned when myphotoalbum.com went under and they used proprietary code so I could not even copy the format to a new website. I also do not like the limitations they have; I like to be able to customize my site using html which photo album sites do not offer. They also collect advertising revenue that I could be collecting on my site.

Because of that I created a website on ipage.com that I can add photo albums, blogs, custom html code and many other things. It is also html based so I could pick it up and move it to another hosting service if I like.

This is simply not true. An <IMG> link is an <IMG> link is an <IMG> link. They're all customizable if you know what you're doing. If you use basic html and host your photos on a reputable domain you won't have issues. If that photo share goes under just transfer the photos and rename the domain in the link tags. This may be too much for a novice user, but many photo host sites aren't going under any time soon. They're much more stable than weebly itself is.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

...
2) Uploading photos takes forever. A platform that lets you drag and drop would be heaven. Are there any out there, and can you do it offline?"

Vic

Photo size is a big part of the problem. Trim them to size (pixels) using a photo editor before publishing. This will also speed page loading for viewers. Besides, most photos benefit from cropping anyway. Only load exceptional images in larger sizes.

Over-size picture files is a pet peeve of mine, now that we all have XXX megapixel cameras and phones.

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by Target9000

This is simply not true. An <IMG> link is an <IMG> link is an <IMG> link. They're all customizable if you know what you're doing. If you use basic html and host your photos on a reputable domain you won't have issues. If that photo share goes under just transfer the photos and rename the domain in the link tags. This may be too much for a novice user, but many photo host sites aren't going under any time soon. They're much more stable than weebly itself is.

Target, what I was stating was that you cannot add custom html code to a photo site like my location tracking and other features.

The only reputable domain I trust is my own.

Moving photos from one site to another is not so easy or quick when you have hundreds of folders(created by myphotoalbum) and thousands of photos. I have only uploaded a fraction of what I had in myphotoalbum.com since. I also had hundreds of links spread across 3 popular web forums. I now try not to link directly to anything but rather reference my website link in my sig which I will always own. Unless you have had to do this, do not assume it would be quick and easy.

Weebly can go under and it will not affect my site.

And for the record, I am far from a novice. I have been in the IT industry over 25 years.

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

Target, what I was stating was that you cannot add custom html code to a photo site like my location tracking and other features.

The only reputable domain I trust is my own.

Moving photos from one site to another is not so easy or quick when you have hundreds of folders(created by myphotoalbum) and thousands of photos. I have only uploaded a fraction of what I had in myphotoalbum.com since. I also had hundreds of links spread across 3 popular web forums. I now try not to link directly to anything but rather reference my website link in my sig which I will always own. Unless you have had to do this, do not assume it would be quick and easy.

Weebly can go under and it will not affect my site.

And for the record, I am far from a novice. I have been in the IT industry over 25 years.

I am not a novice either. I'm an IT director at a large IT firm. I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one. I feel the benefits of photo sharing sites outweigh the risk of that domain going dark. I suppose a best of both worlds approach would be to put the photos on something like AWS S3 and use their cloudfront for CDN. Then you essentially have full access to backups and transfers at any time.

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Photo size is a big part of the problem. Trim them to size (pixels) using a photo editor before publishing. This will also speed page loading for viewers. Besides, most photos benefit from cropping anyway. Only load exceptional images in larger sizes.

Over-size picture files is a pet peeve of mine, now that we all have XXX megapixel cameras and phones.

This is a good point. There are some free or low cost programs out there that will batch convert your photos to an optimal size. Unless you need someone to zoom in on some minute detail of a hi-res photo, there is no reason to have them on your site unless you are using this as an archive.

[vtsailguy]

Most definitely Wordpress.com

I spent five years in the web design industry and when I needed a boat blog I used Wordpress. Link below.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by vtsailguy

Most definitely Wordpress.com

I spent five years in the web design industry and when I needed a boat blog I used Wordpress. Link below.

I've noticed a lot of people here use Wordpress.
Does it enable you to work on posts offline?
And can you drag and drop photos into your blog, either online, offline, or both?

Vic